My Book, The Rainbow Onion, is now available for pre-order on Amazon (here).  It’s about the Transformative Power of Color Thinking. This is the third in a series of blog posts that dive into what color thinking actually means, using excerpts from the book. This comes from Chapter 3, Put Them Together, Color Thinking.

There’s no way I’d be able to list all of the potential patterns that could be running our lives because the variations are pretty much infinite. No matter what the details of the ruts are, the cause is the same: We’re running our lives on outdated software. We have outdated beliefs that do not serve us. They keep us stuck. We’re unable to progress, to change, to grow into the versions of ourselves we want to become.

We have to turn the autopilot off and take hold of the controls ourselves. We have to learn to manage our own brains. We have to choose new beliefs and create enough support that we can go out and find the evidence we need to believe them. We need to bring in tools to overcome confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance. There are many ways to do thought work.

Color Thinking is a new type of thought work. I happen to love it. Let me tell you why. This is a list of why I love Color Thinking, but it’s also the list of why Color Thinking works.

It’s fun – I love color. It helps me access the creative parts of my brain to solve whatever problem I’m working on. It feels playful.

It’s sensory – Color Thinking is not just an intellectual exercise. The name tells you that, right? We blend a visual language with a thinking language to create new forms of expression, to see things in a new way.

It’s new – Because it’s new, it doesn’t come with a lot of baggage. You can’t say, “I tried that before and it didn’t work.” Well, you could say that, but it wouldn’t be true. Color Thinking has that new-idea smell.

It’s quick – It’s the stuff of breakthroughs. Some types of thought work are tedious—Color Thinking isn’t. It doesn’t take years and years to do. There can be rapid—even instantaneous — shifts in perspective.

It’s reusable – Color Thinking is a set of skills. You can do it once, on one layer, and get good at it, because it’s mostly using your color language, and it’s certainly your brain and your life. So you become your own expert. And you can do it again on the next layers!

It’s the opposite of polarizing – I guess that means it’s unifying. It’s certainly cohesive. You find and see the patterns, similarities, and commonalities, in you and in other people. Color Thinking does not need any enemies to work.

It’s diverse – Why do we love a rainbow or a garden with lots of different colors of types of flowers, or the Northern Lights? Variety. Choices. Adventure. Depth. Abundant opportunities.

It’s intentional – In Color Thinking, we get to choose what we want to think, believe, and do. We get to pick the outcome we want to construct.

It doesn’t conflict with other tools. There’s no incompatibility with other types of thought work, with different coaching models, spiritual practices, belief systems, or tools. Color thinking doesn’t require you to pick a new religion. You can use affirmations and crystals and chakra colors. You can use prayer and candles. Or not. You can use Color Thinking with whatever else works for you. In fact, Color Thinking pairs pretty well with almost anything—except, of course, those outdated beliefs that are holding you back. It does conflict with those buggers.

It’s universal but specific – Color Thinking is a layer cake built out of universal, cultural, and other contextual understandings. The cake, however, is in the shape of your own life. It applies specifically to you and whatever is going on in your life right now. It’s practical.

It’s efficient – Color Thinking requires us to spend just enough time in the past to be able to see what the problem is—to find out exactly what the outdated belief is—but we don’t need to stay any longer than that. We don’t keep visiting and reliving the old shit and thus putting it back into our short-term memory. We only need to recognize the old stuff so we can squish it with our pointy-toed boots when it pops up!

Color Thinking works, as you’ll see in the stories about it. It’s transformational. It’s a tool for making dramatic change for good.

Now that I’ve whetted your appetite, here is my definition of Color Thinking, expressed in two parts:

Color Thinking is a powerful tool to use in thought work. It uses the language of color to create new patterns of thinking to support you on your journey to become who you want to be.

Color Thinking is also a powerful tool for reconciliation. You start by reconciling your beliefs with who you want to be, and healing the differences.

In the meantime, remember these things: You are loved. We are all loved. Let’s all be kind. And in all things – progress, not perfection!

Love and light, Maggie

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