What Color Is Your Day?: Simple Ways to Add Mindfulness to Your Day

Color has played an important role in art, culture, spirituality, and mindfulness practices for centuries. Different traditions associate colors with different qualities and emotions. In chakra-based practices, for example, specific colors are connected with different energy centers of the body. While you don't have to subscribe to any particular tradition, playing with color can be a simple way to pause, reflect, and become more aware of what you're feeling and noticing.

Instead of worrying about whether a color has a “right” meaning, try asking yourself: 

• What does this color make me think of?

• How does it make me feel?

• What memories or qualities does it bring to mind?

Colors are something we encounter constantly, but we rarely stop to pay attention to them. Take this opportunity to reflect and notice the colors around you. 

* These are “common associations” rather than definitive meanings. Your own associations may be completely different and that’s ok!

SEE IT - For families, kids, and anyone who enjoys a little outdoor adventure

Turn an ordinary walk, trip to the park, or afternoon outside into a color hunt!

Take our Autumn Colors printable with you and see how many colors you can find in nature. When you find something that matches one of the colors, you can stick it directly onto the printable if it's something small and safe to collect, such as a fallen leaf or flower petal.

If you can't stick what you found to the page, that's okay! Draw it or write down what you found instead.

Don't worry about finding the perfect match. Part of the fun is noticing how many different shades you can find!

Make it a conversation: Ask your child, “Which color was easiest to find? Which was hardest?” or “What was the most interesting thing you found?”

CAPTURE IT - For adults, couples, friends, or older kids

Choose one color. Then spend the next day (or the whole week) looking for it wherever you go.

Maybe you get blue. Suddenly, you're noticing the sky, a car, a painted door, a store sign, a flower, or even a tiny detail you normally would have overlooked.

Take a photo whenever you spot your color.

At the end of the week, put your photos together into a simple Color Week collage. You don't need fancy editing skills or a perfect layout. Just gather the little moments you noticed. If you're doing this with a spouse, friend, family member, or group, have everyone choose a different color. At the end of the week, share your collages with each other.

Search “color hunt collage trend” to find inspirations from others online!

FEEL IT - For a quiet moment of personal reflection

Color doesn't only exist outside of us. It can also give us a simple way to pause and check in with ourselves.

Take a moment and ask:

“If your day were a color, what would it be?”

Don't overthink it. Choose the first color that comes to mind.

Then ask yourself:

“Why did I choose this color?”

“What three words describe how I'm feeling today?”

“What do I need right now?”

“Is there a color that represents what I want to bring into my day?”

Maybe your day feels gray because you're tired and overwhelmed. Maybe it's yellow because you're excited about something. Maybe it's green because you're feeling peaceful and grounded.

There are no right or wrong answers. The goal isn't to assign a scientific meaning to your emotions. It's simply to use color as a prompt to pause and listen to your own inner experience. You could even choose a second color to represent something you'd like more of.

“Today feels gray. I need a little green.”

Maybe that means taking a walk, calling a friend, stepping away from your computer, spending time with your family, or simply giving yourself five quiet minutes.