What Is It About Rainbows?

The day started off as one of those days. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning, already feeling the migraine full force. I took medicine and went back to bed, hoping but knowing I had at best a 50-50 chance that it would help. Two hours later, it’s still there – it’s going to be a day with a migraine.

Now I know that my busy day has become much harder, because I have to push through with this extra weight throughout the day. If I’m lucky, I’ll at least catch myself before I start berating myself due to the tiredness, the irritability, and the overall decrease in creativity that accompanies these days.

A short time later, I’m in the car heading to my appointment. The weather is predicted for a full day of rain, no break is in sight. At least the rainy, cloudy weather suits my mood.

On my way, there’s a small break in the clouds, and a small patch of blue escapes from the gray storm clouds. A small ray of sunshine seems to light up the clouds, outlining them in a ripple of light. And there – a brightly colored rainbow appears.

Trying to still drive, I’m twisting and arching my neck, starting at the sky to keep my eyes on it, as if I blink, it will disappear. I trace the rainbow to find the beginning and the end, and it’s a big, bright one. A few minutes in, a double rainbow appears.

Just like that, my whole day shifted.

It feels like luck is with me. I’m smiling. I breathe deeper. My fortunes have suddenly changed, and I just know it’s going to be a productive, great day. 

Am I simply superstitious? Delusional? What does the appearance of a rainbow have to do with how things are going???

Believe it or not, it’s not all that crazy! (There’s science to help explain it, but I’m going to spare you that discussion.)

We all have that thing (or things!) that brighten our day. Many of them are quite simple. Think of a time when – especially if you weren’t feeling it – you couldn’t help but smile.

(Bonus points if you found that you were ANNOYED that you were smiling because you “wanted to be in a bad mood” at that point.)  😉

What was it? The appearance of a rainbow in a cloudy, rainy sky? Seeing a flower blooming in the crack of a busy sidewalk, where nothing should be able to grow? The deep blue-turning yellow color of the sky at sunrise, or the fiery orange red at sunset?

The smell right before it rains, but it hasn’t rained in a while and the air is heavy and warm? (Fun fact, that smell has a name – it’s called petrichor!).

You think of a friend you haven’t spoken to in months and out of the blue, they call you that day… or perhaps you give them a call, knowing they never pick up the phone when you call – and this time, they do?

The sound of people laughing?

The cat furiously swatting at its toy, running down the hallway, or the dog, looking at you, and then tilting its head to the side as it looks at you with wide eyes? (My bias: this is the best look ever.)

And not to be accused of forgetting to equally count all animals… your iguana, turtle, hamster, snake, guinea pig, rat, mouse, rabbit, chicken…?

The sound of a bird chirping insistently, the smell of pizza emanating from the restaurant as you walk by, the screaming laughter of a group of kids playing tag?

What’s yours?

There’s no “right” answer, other than it’s the one that just thinking about it makes you smile a bit even when the world is feeling heavy.

In those moments, when you have that experience and you let it in, it can feel like your world has changed just a little bit, and your fortunes are a little greater than they were moments ago.

What are the things you can call up to mind when you’re having “that day”, when you wake up with a migraine and you just want to stay in bed, when you’re tired and feel like you didn’t sleep well, when you’re feeling stressed because your kids are crying or that presentation isn’t quite ready yet, or the to do list has gotten impossibly long?

YOU have the power to pull up thoughts and memories of these times and shift how your “default” day is going to go!

Just think, so many of our days are determined how they will go based on random chance occurrences! 🤯

Now’s your chance to see that you have the power to interrupt that default and create how we want it to go.

What would have happened if I stopped at “knowing how the day was going to go” with my migraine? After all, I’d lived plenty of those days before. One thing I can say for sure, it would have been a much less productive, much less joyful day!  

What if we truly have that much power, the power to shift how an entire day is going in a moment? And if we truly have that power, why not use that power for something amazing?

Would you like to master shifting the way your days typically go, and know yourself as someone who can create what you want at any time? Give me a call and let’s discuss how to make that consistently possible!

P.S. On my way home from my appointment, my routine, direct route home was blocked by a cordoned off street lined by emergency vehicles, and my 3-minute trip was now going to take at least 15 minutes and impact my next meeting.  

But there’s something about the power of those deeply connected thoughts – rather than having the latest incident take over from the joy-filled feelings of the rainbow, the “rainbow” thoughts won. I stayed calm, avoided yelling at the world for the “unfairness of it all” (yes, I’ve done that before!) and continued the rest of the day feeling inspired and staying in action.

Perhaps those are the most important times to connect to these thoughts - when the unplanned, unexpected gets in the way and threatens to hijack your day, the stress rises, and you’re ready to write off the entire day. There is another way.