Rainbow Thinking

Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color - its universal. We see commercials all the time showing us on how to keep our colors bright and our whites – well….white. But how does this translate to our thinking?


How many times have you been told it’s not all black and white? I’ve always struggled with black and white thinking….all or nothing…it IS or it ISN'T. I sometimes have trouble realizing there may be something better - a middle of the road rainbow thinking. I grew up in a family that didn't really teach me that....it was always YES or NO. Maybe ALWAYS meant NO - no matter how much I prayed and hoped....maybe ALWAYS turned into NO.

So we learn black and white thinking at an early age and from many sources: family, friends, school, the dieting industry, and even society. Our parents usually told us we were "wonderful" one day, and then the next day, for whatever reason, you were suddenly "bad."  Rather than pointing out our specific strengths or weaknesses, we were simply labled as such - black and white. We're left with a simplistic kind of reasoning - good or bad. All or nothing. Always or never. Black or white.

In reality, one piece of anything doesn't make anybody fat. And fat doesn't mean bad. And just because you’re not just like everyone else, doesn’t make you less than amazing. Needing to see ourselves as perfect only causes a constant feeling of inadequacy. This is where rainbows add some relief.

Rainbows are this beautiful reaction after a bad start. Usually a rainbow appears after a storm - not always but that's when I've seen the bulk of them...is that my black and white thinking coming through? Anyway, a rainbow juts across the sky in this magnificent bolt of color. It lights up our world and our sky after the dark has cleared. Rainbows make us feel happy…like everything is going to be OK now.

Why can’t we translate this to our thinking? Rainbow thinking can be the alternative to black and white thinking. It means giving ourselves numerous options instead of limiting ourselves to only two. It means seeing all the colors of the rainbow instead of only black and white. It means having access to all our feelings and letting ourselves believe that good enough is good enough!

The color black is known as the color of authority and power. Villains such as Dracula wore black…oh sure there was the splash of red in there (red is an emotional based color that stimulates an increased heartbeat and is also the color of love) but overall, it was a sign of power. White is meant to symbolize innocence and purity. Brides wear it, I personally can’t wear it as I inevitably spill something on it that I’ll never get out…but when you put the two together, it creates the yin-yang of our life.

Yin-yang represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle is meant to represent “everything” and the black and white shapes represent the interaction of the two energies that causes everything to happen. Nothing is completely black, just as nothing is completely white – one cannot exist without the other. Yin (black) is dark, passive and cold. Yang (white) is bright, active and strong. The symbol gives the sense of continual movement of these energies and thus creates a balance; one is always there for the other. Life should be that way.

So maybe the new symbol should be rainbow colored and allow both parties to be this ball of light and energy that cannot exist without the other half. Just like anything new, rainbow thinking may be uncomfortable at first, however, after spending some time in the middle of the road getting used to being perfectly imperfect - the journey becomes much easier and more enjoyable.

Let your colors shine on.