Hello:) I wanted to offer a little rainbow medicine for you because it seems like a good collective moment to offer it and trust it will be received by those who may appreciate it the most. This is a little passage of wisdom and one of my most beloved ritual practices that I wrote into the first chapter of my upcoming book UnStuck. Method and Magic for Finding the Flow (and owning your worth)
For those of you who are wondering, I am almost 18 months into writing this book, well over 1,000 hours and on almost done with my first round of revisions. I will have one more big round of revisions with my book doula, Jenny MacLeod, Then beta test, 2 rounds of editing, and final design. Then, I will print it. And then I will cry because this is the hardest and most meaningful thing I have ever created and shared besides my own children. And then, I will rest and stop creating for a while. We will see about that;)
Enjoy.
Reframing Gray Area, Repatterning Gray Matter.
As we begin to sink into this journey, I want to invite you into something I like to call Rainbow Thinking.
Rainbow thinking is a multi dimensional way of seeing the world that inspires creative, outside the box living with playful curiosity and open-mindedness around moving into new territory AKA the great unknown.
Rainbow Thinking is a state of being that allows new ways for experience and wisdom to sink into us and help us repattern ourselves into full spectrum possibility mindset, by opening up our minds and senses to new experiences and letting go of attachment to outcome or having all the answers.
Rainbow Thinking is holding many truths at once in one hand, in full appreciation of the paradoxes that may exist within every reality represented in those truths. It isn’t about being right or knowing the way. It is about feeling a sense of natural curiosity rooted in compassion and acceptance of Not Knowing.
Rainbow Thinking is Metaphorical thinking, it is noticing the depth of story and wisdom that live in the cracks in-between. It is allowing the synchronicities and the small moments and experiences that move us to speak through us in a new language that we can only understand by feeling. The language of our senses.
Many of us face unknowns with fear and stories and limited beliefs around future and fate. We want to know that is true and what isn’t. What will happen and what won’t. We want black and white answers and a clear destination for tomorrow. Now is the time to let go of all of that, releasing regret and expectation and returning to what is happening around you Right Now.
Your Unstuck Journey is not going to be about the Destination. It is the portal to living in the process, with yourself, eyes wide open and paying attention, using your imagination, making decisions, taking action, actively listening. This process will illuminate the full brilliance that lives in the great mysteries of the Not-Knowing World…….A Fruitful Garden of Rainbow Possibilities.
Rainbow thinking is foundational to Getting Unstuck, over and over again. And this book will get you into Rainbow Thinking naturally, by osmosis, when you read it and engage with it because it was written by my Rainbow Mindset. My goal, with this book is to get you into your own Rainbow Mindset so that you can navigate life with clarity, purpose, meaning, and creativity.
A great first step towards Rainbow Thinking that I offer you today is a small shift in language, a reframing, if you will.
Reframe ‘Gray Area’ when referring to the unknown between “absolute truths.” The term gray area takes all of the magic out of the middle ground, putting all the emphasis of truth on either black or white, leaving no room for all the full spectrum possibility in between.
Think of all the examples of times you may use the term Gray Area in conversation or personal understanding. What would happen if you both referred to the gray places in your life as a rainbow of possibility instead of a hollow gray abyss?
Everything, all the fabulous mystery, becomes illuminated in full color.
When we Reframe Gray Area, we begin to Rewire the Gray Matter of our brains into thinking creatively, expansively, outside the box.
Ritual for Rainbow Thinking
I would like you to lovingly suggest to you an opportunity to metaphorically and creatively attune yourself to Rainbow Thinking. A Rainbow Ritual illuminates the colors that define your environment by helping you bring awareness to them and gratitude for them. A Rainbow Ritual is a simple act that will require of you a slow and meandering walk around outside, senses open and in gratitude to the wonder that is brimming around you in the form of the full spectrum of color with the contrast of dark and light, hiding in the smallest cracks.
The object of this Rainbow ritual is to practice taking creative action and also to get acquainted with the sort of tuned in awareness of noticing the details that might otherwise escape you, like the marvelous colors of the plants, stones, even bits of trash, that are hiding all around you, and understanding your own ability as a creative being to collect them, in gratitude, and turn them into something beautiful just for fun.
There is not much to it besides walking and collecting rainbow colored things and then playing with them, and remember, this is your ritual so make it your own however you would like.
- Prepare a space to create your rainbow. Setting the Space for Ritual is not a minor detail. You will want quiet, comfortable stillness with elements to stir your senses.
Clear objects out of the way on a surface you can comfortably sit at. Sweep the space around it, clearing energy and making yourself a nice tidy place to sit. Get a pillow or comfy something to sit on. Get a candle. Perhaps put on some music. Prepare yourself a delicious beverage to sip on as you create your rainbow.
- Get yourself a receptacle to keep your little colored objects in as you wander. I use a canvas bag or a small basket, but no need to make things complicated. An old Tupperware works.
- Check in about your comfort level with what you are wearing and what the weather conditions may be outside. I want you to be comfortable and cozy. This is key! Anything less than that is a distraction and physical block to creativity. Comfy shoes, clothing not tight or restricting, warm enough. I spent years blocking my own creativite intuition by wearing wastebands that restricted my breating and kept me in anxiety. These details matter.
- Take 10 slow deep breaths and drop into your body and awareness of physical self. Notice where you might feel tension and breath into it. Try and soften your physical body, this will help you receive the colors that this world has to share.
- Take a moment to decide on an intention for this ritual. I think of an intentional as an aim, a reason to do something. A desired heart-led result of an action. Feeling centered, opening your mind, inspiring creativity, letting go of something, inviting in abundance or flow are all examples of an intention you may set. It can be as specific or broad as you want it to be. Ritual is a wonderful setting for using intention, becuase it is a creative act which helps us to turn our energy and intention into a physical form, which creates momentum. So whatever you create in a ritual setting will be a physical manifestation of your intention. This, my darlings, is direct action.
- Walk out the front door. Let your intuition guide you in a direction, left or right, or straight ahead. It doesnt matter, just move slow and wander. Bring your eyes to the world around you, starting with the obvious big things, the sky, the clouds, perhaps other houses, buildings, cars, then slowly tuning into the smaller things that may be a bit less obvious. Look at the shrubs, the plants, the trunks of the trees. Look at the stones, and at the moss creeping between the stones, or look at the sidewalk and the bits or trash that has accumulated in the gutters. Just notice things, as you move slowly, breathing, through your environment.
- As you walk, begin to tune into colors and their nuance. It’s often easy to see greens and grays around us, but start to notice the differences in the greens and grays that you see. They are alive with nuance. Take note.
- Now, take a moment to imagine the color red. Even stop walking for a moment and close your eyes and call in RED to your awareness. Open your eyes and continue walking, looking all around you for the color red. When you see it, perhaps in the form of a flower, a leaf, a little candy wrapper or a rusty red stone, pick it up (if its a flower or something from the living world, only take it if there are many more of it, and be sure to offer it thanks as you take it) stick it in your basket and continue looking for different shades of red. Keep collecting reds until you feel ready to move on to Orange.
- Make your way through the entire rainbow, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink (adding also black, brown and white if you feel inspired to) Collecting small objects of different colored tones. If you get stuck on one color and are having trouble locating it, look smaller, look deeper, and dont give up hope. Rainbows live, without a doubt in every environment under the sun. Sometimes even more so in the seemingly grayest places. Keep hunting until you feel your rainbow scavenger hunt is complete.
- Return home with your rainbow, and take a comfortable seat in the place you have prepared as your creative space. light your candle, arrange your items, not in a hurry, into a brilliant rainbow design. Breath through and enjoy the process,, sipping tea, walking away for a little break when the voices or judgement pop up or we feel unsure. Coming back with fresh eyes. knowing their is no right or wrong way to do it, The design is completely up to you. The only rule is to make sure that the colors are flowing into each other and in the correct order……..Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc.
- Once you feel complete, sit for a moment to appreciate what you have created. Offer yourself some gratitude for taking this time to be in creative flow. Bring your hands to your heart, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths.
- Clear your space and return it to exactly as it was before you started your ritual. Part with your creation, understanding that it was never meant to last forever and that the process was the destination. If your rainbow was made of plants and flowers, gather them in your hands and offer them back to the earth by placing them somewhere where they can decompose. Sometimes I like to offer them to water by bringing them to the lake down the street and scattering them into a glittering place where the sun is playing on the waters surface.
- Blow out your candle and close the ritual.
I hope that this little ritual can help your mind be like a rainbow and your heart feel full. Please share freely, and know that I love you.
If you feel like sharing your Rainbow Rituals, I would love to see! tag me on Instagram @roxiejanehunt and if you want to see a bunch of mine, please search the hashtag #filthandbeautymandala
