You’ve got rainbows all wrong…

If you could spare me a few minutes I hope to give you a great practical tool you can use in your every day life to help you solve problems and shift your mindset, but, if nothing else, you’ll have two really cool facts that the next time you see a rainbow you will find yourself quoting in order to impress people of all ages!

OK, so… imagine a rainbow...

...

... is this what you were imagining?

Easy right, surely almost every child in almost every land can draw one?

What if I told you that this isn't what a rainbow actually looks like, and further to that, most people in the world don’t actually know what rainbows really look like…

1st cool rainbow fact:

Every rainbow is a double rainbow, but since the secondary bow is always fainter than the primary, it may be too weak to spot all the time, the secondary bow always appears outside the primary, and it’s colours are inverted!

2nd cool rainbow fact:

Every rainbow is a circle, but from the ground, usually only its upper half can be seen. Since the rainbow's centre is opposite the Sun's position in the sky, more of the circle comes into view as the sun approaches the horizon, meaning that the largest section of the circle normally seen is about 50% during sunset or sunrise. Viewing the rainbow's lower half requires the presence of water droplets below your horizon, as well as sunlight that is able to reach them. These requirements are not usually met when you are at ground level, but from a high viewpoint such as a high building or an aircraft, the full-circle rainbow can be seen.

So, this is what a rainbow looks like, and those of you who were imagining this, tell me in the comments and I'll be impressed!

I wonder what a teacher would say if a child drew that at school when asked to draw a rainbow?!?

If you don't believe this here's a rare photo of the entirety of a rainbow!

What I find interesting here, and relevant to our lives on a daily basis is that seeing the whole rainbow requires a couple of things…?

1. It requires us to have clear conditions, with plenty of light
2. It requires us to change our perspective and see things from a different angle

Well, isn’t any situation / conflict / problem we find ourselves facing the same?

If almost the whole world doesn’t know what a rainbow actually looks like, then doesn’t that show how easy it is to misunderstand, or misjudge a situation when you don't have all the information?

1. We need to understand that sometimes the whole situation doesn’t present itself because there isn’t enough light to see it all clearly, we need more information, more light, more data and have to seek it out… a double rainbow is seen as something amazing, something special, but it’s always there, every time, hiding just out of sight
2. We need to understand that changing our perspective is crucial to understand a situation, figuring out how other people feel, how did we get here, why did they create this situation, what is their motivation? is all essential

I have printed out the above image, and laminated it… it now sits on my desk as a constant reminder of these two things.. put more succinctly and from the perspective of my own individual action:

1. How can I get more information in order to see the double rainbow that is undoubtedly there, but not yet visible to me
2. How can I force myself to change my perspective to see the full circle that is only perceived from up high

I now run through this short mantra in every situation, in almost every meeting, and it is changing the way I view the world. I'm seeing double rainbows all the way!

However, to end on a bit of a sad note, I'm sorry to say, you were all lied to as children… there can be no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, because rainbows have no end…