Everybody needs some Yellow

9
Sep

Yellow is one of the colors I love most. [Quick story: I once brought home a cool industrial coffee table once. It was this great deep, distressed yellow with casters and a glass top (which was balanced precariously on top, I can admit it). Turns out my husband thought it was less cool than I did, because when he came home and saw it positioned in the living room he asked when our construction site was going to be done. Stinker! He was right though, and try as I might it just didn’t fit with the vibe of anything else we had. I was sucked in by that beautiful yellow.]

Yellow’s many associations:

amber, topaz, citrine

fire, direction: south. The solar plexus, the sense of sight, a circle or a triangle,

intellect, vitality, reason, cheer, and optimism.

In some cultures, yellow signifies royalty and has connections to gold and sun (think sun gods).

It can also signify change and transformation.

Instagram: @tclmn

Yellow is connected to balance, to teachers or students (formal or informal), thought and concentration, being high-spirited and restless.

^^^^

These are prime reasons I resonate with yellow, though I’ve never known this until I started researching color meanings. Restlessness? Check. The curiosity required to be a student or a teacher, or the desire to learn new things? Check. Balance? Not so much, but it’s something that has a push-pull attraction for me. Yellow is also associated with joy, a sense of playfulness, hope, and being outgoing. Those sound lovely, don’t they? And finally, for Carl Jung it signified intuition, something that for me tends to inform the way I interact with the world around me.

Yellow might be my favorite.

It’s interesting to find out how other cultures view colors or how their language for colors came about. Here’s a video that summarizes some of the ideas in the book by Guy Deutscher about color and language. (I mentioned this book in another post you can read here.)

I’ve gotten a lot of information and inspiration from a book that might raise some eyebrows. It’s called The Women’s Book of Healing by Diane Stein. Prepare your eyebrows. The subtitle is “Auras, Chakras, Laying on of Hands, Crystals, Gemstones, and Colors” (note she used an Oxford coma, just for a little more controversy). There was a time when I would have been afraid of this book or thought anyone reading it was wandering into dangerous territory. However, while I don’t endorse all the material in the book, I do think there are mysterious things in the world, things we can’t explain, and things that intuitively make sense. Rather than run away from things that aren’t explained by logic or measurable metrics, I think we can examine them and take from them what is worthwhile.

Next week is the finally installment of our Color Meanings series, and it feels right to go across the color wheel and close things out with violet or purple, which is yellow’s direct complement. Hope to see you back here next week!

Nothing rhymes with Orange

1
Sep

Orange has a bad reputation, one it doesn’t deserve.

It’s seen as garish, or associated with Halloween and all things pumpkin. [I know there are pumpkin spice fans out there just waiting for the starter gun of fall to signal the return of market saturation (new: pumpkin spice bratwurst! Seriously, if you want to see how far it’s gone — and I know these are NOT all photoshopped — check out this silliness) but it’s not time yet! You can’t make us!]

Orange is used this way, I’m not arguing with that, but it’s not the only way to see it.

Think of the distressed finish of an Italian inspired room or a terra-cotta walkway. Those don’t strike me as garish. They’re rich colors that (to me) convey warmth and hospitality.

Orange is also associated with the positives of healing, wisdom, flourishing emotions, as well as inspiring courage, reasoning ability, and is said to stimulate the appetite (maybe that’s why it’s connected to the whole pumpkin spice craze).

It’s also connected to a crescent or triangle shape. Its sense is taste (thus the appetite stimulant), its direction is west and its element is water.

Finally, if you haven’t seen this video from Kirsty Mitchell Photography yet, you’re in for a treat. It’s a feast for the eyes and her photography and design are breathtaking.

Do you use orange in your life, beyond fall or pumpkins? I’d love to know!

Green — You like it more than you Think

19
Aug

Green is a full of built-in meanings: growth, renewal, nature, earth. It’s a color that can be difficult; when worn it can draw out certain undertones in people’s skin and make them look sallow. The same goes for home decorating uses as well. Who wants to look even more washed out in the bathroom in the morning? No thanks.

However, green is replenishing and calming, neutral as a backdrop for all things outdoors, plants and animals, even homes. If you’re in the market for a new place to live, you’re probably going to be affected by the state of the yard, which will give you a first impression of the house itself.

This is a pretty old journal page, but I still like what’s going on in it.

Depending on your exposure to medical environments you might have associations with a light green, so often used for scrubs or hospital rooms. In fact, according to the book, Colors for your Every Mood by Leatrice Eiseman:

In 1914, a surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Franscisco was disturbed by the glare of the white walls, drapes, towels, sheets and so forth. He chose a lettuce-leaf green to have his operating room painted because it is the complementary (or opposite) to red and pink — the colors of blood. The color rapidly gained popularity. Thousands of surgical suites, uniforms and drapes were eventually colors green…This “eye-ease green” has been scientifically proven to keep the surgeon’s eyes acure to red and pink, to relieve glare, and to be psychologically cool.

That also explains why we see that pale green in school buses and buildings as well — the same color spread to educational environments too.

Green is connected with air, jade, healing, compassion, and the direction east.

There are lots of imperfections with this but I stand by the message.

Is this green or blue? I used both colors, so maybe it’s in the eye of the beholder.

For a mindbending discussion of color and language, including green, check out this book by Guy Deutscher . It talks about early languages and how when analyzed there seems to be a wide spectrum of colors that are never mentioned, and naming objects with colors we would never associate with the object, such as green honey or a wine-dark sea. I won’t give away how he develops the relationship between color and language, but it is fascinating.

Isn’t it interesting to think about colors and why we like or dislike them?

I’d love to hear your thoughts so feel free to comment!

I haven’t been very good at tagging colors with #colorfun but I’ll try to do better. Use that hashtag for your colorful pics or tag me @tclmn on Instagram so I’ll be sure to see them!

Red and it’s Subdued Friend, Pink

4
Aug

Red has so many associations, it’s hard to know where to start. Power, luck, sensuality, alarm, and intensity all come to mind without even working at it. In our first home we painted the living room red and I loved it enough to use a deeper variation of red in our current home (which I hope we’ll be in for many years to come). My artwork doesn’t usually have a lot of red, but often I’ll need some version of deep pink for it to feel complete.

Red is connected to a square shape, the sense of smell or touch, the heart, and our core or root.

If you’re interested in reading something else related to “red” I wrote a thing you can read here.

Red isn’t only something the impacts us psychologically. It’s physical too. The color red affects our pituitary glans when we are exposed to it, and it sends signals to release adrenaline. This in turn improves our sense of smell, our taste buds are more sensitive, and our appetite improves. (Summarized from Leatrice Eiseman’s Colors for your Every Mood)

Rose or pink is associated with air, east, love, touch, and equal-armed cross shape (think of a plus sign). Compassion and positive self-love are tied up in this color.

Pink is a whole different animal, even though it’s related to red. It can seem thin or watered down, sugar-coated when used with other pastels. It can also be vibrant, youthful and energetic. Even though growing up I was taught pink and red clash with one another and the combo should be avoided, I happen to like the way they play off one another. You can tell they’re cousins.

What do you think of red? Do you wear it much, use it in your decorating? Is it a color that draw or repels you? I’d love to hear about it so leave a comment with your thoughts!

Blue: Everybody’s Favorite Color

12
Jul

While the title of this may be hyperbolic, if you ask people their favorite color, the majority will pick blue. Blue is calming, versatile, and depending on the shade it can even function as a neutral.

PC: Morguefile @JessicaGale – That’s a beautiful winter sky.

Blue is associated with a complex myriad of things. It can be connected to creativity, self-understanding, and loyalty. It has been proven to lower blood pressure and heart rate, and promotes calm.

Of course, we’ve got to let is also be associated with “being blue” or feeling down. This is the happiest song about being blue I can think of. Plus it includes yodeling, which is a skill I admire and pretend I have.

Blue is also connected to the throat, a lapis, and a crescent moon or a circle shape. (I don’t totally understand why, but that’s the way it goes with associations. They can be hard to pin down.)

In a flukey spooky coincidence, a friend of mine published this blog post and mentions a few things that have been popping up in my life lately, so I thought it would be fun to mention it here. Think all things blue.

If you want to play a little game, join me on Instagram. Use the hashtag #colorfun and show us your favorite colors!

Vivid Meaningful Color

6
Jul

Summer is a great time to appreciate color. It’s all around us, and not just green, although we should be sure to sing the praises of green especially so we remember it well once we’re in the long white-coated months of winter. Flowers come to mind first, but plants in general are beautifully colorful in the summer. People are open to more colorful clothes, and even our skin tends to move toward deeper color despite our application of sunscreen.

In addition to this assorted burst of pigments, colors in themselves have associations, meanings we ascribe to them if only subconsciously. That’s why hospitals rooms are painted certain colors while restaurants are painted others. But why are we attracted to certain colors and repelled by others? How much of that is based on our own personalities and how much do we owe to the way color is used in interior design and even advertising or the media?

Over the next few days (ok, let’s be realistic, it might be weeks) I think it would be interesting to look into different colors and their meanings in Western culture. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it brief and it will deal in generalities so we don’t lose the folks in the back who just peeked into the room because they heard voices.

So I hope you’ll check back here and join in. I’d love to hear about your favorite colors and why they’re you favorites. Maybe we’ll even have a little play-along fun over on Instagram and post ourselves wearing colors that make us feel good, even if we don’t know why…yet. Let’s use the hashtag #colorful or tag me @tclmn so I’m sure to see what you come up with!

The Red Handkerchief

13
Jun

Hi everyone! I’m excited to share that I have a piece over at The Mudroom today. I’d love to have you stop over and see it there. Here’s an excerpt to get you started…

In the story The Giver, they had a phrase “precision of language”. This was an admonition when people used an irrelevant term, something their culture didn’t believe in anymore. We have antiquated words that don’t serve us or even offend us now, and we have phrases whose etymologies are hard to trace.

You can read more of it, just click here.

Items needed for optimum writing

In the Face of Evidence to the Contrary

13
Jun

Experience would tell me that my garden will yield more weeds than cucumbers this summer.

It would tell me I’ll be optimistic about the little wisps that appear in places other than where than where I’ve planted anything. It says I will wait to see if these little darlings are friendly wildflowers or a developing seed I sprinkled and forgot. And as I wait, the root of some strong-willed, drought tolerant, prickly-stalked invasive species will establish itself as the centerpiece of my garden. fluorescent

Not that I’m speaking from first hand memory or anything.

Experience says I will tire of the endless battle against Mother Nature’s crabby aunt, Rhizome, and will relinquish custody of the 10×15 plot when the mosquitos get too swarmy, the humidity too thick, or my allergies too ridiculously sneezy — like, how many sneezes does it take before you get annoyed with the sneezer and think they’re doing it on purpose? Turns out it’s not that many.

And yet…

Even though the above descriptions may be true, I can’t help but expect great things. This year will be different. This year, everything will work out!

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Someone I used to know is facing the most difficult, heart breaking thing she’ll probably ever go through. And even if it sounds childish, I can’t help feeling like it’s not fair. It’s not right. Her family shouldn’t have to go through this kind of loss, the kind that will forever change the trajectory of all their lives, the kind that will mark them with a scar that isn’t completely healable. How can this be their lot in life? How is this what God has for them? <— this is proof that old beliefs die hard. Once upon a time I thought God had a definitive plan for every one. Every single person. Imagine what that can do to your view of God, especially when everything’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I’ve shaken that off, but boy it pops up in weird ways every once in a while!

When I first heard the news of this tragedy, it wasn’t at the worst stage. The cancer had been detected, there was treatment ahead, and maybe things would be alright. What does it say that I hoped it would be alright but feared it probably wouldn’t be? Has grief so knocked me around that I’ve lost my ability to believe in the best for people?

People are saying that she has been given this burden to shine for God’s glory.

That sounds like a kind of spiritual abuse to me, and if not “abuse” certainly placing expectations on what grief should look like.

Because what if she can’t keep shining? Sometimes it seems that we’re only allowed to count for God if we say the right verses or smile the smile despite the circumstances.

What if she has to rage and gnash her teeth and spit and tear her clothes? Does that make her shine less?

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Even though there are times when the world too much, when so much evidence points to corruption, greed, and selfishness, there is substantial proof of the world also being beautiful, full of generosity and goodness.

Maybe having a healthy respect for the dark makes you look for and expect the Light.

Maybe I’m not the Future

6
Jun

My kids are at optimum summer camp age. You know the age, that magical sweet spot when they want to go away to camp, they can swim, they’re potty trained even at night, and they consistently tie their own shoes. Okay, they’re a little more advanced than just tying their own shoes, but they are those kids who go to camp and throw themselves fully into every game, every activity, every challenge. Their cabin leaders are gods, the camp staff are living like kings, and everything about going away is a dream come true.

We visited a special camp recently, one my husband attended as a child, one I worked at one summer, one my father attended as a child, one my grandparents helped support and build when it was first established. Even with all the changes and improvements, I felt as though I had been on staff just recently, say…three summers ago. In reality, I was on staff for one single summer, and that summer was almost 20 years ago. How can that be? I’m just barely 30 (in my mind) so I must have been the youngest staff member EVER since I would have had to be 10 for that math to work out.

Seriously, how can that be?

Here I am, barely out of my ~~20s~~ (~~30s~~…okay I’m in my 40s…but please note that’s my early 40s), and somehow I have children who want to go to camp, one of whom will attend YOUNG TEENS.

And all these tiny babies think they run the joint. They just learned to walk last week so how in the world can they think they can run a camp? They still have to have two naps a day and just started being able to grip a spoon to feed themselves, and they think people are going to entrust their children to their care??

Photo Credit: Morguefile @kakisky

Actually, they are glorious. They are all golden and fresh, thinking they’re the first ones to ever think their thoughts or breathe their air. Their attempted maturity is endearing. That’s not to say they haven’t had experiences or lived through difficulty. But so much is out in front of them, so many directions their lives can go — almost any direction if they’re willing to live on ramen noodles (do college students still scrimp by on ramen noodles?) and have cardboard boxes as furniture.

As they floated by with their backpacks and minor sunburns, I remembered being them. I remembered being sure I could do it, sure I would probably work there full time one day, sure my ideas would work, sure I would impact the future of camp, sure I’d make a difference in the lives of the campers who came through. I was the future.

Now I’m not the future anymore. I’m not sure what time period I am (present? past? imperfect participle?).

Even if I’m unsure, I’m happy to simply be here now. “In the now” is the phrase, right? Here is good. Now works. I’ll take it.

Did you ever attend or work at camp? I’d love to hear about it. Did you know I’m writing a novel that centers around camp? It’s true! I’m more than halfway done, and I think it’s a really fun story (and real, and hard. You know, like life.). I look forward to being able to tell you more about it soon!

Shoulds and Ought-Tos

7
May

Every day life is full of shoulds and ought-tos.

I ought to be more organized.

I ought to prioritize more exercise.

This house needs to be decluttered.

I forgot to follow up with those teachers – wonder if they’ll check their email before they leave for the day.

I can’t forget to do that work thing.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the grandparents; I need to call them and arrange a visit.

Why doesn’t life issue personal assistants to each of us? Speaking of, I should make those dentist appointments.
So. many. shoulds.

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There are so many things I should do, but I don’t…or at least I do those things first. And in so doing (or not doing), there are times when I ignore responsibility and chores, putting off for tomorrow what ought to be done today.

However, there are also times when by delaying those “shoulds”, I’m taking a gamble on myself.

I’m taking a gamble on finding meaningful work that allows me to use my creativity, that gives me an opportunity to experiment and explore the world I create wth words or layers of paints and papers. I’m putting my own interests, passions and dreams ahead of the tasks that will still be there to do later today and all the rest of the days to come.

It’s scary stuff, taking a chance on ourselves.

It’s hard to put aside the expectations of others and ourselves, whether those expectations come by way of our personality, training, environment or background.

In my mind, I’m supposed to be organized, driven, scheduled, and clutter free in all ways. I’m also supposed to be compassionate, mindful, wholehearted, brave, healthy, understanding, and an advocate for the disenfranchised. There’s also the side of expectations that demands I be creative, in tune with my intuition, deliver fresh ideas, see the angles other don’t see, chase the light.

In reality, I’m rarely only some of these on my best day. Some days I just want to eat a milkshake in bed and watch old reruns of the Cosby Show. Mmmm, milkshake.

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Comparison is a joy stealer.

If we see something done by someone we admire we think we can recreate it by implementing some strategy, some list of things we can do and then we’ll achieve that elusive place of status or contentment. We don’t stop to consider the process it took to get to that point — we only see someone’s current situation. Or we think the exact process can be recreated by anybody who just wants it bad enough.

Comparison easily becomes envy, and even if it doesn’t, it easily becomes one more whip we use to lash ourselves.

We get so busy looking outside to the people and things out there, we rarely stop to sit with ourselves and make friends with who we are.

When we focus on all the things we should do, we put our energy elsewhere, into the future (distant or immediate) rather than right now.

Let’s use this scenario…Have you ever had a child ask you to play with him or her? It’s easy to say no, since there are so many “productive” things to get done. And sometimes there’s truth to that – there are things that have to get done because if they don’t, there are consequences.

But what happens when you chose to say yes to the child’s request? There are big rewards, not only for the child. There’s a time shift that happens, a veil that gets pulled back to allow you to enter an enchanted world of slow time, time that is all-at-once and not-yet. Sometimes the spell only lasts a for a scene, before the dog shoves open the door with his nose and comes in (or the sibling barges in or the phone rings, etc.).

For right now, I want to remember to listen to my inner voice and pay attention and give my full atttention to what’s right in front of me. My to-do list (even that mental one) will still be there tomorrow.