Colour Hunt
Key ideas
Skill summary
Three quick reminders before you start.
Overview
Ever feel like your brain is stuck on a loop of stressful thoughts? Colour Hunt is a quick way to hit the pause button. It is a grounding exercise where you pick one colour and look for five things around you that match it.
This technique helps pull your attention away from the noise inside your head and brings you back to the present moment. It is often used in mindfulness practice to help people feel steady and calm when things get overwhelming.
How Your Brain Works
Your brain uses two main parts to manage your feelings and your ability to think clearly.
The Guard Dog
The alarm system. Reacts to stress with fight-or-flight responses.
The Wise Owl
Logic and calm decision-making, best accessed when the alarm quiets down.
The Guard Dog Starts Barking
Inside your brain, there is a small part called the Amygdala, or what we call the Guard Dog. Its main job is to keep you safe by looking for threats. When you are stressed, worried, or stuck in a loop of anxious thoughts, the Guard Dog starts barking loudly. It floods your body with signals that make your heart race and your breath get shallow. This makes it very hard to focus on anything except the thing that is stressing you out.
The Wise Owl Steps In
The front part of your brain is the Prefrontal Cortex, which we call the Wise Owl. This is the part of you that plans, makes logical decisions, and helps you stay calm. When the Guard Dog is barking, it is hard for the Wise Owl to take control. You might feel like your thoughts are spiralling out of control.
How Colour Hunt Works
- Engaging the Wise Owl: By choosing to look for a specific colour, you are giving the Wise Owl a specific task. This intentional choice requires focus and decision-making.
- Calming the Alarm: As you scan the room for items, you are using the visual parts of your brain. This sends a signal to the Guard Dog that there is no immediate danger in your physical environment, which helps the barking stop.
- Breaking the Loop: Naming objects out loud or in your head uses more of your brain's resources for the present moment. This leaves less room for the stressful loops, helping you feel more grounded and in control.
How to Use This Skill
You can think of this skill as giving your Wise Owl a flashlight to guide you out of a dark room filled with noisy Guard Dog barks.
Choose one specific colour
Pick a colour like forest green or bright yellow to give your mind a clear target to focus on.
Find and name five matching items
Look around and say them: green plant, green pen, green binder, green chair, green sticker.
Real-Life Example
Managing the Exam Stress Loop
The School Reminder
Mia sees a notification about a big exam tomorrow. Her heart starts pounding and she feels a wave of panic.
The Guard Dog's Warning
"I am definitely going to fail this and everyone will be so disappointed in me."
The Breakdown
- Notice: Mia notices her Guard Dog is barking and her thoughts are spiralling.
- Pick: She chooses the colour blue as her target to ground herself.
- Search: She looks around her room for anything blue.
- Name: She says out loud: "Blue pillow, blue water bottle, blue curtains, blue sky, blue ink."
- Check-in: She takes a breath and notices her heart rate slowing down.
Mia's Wise Owl takes control of the situation. Her body feels calmer, allowing her to sit down and actually start her study session.
Practice Tips
- Here are a few ways to make this skill even more effective when you need to find your centre
- Combine with breathing
Try inhaling when you pick the colour and exhaling each time you name one of the five items to help calm your body's alarm system.
- Change your scenery
Doing this outside can be extra helpful because there are so many different shades and new things for your Wise Owl to find.
- Rate your stress
Check how stressed you feel from 1 to 10 before and after you finish to see how much the exercise helps you ground.
Pro Tip
Why It Works
It is a fast, discreet, and effective way to lower stress levels by engaging the logical part of your brain.
This skill helps because:
- Quiet the Alarm
It helps settle the Guard Dog so you can stop feeling on edge or overwhelmed by big feelings.
- Present Moment Focus
It acts like an anchor, keeping you from drifting away into stressful thoughts about the past or the future.
- Easy to Use
You can do this anywhere without anyone even knowing, making it a great tool for the classroom or the bus.
References
Research-based evidence supporting this skill
- Research shows that visual scanning and naming tasks can help lower anxiety by engaging the prefrontal cortex and reducing activity in the amygdala.
- Grand Rising Behavioral Health. (n.d.). The impact of color on mood and mental health.
- PubMed Central. (2024). Coloring complex shapes decreases patient anxiety in three care settings.
- Blueprint. (n.d.). Color therapy: Exploring the psychological effects of color in mental health treatment.
- Portland Healing. (2024). Color therapy in mental health and well being.
- Electronic Journal of General Medicine. (n.d.). The correlation between color choices and impulsivity, anxiety and depression.
- Lemon8. (n.d.). Color for happiness and mental health.
- Castle Arts. (n.d.). Colouring for calm: 97% of customers say it boosts mental health.
- Texas Psychiatry Group. (n.d.). How colors, shapes, and patterns reshape emotional wellness.