Colour me Alive 

Colour,  does rock our world. It lifts us dictates our mood and can bring us down. Colouring our world is so essential to our lives to our very embracement of living, but are we embracing the colours of our world?

Spring and summer it is so easy to live in colour, it is everywhere, on our clothes, in our environment, radiating from the sun. But people still wear black, why? What is it about black that invites so many people? What colours should we wear and why? Does colour really have an effect on our moods? Do we set the stage in how others will receive us when we wear colour?

Here are some definitions on what colours mean and you can see if how they affect us. Colour is essential in your life, in your own empowerment and in how you set your stage for others to receive you in.

If you want people to hear you, wear a colour that speaks to your truth, do not have too many patterns there as it can be distracting, highlight with bold colours. When wearing a lot of colour on the body, keep your makeup soft, if wear a dark or deep bold colour make sure your lipstick is bold too. 

Do not just blindly follow fashion for fashion’s sake, but know your own body and wear what reflects the real you. Wearing colour gives us energy, it vibrates on high frequency’s and can give us what we need to get throughout day.

If you are down, sad, please put vibrant colours around you, flowers, pictures, scarves, anything that gives you the energy you need to be lifted. Do not wear browns blacks or bull colours when feeling ill sad or bad as it will bring you down more. 

Illness can be helped with young greens, soft pinks, warm blues, pale yellows, but stay away from the bold colours as the energy will be too high at that time. Wear a nightgown that is warm and inviting, it surrounds the body with love. 

Do not wear reds, blacks, deep colours when angry as it will increase the mood. Go for the soft colours to calm you so that you may get some perspective before reacting. Do not wear colours to impress if they do nothing for you if you do to feel right in the colour you won’t look right either.

Decorating, these colours are there for a while, don’t go for fads, don’t paint a room all red blue black or any other colour that provokes an emotion. One red etc wall with soft eggshell whites or creams will look warm alive and be inviting. Don’t paint your son’s room all blue, but accent the walls with blue like the doors, windowsills furniture pictures. Same as the pink room, add other colours to stimulate the brain and heighten the senses. 

Office space, keep it clean focused with vibrant accents, have a stimulating picture on the wall, wear colour use colour but don’t go too dark or too much as you can over sense you senses. 

House colours, you do not want to be THAT house on the block, keep it clean with colour accents, window frames doors, roof window dressings, but the colour of the house lighter as it makes it look bigger and cleaner so newer. 

PLEASE USE COLOUR but use it in the reflection of who you are what you want to say and feel. I love colour, it dictates my world, let it make you feel alive in self and in ownership of your own destination. 

Here are my colour ideas plus definitions of colour analogizing. 

I love blue all shades deep bold and sky like vibrant. I have blue eyes and blues always make them shine. I do not like a harsh blue the cold base blue, I find it too cold. I like a warm base creamy soft welcoming. Pale of harsh blue on the walls can be very physiologically disturbing, as an accent ok but all blue no.

Blue.  Intellectual.
Positive: Intelligence, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection, calm.
Negative: Coldness, aloofness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.

Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Consequently, it is serene and mentally calming. It is the colour of clear communication. Blue objects do not appear to be as close to us as red ones. Time and again in research, blue is the world’s favourite colour. However, it can be perceived as cold, unemotional and unfriendly.

Green, as we know, is the colour of healing and nature. Soft greens calm cooling the spirit and calming the senses. Green is always inviting, but I like it with something another colour to give it some definition. Green can be dull but also so vibrant with the right partner, it does make us think of the earth and all things that grow, and in that it brings us a sense of peace.

1. GREEN.  Balance
   Positive: Harmony, balance, refreshment, universal love, rest, restoration, reassurance, environmental awareness, equilibrium, peace. 
   Negative: Boredom, stagnation, blandness, enervation.

Green strikes the eye in such a way as to require no adjustment whatever and is, therefore, restful. Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance – a more important concept than many people realize. When the world about us contains plenty of green, this indicates the presence of water, and little danger of famine, so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level. Negatively, it can indicate stagnation and, incorrectly used, will be perceived as being too bland.

So black is not the darkness we perceive it to be, and I think it is slimming. When you put colour on black it becomes the canvas for the colour to shine from. Black is serious, it means business, but with a dash of that colour can go from severe to fun very easily.

The definition of black is BLACK.
Positive: Sophistication, glamour, security, emotional safety, efficiency, substance. 
Negative: Oppression, coldness, menace, heaviness.

Black is all colours, totally absorbed. The psychological implications of that are considerable. It creates protective barriers, as it absorbs all the energy coming towards you, and it enshrouds the personality. Black is essentially an absence of light since no wavelengths are reflected and it can, therefore be menacing; many people are afraid of the dark. Positively, it communicates absolute clarity, with no fine nuances. It communicates sophistication and uncompromising excellence and it works particularly well with white. Black creates a perception of weight and seriousness. 
It is a myth that black clothes are slimming:

Orange is our sunshine, it glows within us, cheering us uplifting us up and wrapping its glow around us to makes us feel loved. I love orange, again I like it complemented with whites, blues, pinks, greens, it makes it so alive it is life.

1. ORANGE. 
   Positive: Physical comfort, food, warmth, security, sensuality, passion, abundance, fun. 
   Negative: Deprivation, frustration, frivolity, immaturity.

Since it is a combination of red and yellow, orange is stimulating and reaction to it is a combination of the physical and the emotional. It focuses our minds on issues of physical comfort – food, warmth, shelter etc. – and sensuality. It is a ‘fun’ colour. Negatively, it might focus on the exact opposite – deprivation. This is particularly likely when warm orange is used with black. Equally, too much orange suggests frivolity and a lack of serious intellectual values.

Pink, always innocent, but so alluring, it represents a childlike quality but also a sensuality. Soft pinks speak of infancy, of something venerable and needs protecting. But fire it up and you can have one hot Mama inviting a different tale altogether. I love pinks, hot pink, fuchsias, full deep alive pinks. Again but with browns, greens, blues, creams, white and accented by black, pink is very much alive.

PINK.

Positive: Physical tranquillity, nurture, warmth, femininity, love, sexuality, survival of the species. 

Negative: Inhibition, emotional claustrophobia, emasculation, physical weakness.

Being a tint of red, pink also affects us physically, but it soothes, rather than stimulates. (Interestingly, red is the only colour that has an entirely separate name for its tints. Tints of blue, green, yellow, etc. are simply called light blue, light green etc.) Pink is a powerful colour, psychologically. It represents the feminine principle and survival of the species; it is nurturing and physically soothing. Too much pink is physically draining and can be somewhat emasculating.

I seem to wear brown a lot, I love it with creams, pinks, white, yellows, but all brown is very dull indeed. You don’t look at someone wearing brown as sensual, vibrant, or alive, but more as methodical, earthy and in danger of being dull. You know you can count of a brown wearer, but don’t look for spontaneity, I must be in my pensive moments when I wear brown.But have to admit the best brown in the world is CHOCOLATE brown. 

1. BROWN
   Positive: Seriousness, warmth, Nature, earthiness, reliability, support. 
   Negative: Lack of humour, heaviness, lack of sophistication.

Brown usually consists of red and yellow, with a large percentage of black. Consequently, it has much of the same seriousness as black but is warmer and softer. It has elements of the red and yellow properties. Brown has associations with the earth and the natural world. It is a solid, reliable colour and most people find it quietly supportive – more positively than the ever-popular black, which is suppressive, rather than supportive.

Yellow, another colour I love, but not a cannery or washed out yellow. I love the deep vibrant yellow that jumps out at you to say hello. When I wear a deep rich yellow, I feel empowered, clean fresh welcoming and alive. I am clear headed and very direct in my approach in such a positive way. Again yellow worn with white, greens, creams, pinks, reds, really come alive and make a statement.

YELLOW Emotional

Positive: Optimism, confidence, self-esteem, extroversion, emotional strength, friendliness, creativity. 

1. Negative: Irrationality, fear, emotional fragility, depression, anxiety, suicide.

The yellow wavelength is relatively long and essentially stimulating. In this case, the stimulus is emotional, therefore yellow is the strongest colour, psychologically. The right yellow will lift our spirits and our self-esteem; it is the colour of confidence and optimism. Too much of it, or the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a colour scheme, can cause self-esteem to plummet, giving rise to fear and anxiety. Our “yellow streak” can surface.

Grey, another colour I wear a lot of in the winter, I like it when I am needing to be serious, I love accented with cream white and black. It is a background colour that allows you to be the colourful person that you are.

1. GRAY.
   Positive: Psychological neutrality.
   Negative: Lack of confidence, dampness, depression, hibernation, lack of energy.

Pure grey is the only colour that has no direct psychological properties. It is, however, quite suppressive. A virtual absence of colour is depressing and when the world turns grey we are instinctively conditioned to draw in and prepare for hibernation. Unless the precise tone is right, grey has a dampening effect on other colours used with it. Heavy use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence and fear of exposure.

Red, ahhhh reds, I am empowered by the reds, I feel deep emotionally, deep in wisdom and feel that I am being heard. Red is such a colour of life’s passion it resonates loud but controlled and dictates the mood authorially.  It is thunder it is excitement, it is lustful passion, and it is so full of life that it screams living. You can wear red with anything, white to highlight it, blacks to deepen it, creams to soften it, yellow to make it fun, and earth tones to give them depth. But when you wear reds, make sure you can carry it off, your personality must match the colour of the colour will drown you out. You want attention, red will get it, wear it strong with pride ownership and in making a statement.

1. RED. Physical
   Positive: Physical courage, strength, warmth, energy, basic survival, ‘fight or flight’, stimulation, masculinity, excitement. 
   Negative: Defiance, aggression, visual impact, strain.

Being the longest wavelength, red is a powerful colour. Although not technically the most visible, it has the property of appearing to be nearer than it is and therefore it grabs our attention first. Hence its effectiveness in traffic lights the world over. Its effect is physical; it stimulates us and raises the pulse rate, giving the impression that time is passing faster than it is. It relates to the masculine principle and can activate the “fight or flight” instinct. Red is strong and very basic. Pure red is the simplest colour, with no subtlety. It is stimulating and lively, very friendly. At the same time, it can be perceived as demanding and aggressive.

Violet like purple are colours of truth intuition and soul depth. It is another colour I wear a lot, I always feel safe in purples, it is pure, and it is honest. When I wear purple or violets, I always get a compliment, for it brings out my inner strength and opens people up to seeing my inner wisdom. I am for all my extrovert-ness in truth I am an introvert, I think in but speak out, I am completive and feel deep, so deep that some lines it is hard to come back to earth. Tis colour speaks of my soul but reminds me there is so much more to me. Wear creams, pinks, blues, yellows with these colours, but know people will see your soul in them.

1. VIOLET/PURPLE.  Spiritual
   Positive: Spiritual awareness, containment, vision, luxury, authenticity, truth, quality. 
   Negative: Introversion, decadence, suppression, inferiority.

The shortest wavelength is violet, often described as purple. It takes awareness to a higher level of thought, even into the realms of spiritual values. It is highly introvertive and encourages deep contemplation or meditation. It has associations with royalty and usually communicates the finest possible quality. Being the last visible wavelength before the ultra-violet ray, it has associations with time and space and the cosmos. Excessive use of purple can bring about too much introspection and the wrong tone of it communicates something cheap and nasty, faster than any other colour.

Don’t be afraid of colour, it is natures way of giving us a vibrational life. Colour is a living thing and when we embrace it we can feel alive.

Written by Sara Troy

SELF DISCOVERY RADIO.COM

HTTP://SELFDISCOVERYRADIO.COM 

www.saratroy.com

Colour annalist from colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours