Maximizing Rainbows

I hope you're well and that you're navigating this year-end time in a way that feels good. If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoyed the holiday last week.

Maybe you're still on vacation/staycation, maybe you're traveling or maybe you're working today. The internet tells me that many of us feel like this right now (so if you do, too ~ you're not alone):

Well, I can tell you that it's Monday, December 29. We're on the other side of the solstice, so the darkest days of the year are behind us. But it still can feel like a weird, in-between time.

I've been reflecting on 2025 a bit, and I'm getting a feel for how to understand what happened and what I experienced.

This past October I visited the East Coast ~ spending time with friends, family and foliage. And I found myself in many situations that focused on color. For starters, the leaves were beginning to turn:

Besides that, a friend I visited had a prism that was not catching much sun and she wanted to know my opinion on where it should go. I think I said something like, "So what you'd like to do here is maximize rainbows?" We laughed and figured out that we got the most rainbows when the prism was right up against a south-facing window. We hung it there and it made us both so happy to see all the rainbow dots on the walls 🌈

A few days later, I was staying with my sister and she asked for help with the same thing! It was so strange because I don't think anyone has ever asked for my help with this before! I laughed and said that I had just helped a friend position a crystal in just the right place, and I was happy to help her, too (see below).

And then we were out the next day, and I found this cool book...

I hadn't given all of this much thought until I started reflecting on the year. But I started to see a pattern in all of 2025. And I realized that the loved ones I helped with their rainbows navigated big challenges this year: cancer recovery and a seemingly impossible work situation.

I thought about how we can all choose to invite more rainbows into our lives, even (maybe especially) in very difficult circumstances.

Outdoor rainbows require moisture in the air. A rainbow happens when sunlight hits water droplets (like rain or mist) and bends (refracts), bounces (reflects) off the back, and then bends again as it exits, separating the white light into its spectrum of colors.

To see a rainbow, you need the sun behind you and water droplets in front of you.

In so many ways, 2025 has been a stormy year ~ full of collective challenges. Plenty of "water droplets" in front of us. But/and, there has been sun, too ~ often behind us where we don't immediately recognize it.

So, how do we maximize rainbows?

Like so many things, it involves having a both/and perspective. When we're outdoors, focused on the raininess of life, we can remember the sun is there, too, somewhere. And when we're indoors, we can choose the most helpful window and put our crystal right up against it, so that even though we're sheltered from the sun, the rainbow-maker has as much light to work with as possible.

I love color and it supports me in hard times. It helps me replenish reserves when I get depleted. It helps me regulate my nervous system and care for myself ~ body, mind and spirit. And art journaling is one of my go-to ways to connect with color.

Wherever you find yourself today, I’m wishing you maximum rainbows as we navigate these last few days of 2025 🌈