Using Color Imagery to Reduce Emotional Upset and Activate Happiness The world is full of color. One can even go further and say that the world is ALIVE with color. Color has a frequency or vibration that emanates as waves from an object. This vibration is seen by the human eye as a particular hue. If you think of a rainbow, then you’ve seen this phenomenon in action; the vibration of light reflects off a raindrop and then breaks into a full spectrum of color. But it’s what happens next when you perceive the rainbow that is of real interest to me. You usually will feel something… you usually feel happiness!
Go ahead and give it a try. Think about a rainbow or the color of a clear blue sky with white puffy clouds. Note any sensation that you feel. This feeling that we have attached to any experience is stored and can later be accessed. It has now become a learned response. Our minds are like computers storing information and then adding meaning to any experience. One way we re-experience these stored memories is through our senses as an emotion. This information is readily available to us and can be retrieved automatically. Similar to the experience of walking into a bakery and smelling fresh baked apple pie ~that then illicits a fond memory of Grandma in her kitchen ~automatically producing a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Everyone has a favorite color due to the way we individually respond to that color. Some colors inspire us, some calm and relax, others excite or energize. We then can use color to illicit a desired response much like we do when picking out a paint color for the walls in a room. The meaning of a certain color to an individual can be utilized to produce a calm, serene or peaceful feeling in any distressful situation. Here is a quick but effective exercise for you to practice with.
Reducing anxiety with a color activator:
1. First think of you being calm and clear, peaceful or serene. What are you doing, or how are you acting when calm? Then think of a color that represents you being that way.
2. Second, think of something that generally makes you anxious. Note where the sensation of anxiety is felt in the body (chest, gut, neck, shoulders etc.). Now focus only on the sensation in the body.
3. Next, think of your color activator, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Visualize this big ball of color as colored light. Imagine now the ball of colored light over your head and watch as the color gets absorbed into the top of your head and flows through your body, lighting up every cell and atom. Take another deep breath and note the sensation- it should be decreasing or already diminished.
4. Repeat till you have total calm or the old feeling is gone..
This exercise is best practiced when first lying down to sleep but can be done anywhere. Relax, let go and let calm flow over you. You can also use a color or a particular place like the ocean or mountains or any imagery that you find relaxing. If your wondering if you can do it and get results...remember in the beginning when I asked you to think of a rainbow and clouds, then note the sensation? Did you smile at just the thought of it and feel an immediate lightness or sense of Ahhhh?
Laura Delle Donne-Schmidt, LMHC, CHt. Master Practitioner Rapid Resolution Therapy® and Rapid Trauma Resolution®. Director: North Star Counseling Services. Psychology Today Therapy Finder. Available via Skype and Webcam. 813.416.9577
