Colour Hunt
Select one specific colour and identify five distinct items in your immediate environment that match it.
Select one specific colour and identify five distinct items in your immediate environment that match it.
Engaging in a visual search task shifts brain activity from internal rumination to external observation, which can help ground attention in the present moment.
Once five items are found, the practice can be extended by switching to a second colour or looking for specific shapes.
Overview
The Colour Hunt is a foundational grounding technique often used in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It is designed to interrupt the cycle of rumination—where the mind repeatedly focuses on distressing thoughts—by redirecting attention outward. By assigning the brain a concrete, neutral task (finding a specific colour), this method engages the brain's executive functions. It acts as a 'cognitive break,' allowing the nervous system to shift out of a reactive state and back into a state of observation and presence. It is frequently recommended because it is discreet, requires no tools, and can be performed in any setting.
Understanding the Guard Dog and Wise Owl
The Guard Dog
The Amygdala lives in the basement. Always on alert. Reacts fast to keep you safe, but sometimes barks at things that aren't really threats.
The Wise Owl
The Prefrontal Cortex lives upstairs. Thinks things through, makes plans, and helps you make good decisions—but needs a moment to wake up.
To understand how this skill works, educators often use the metaphor of a house with two floors. **The Downstairs (The Guard Dog):** This is the Amygdala. Its job is to keep you safe. When it senses stress, it often turns attention inward, replaying worries or fears like a loop of 'scary movies.' It focuses entirely on internal feelings and potential dangers. **The Upstairs (The Wise Owl):** This is the Prefrontal Cortex, responsible for focus, planning, and observation. When the Guard Dog is barking loudly, the Wise Owl often has trouble being heard. The Colour Hunt works by giving the Wise Owl a specific job: 'Find red things.' To do this, the brain must stop watching the internal 'scary movie' and start processing external visual data. As the Wise Owl becomes active to complete the task, the Guard Dog's alarm system naturally settles down because the brain's resources are shifted toward observation rather than reaction.
How to Use This Skill
This technique acts like a manual lens adjustment for a camera. It deliberately shifts focus from a blurry, internal worry to a sharp, external object.
Select the Target
A student notices their mind racing and decides to look for the colour 'blue.'
Why this helps: Decision-making engages the prefrontal cortex (the Wise Owl). Making a simple choice, like picking a colour, begins to reactivate this part of the brain.
Scan the Environment
The student looks around the classroom and silently names: 'Blue chair, blue binder, blue shirt, blue pen, blue sky.'
Why this helps: Visual search tasks require 'selective attention.' The brain must filter out irrelevant data to find the target, which competes with the neural resources used for worry.
Switch or Settle
After finding five items, the student notices if their breathing has slowed or if the worry feels slightly more distant.
Why this helps: Completing a task releases a small amount of dopamine (the reward chemical), which can help stabilize mood.
"**The Trigger:** You are sitting in a crowded assembly hall waiting for a presentation to start. The noise is loud, and you feel a wave of physical stress (racing heart, tight chest). **The Thought:** "I can't handle this noise. I need to get out of here right now." **The Breakdown:** * **Select:** You decide to focus on the colour **green**. * **Search:** You scan the room. 1. Exit sign above the door. 2. A stripe on a friend's sneaker. 3. The cover of a notebook three rows down. 4. A plant in the corner of the stage. 5. The logo on a teacher's coffee cup. **The Result:** By the time you find the fifth green item, you may notice that the urge to flee has decreased. The noise is still there, but your brain is no longer solely focused on the panic."
Try to imagine yourself in this situation as you practice the skill.
You can practise this skill anywhere, even when you are not feeling stressed, to build the habit. **The Daily Commute:** While on the bus or walking, pick a colour and count how many times you see it before you reach your destination. **The Waiting Room:** If you are waiting for an appointment, use the time to find five items of a specific colour instead of scrolling on your phone.
Pro Tip: If you can't find five items of one colour, simply switch to a new colour. The goal is the searching, not the finding.
This skill is widely recommended because it is a fast, invisible way to disrupt the 'fight or flight' response. This works because it forces the brain to process neutral, external information, which reduces the resources available for internal worry.
Key Research Points
- Portable and Discreet: It can be done silently in a classroom, meeting, or public space without anyone knowing.
- Interrupts Rumination: It breaks the loop of repetitive negative thinking by demanding cognitive focus.
Research-based evidence supporting this skill
This technique draws on research regarding 'Attentional Control Theory' and 'Grounding' strategies used in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).
Books & Manuals
- Linehan, M. M. (2015). *DBT skills training manual* (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). *Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness*. Bantam Books.
- Siegel, D. J. (2010). *Mindsight: The new science of personal transformation*. Bantam.
Peer-Reviewed Journals
- Eysenck, M. W., et al. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. *Emotion*, 7(2), 336–353.
- Vujanovic, A. A., et al. (2013). Mindfulness-based strategies for psychological distress. *Professional Psychology: Research and Practice*, 43(2), 123-131.
Websites & Online Resources
- Mayo Clinic. (2022). Mindfulness exercises.
- Anxiety Canada. (2023). Grounding strategies.