Color Decision Tip#4: Possibilities!
Is there a decision you need to make? A challenge you’re having? Just some question that’s niggling at the back of your mind? It might be a big one (On a scale of 1 to 10 how attracted were you to the person you just took out on a date), but the small choices we make on a daily basis (what kind of sandwich to bring to lunch; how to handle your neighbors who go off with your garbage cans); cumulate and matter more than we think. So let’s get a little more conscious about how we go about making our decisions, and let’s use color to help us. It’s all around us. It can open up different perspectives, and in contrast to the “heaviness” we often feel when making choices, it can lighten things up, adding in a tad more joy and fun. In that spirit, here’s a decision-making tip brought to you by the rainbow! “The order of the Rainbow spectrum is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.” Hmm, what’s this all about? Don’t we all know this, and what in any case does this have to do with making good decisions? Actually, we probably don’t all know this; we don’t all remember the order of colors in the rainbow. We get so excited when we see one we naturally focus on the totality and the magnificence. . If a rainbow consisted only of one color, would it be such a big deal when we saw one? Maybe. But maybe not, which in and of itself tells you something about how you make decisions. When you’re confronted with a challenge, which parts of the whole situation do you most notice? Give most weight to? Pay most attention to? Are there aspects of the situation you’re not seeing at all or too quickly glossing over? In other words and using the color metaphor, Are you paying attention to the right colors—in an order and in a way that works for you? The rainbow reminds us that it’s important to take the time to get things right. It also highlights that there’s a lot of factors that contribute to any decision; a lot of different ways to weigh those factors; and a lot of different processes we can use as we make those decisions. No, of course the takeaway from the above isn’t that there’s so many ways to go about making decisions that we should each get overwhelmed and just give up. Quite the opposite. Here’s this beautiful order of colors that come together and support each other in exactly the way they were meant to do. The rainbow reminds us we have more ways to manage our challenges than we initially think; let’s put the elements together in a way that feels right. And in the end, let’s remember the spirit of abundance and possibilities that the rainbow holds for all of us in the first place, above all approaching each and every challenge with that wonderful spirit of possibility. What do you think, and what is one way the rainbow can help you as you’re making a specific decision this week?
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Inspirational Color Quotes: Color Rainbow
We all can use a little inspiration. It’s easy to concentrate on the tasks that need to be done immediately and the exigencies of our daily routines. The inspirational color quotes found in this section of the website ask you, in any way that feels right for you, to step out of the box, take a few minutes of reflection and refocus on the bigger picture. Thereafter, you might choose to take some particular action to move you in a new direction, you might want to take advantage of a quiet moment or you might choose to simply enjoy. In that spirit, here’s the inspirational color quote for this week. “I don't want a rainbow... Rainbows have too many colors and none of them receive the appreciation they deserve... I'd prefer a fading red or a striking golden, a shimmery silver or a sober blue... Ruling the sunset sky alone!” --Debalina Haldar (author) What an intriguing idea. It’s an interesting viewpoint about colors and an interesting perspective on other things too. First you think, wow who wouldn’t want a rainbow! They’re beautiful. They’re magical. They provide a panoplea of colors, all merging together in ways that provide some pretty wonderful contrasts. The presence of each color makes each of the others better—by a lot. But if you think about it, Debalina Haldar‘s got a point. When do you have a preference for a melding and merging of colors, and on the other hand, what are some times you might want to focus solely on one color alone? As she says, a shimmery silver. A sober blue. Maybe she’s being a little contrarian but she’s right. Picture one color, and that really lets you both concentrate and appreciate. Each color has its unique qualities. Each stands out in its own way. Each deserves attention on its own terms. Debalina Haldar really gets me thinking. She turns what at first seems an out-of-the-box idea that one really wants to disagree with (how can someone not prefer rainbows!) into a real and meaningful choice. We usually don’t think about things that way, but there are certainly times when a focus on a single color really fits the bill! And how many other situations follow suit. Times when you see only one perspective but you really have a choice. Circumstances when you simply want to stay in your comfort zone an times when you seek to integrate in new activities as well. Times when you see yourself as part of some kind of unit (your family, your work place colleagues) and circumstances where you choose to just put yourself first. Hmm, there’s a rainbow of possibilities here, and we sometimes forget that one of those outcomes includes going solo. How do these ideas resonate with you, and what are one or two actions you might want to take in the next day or so on that basis? Inspirational Color Quote of the Week: Rainbow Colors
We all can use a little inspiration. It’s easy to concentrate on the tasks that need to be done immediately and the exigencies of our daily routines. The inspirational color quotes found in this section of the website ask you, in any way that feels right for you, to step out of the box, take a few minutes of reflection and refocus on the bigger picture. Thereafter, you might choose to take some particular action to move you in a new direction, you might want to take advantage of a quiet moment or you might choose to simply enjoy. In that spirit, here’s the inspirational color quote for this week. Rainbow Friends “The last mad throb of red just as it turns green; the ultimate shriek of orange calling all the blues of heaven for relief and support... each color almost regains the fun it must have felt within itself on forming the first rainbow.” --Charles Demuth (artist) How cool is this! And what a wonderful scene! It’s really got it all. Colors. Movement. Energy and play. Here’s all these colors, and they’re dancing around in the sky. They’re having fun, letting it loose, and taking time to enjoy the playing. For good or bad and leave it to the oranges, some of them are even shrieking. Charles Demuth is so eloquently providing a great reminder to be sure to include more of this contagious and happy energy in our own world. He doesn’t say so but what about even on a daily basis? Underlying this sensory experience (some of you introverts out there might label it sensory overload) is a story of the truest and best kind of friendships. Sure it’s about play; but it’s not at all about playing alone. The reds are turning to the greens. The oranges are calling for the blues. At the same time as these colors might be experiencing what it must have felt like to form the first (and perhaps most current) rainbow, they’re looking for each other, calling to each other, turning to each other and finding each other for “relief and support. Most of all, Each of these colors knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the other colors will be there for them. They’re a constant and a given in each others’ lives, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. For worse and by far mostly for the better, they’re connected! Like the rainbow, there’s the parts, and as these colors want to teach us, there’s the whole which is bigger than the sum of those parts. So think about it. There’s the joy and fun of the play. There’s these wonderful connections between friends; and finally there’s the magic of the rainbow, providing energy of its own, calling to each of us to be our best an bathing us with a whole lot of light and inspiration. How do these ideas resonate with you, and what are one or two actions you might want to take in the next day or so on that basis? Is there a decision you need to make? A challenge you’re having? Just some question that’s niggling at the back of your mind? It might be a big one (On a scale of 1 to 10 how attracted were you to the person you just took out on a date), but the small choices we make on a daily basis (what kind of sandwich to bring to lunch; how to handle your neighbors who go off with your garbage cans); cumulate and matter more than we think. So let’s get a little more conscious about how we go about making our decisions, and let’s use color to help us. It’s all around us. It can open up different perspectives, and in contrast to the “heaviness” we often feel when making choices, it can lighten things up, adding in a tad more joy and fun. In that spirit, here’s a decision-making tip brought to you by the rainbow! “All you need is bright sunshine and lots of water drops. Go outside on a hot summer day with a hose with a nozzle on it which will produce a fine spray of water and spray water in the air in the direction you would expect to see a rainbow…. So find the shadow of your head, put your thumb over it at arms length, move your stretched out hand again one width, and that is the direction to spray the water.”(http://optics.kulgun.net/Rainbow/rainbow-faq.shtml) Rainbows are pretty wonderful things. The science behind them—how we see them, under what conditions we see them and which aspects of them we can see—is fascinating. The Centuries of poetry, mythology and symbolism is even better. But did you ever think that engaging with the rainbow in very practical ways can help you make better decisions too Here’s one way that’s the case. We usually think of rainbows as out there in the distance. Nature produces them (beautifully), and we’re relatively reactive observers. Sure, some of us might go out of our way to travel to places where rainbows are prevalent, and sure as the saying goes, some of us metaphorically are always chasing rainbows. But for the most part we get excited when we see them, and one reason we get so excited is because we think we don’t have control over when they do show up. They’re a wonderful surprise! The thing is, like many of the day-to-day decisions we make, rainbows teach us that we have more agency and more control over things than we think. Are rainbows really so out there in the distance that we have no say about when we come across them? Well if you want to see a rainbow, there are more ways you can do so than you think. You can go to places where they’re more prevalent. You can travel to places—and if you look it up, there are more of those places than you would expect—which actually have “rainbow” in the geographic name. Best of all as the quote above reminds us, with just a garden hose, some sunlight and a little bit of experimentation, you can have a rainbow in your life just about any time you want it. It’s that easy, and it’s yours for the making! And so too is the case for the day-to-day decisions—the small ones and even the bigger ones—that each of us is making with more frequency than we realize. We often forget to take this perspective. We focus more on what other people want us to do. We treat our options as constrained by circumstances and thus as limited. We think we have to get things done in a certain amount of time. In short, We forget that we really do have a lot of control. We can take as much time as we need; we can say “I don’t know” if that’s the case; or we can get quiet and just sit with ourselves till we feel good about our choices. However we want to do it, our decisions belong to us; let’s remember all the ways we have agency, and let’s remember all the ways we have control. You can create that wonderful rainbow any old time you want; so too you can make choices and decisions that really make you happy. What do you think, and what is one way the rainbow can help you as you’re making a specific decision this week? The Seven Rays of the Rainbow
Our main source of light on this planet is the sun. We are naturally driven by the energy of sunlight - it provides warmth, growth for food, ability to cook that food, and much more - the sun's energy is vital to our quality of life on a daily basis. The sun drives our world and dictates much of our behavior. The rising sun stimulates activity and a state of alertness, while the blue light of evening brings on relaxation, and finally full darkness indicates a natural time to sleep for most people. The energy of light One of the benefits we receive from the sun's rays is the energy produced when light waves become color! Emotionally we respond to colors as they fit the time of day or year. The reduction of sunlight on a cloudy day or the long months of winter can significantly affect our emotions. Lack of sunlight can cause mood swings, depression, low energy level. Most of us notice a fresh, cheerful, vibrant feeling when Spring arrives after a long dark winter. The seven color rays are spiritual forces emanating from the white light. They are perpetually vibrating - not only on the surface of the earth - but also above and through it, encircling the globe in streams of endless energy. Color vibrations are a source of power, each one having a general as well as a specific function and purpose. Some people believe that each human being incarnates under a particular ray and is influenced by other subordinate rays, the focal point being an aura or radiation of light, that surrounds all creatures. The Trinity of Primary Colors There are three primary colors unfolded in the white light. These are Red, Yellow and Blue. These colors correspond with the three basic elements - hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. The three-fold power of the Primary Colors make a direct energy contribution towards our physical, mental and spiritual development. The Blue Ray (cooling) is assimilated by the spiritual center in the head. It awakens within a knowledge of divinity. We WILL in blue - INTENTION. The Yellow Ray stimulates mental growth by way of the brain. We THINK in yellow - WISDOM. The Red Ray (thermal) provides sustenance for the physical body, gaining entrance by way of the breath. We FEEL in red - ACTIVITY. https://crystal-cure.com/color-emotions2.html What Makes A Rainbow? If you had no idea at all about what a rainbow is or what causes it, you might actually believe some of the legends that different ancient cultures have created to explain it. Rainbows are among the most beautiful of nature’s displays. A rainbow isn’t really a “thing” and it doesn’t exist in a particular “place.” It is an optical phenomenon that appears when sunlight and atmospheric conditions are just right—and the viewer’s position is just right to see it. Drawing show the sun on the left and a rainbow on the right (under some rainy clouds) and a person viewing the rainbow in the middle. When can you see a rainbow? A rainbow requires water droplets to be floating in the air. That’s why we see them right after it rains. The Sun must be behind you and the clouds cleared away from the Sun for the rainbow to appear. Why is a rainbow a bow—or arc? A full rainbow is actually a complete circle, but from the ground we see only part of it. From an airplane, in the right conditions, one can see an entire circular rainbow. A circular rainbow as seen from a plane, with clouds in the center of the rainbow. From a flying plane, you might see a full-circle rainbow. What happens in the water droplets? The sunlight shines on a water droplet. As the light passes into the droplet, the light bends, or refracts, a little, because light travels slower in water than in air (because water is denser). Then the light bounces off the back of the water droplet and goes back the way it came, bending again as it speeds up when it exits the water droplet. Drawing shows the path of a light beam as it enters a spherical drop of water and reflects off the inside. It is separated into all its colors as it exits the droplet. Light enters a water droplet, bending as it slows down a bit going from air to denser water. The light reflects off the inside of the droplet, separating into its component wavelengths—or colors. When it exits the droplet, it makes a rainbow. Why the colors? Sunlight is made up of many wavelengths—or colors—of light. Some of those wavelengths get bent more than others when the light enters the water droplet. Violet (the shortest wavelength of visible light) bends the most, red (the longest wavelength of visible light) bends the least. So when the light exits the water droplet, it is separated into all its wavelengths. The light reflecting back to you, the observer with the Sunlight coming from behind you, from the water droplets will appear separated into all the colors of the rainbow! Violet will be on the bottom and red on the top. What makes a double rainbow? A double rainbow. A secondary rainbow appears if the sunlight is reflected twice inside the water droplets. Secondary rainbows are fainter, and the order of the color is reversed, with red on the bottom. Sometimes you can see another, fainter secondary rainbow above the primary rainbow. The primary rainbow is caused from one reflection inside the water droplet. The secondary rainbow is caused by a second reflection inside the droplet, and this “re-reflected” light exits the drop at a different angle (50° instead of 42° for the red primary bow). This is why the secondary rainbow appears above the primary rainbow. The secondary rainbow will have the order of the colors reversed, too, with red on the bottom and violet on the top. http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/rainbow/ Is there a decision you need to make? A challenge you’re having? Just some question that’s niggling at the back of your mind? Sure it might be a big one; what’s your next career move? On a scale of 1 to 10 how attracted were you to the person you just took out on a date? More likely, it’s the small choices we need to make on a daily basis. How to handle things when a neighbor keeps “borrowing” your garbage cans. How to break the “bad” habit of drinking too much soda. How to get your child to listen just a little better. What kind of sandwich to bring to lunch. We make so many choices we may not even think about them as choices, and sometimes we forget that choosing the status quo or choosing to do nothing is also a decision.
Ok so it’s important not to over think some of the small things. Let’s not obsess about every last detail. At the same time, let’s get a little more conscious about how we go about making our decisions, and let’s use color to help us. It’s all around us. It can help us become better observers. It can open up different perspectives, and in contrast to the heaviness we often bring to our decisions, it can lighten things up, adding in a tad more joy and even fun . In that spirit, here’s a decision-making tip brought to you by the color purple! You’re Important! “In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color.” (cite) What do you think? What do you know about the history of the color purple? According to several articles, in the olden olden days, purple was so rare in nature that it was unusual for people to even know what the color we know today looked like. Kind of a weird thought, isn’t it?”As civilizations developed, so did clothing and colored dyes. The earliest purple dyes date back to about 1900 B.C,” and “the dye initially used to make purple actually came from small mollusks only found around the Phoenician city of Tyre (today part of Lebanon). “ It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye.” Just think about that for a minute, and no wonder then for a long time it was only royalty and the really privileged who could afford to wear clothing of the color. No wonder as well that some royalty (Julius and augustus Caesar and later Elizabeth I in England) decreed that only the nobility was allowed to wear the color. So how does the unusual history of the color purple translate into making individual decisions in the modern day? For starters and not just because of the expense, there is that longstanding connection of purple to royalty. As we’re making our choices, , especially the important ones, what if we could think of ourselves as kings, queens or simply people taking on modern day leadership roles? How would a real leader (assuming he or she is imbued with the good rather than the tyrannical qualities we sometimes associate with royalty) face the current challenge you’re thinking about? Handle the conflict uppermost in your mind? Take care of his or her needs while going through a difficult process? Assuming it’s in good ways, kings, queens and other leaders take charge of situations, treat themselves well and look out for the common good. In the best of circumstances, they surround themselves with things and people that really work for them. How does this apply to your own individual situation? How does thinking of yourself as a leader-- and a leader imbued with some power at that-- help sort out your options and choices? Additionally, and what I particularly like about the quote at the top of this article is the description of the color purple as having an “interesting” and “significant” history. Whether that history is truly more unusual than that of any other color may remain up for debate, but no doubt the history of purple in itself is interesting and significant. Doesn’t that also say a lot about the choices we ourselves need to make on an every day basis? We need to sort out the ones that are significant from the ones that are less so. Perhaps You’re going to spend a lot more time thinking about a career change rather than what kind of ice cream you’ll go buy from the store? Perhaps the reverse is true? But in all seriousness , it is useful to ask ourselves which of all the choices we are making are most important and which ones deserve more of our energy and time. And once we have identified which ones those are, it’s important to keep in mind that that particular set of choices is indeed interesting and significant. At least for myself, sometimes I procrastinate. Sometimes for reasons I don’t always understand, I downplay the importance of even what I would describe as my own important decisions. Purple is reminding us to treat ourselves well as we make our decisions, and it’s also encouraging us to take ourselves and the significant decisions we want to make with the seriousness and care that the (and we) truly deserve. , How do the ideas in this tip resonate with you, and what is one way you could implement one of them in the moment to immediately help you make a more satisfactory choice Color Decision tip#1: Set the foundation and Find the Energy!
Is there a decision you need to make? A challenge you’re having? Just some question that’s niggling at the back of your mind? Sure it might be a big one; what’s your next career move? On a scale of 1 to 10 how attracted were you to the person you just took out on a date? More likely, it’s the small choices we need to make on a daily basis. How to handle things when a neighbor keeps “borrowing” your garbage cans. How to break the “bad” habit of drinking too much soda. How to get your child to listen just a little better. What kind of sandwich to bring to lunch. We make so many choices we may not even think about them as choices, and sometimes we forget that choosing the status quo or choosing to do nothing is also a decision. Ok so it’s important not to over think some of the small things. Let’s not obsess about every last detail. At the same time, let’s get a little more conscious about how we go about making our decisions, and let’s use color to help us. It’s all around us. It can help us become better observers. It can open up different perspectives, and in contrast to the heaviness we often bring to our decisions, it can lighten things up, adding in a tad more joy and fun . In that spirit, here’s a decision-making tip brought to you by the color purple! Set the foundation and Find the Energy! “Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red.” (site) What do you think? Ok, so we learned somewhere back in grammar school that purple is a combination of red and blue. It’s a secondary color so it’s a blend of two primaries. but how does that tried-and-true fact help us as we’re thinking about our choices? Actually, there’s a lot for us to learn. First, there is “the calm stability” of blue. Remembering that blue is one of the three primary colors, That’s a pretty good starting point for making choices. Not out of fear. Not out of haste. Not out of guilt. Setting up a foundation where you are grounded and centered. Such a foundation provides a much better place from which to reflect and to get in touch with what you truly need. You haven’t decided yet on a course of action that satisfies you? Well, that’s ok. It probably means you haven’t set quite a strong enough foundation. What might you do to make it a little firmer?. And then as you’re thinking about things and making your decision, what about the fierce energy provided by red? Which of the alternatives you’re considering really fires you up? Which really has your number? Which really calls to you and you just know it’s right?Too often, we make decisions through our logical minds and we develop some kind of list of pros and cons. That’s a great strategy and likely one that should be part of our process for making important decisions. but like blue, red is a primary color; it reminds us that our emotions and energies are key. Go with the choice that really fires you up! And what happens next? Put these together and you get purple! You’ve gotten yourself in a place of calm and stability. You’ve found an energy that truly fires you up. And out of all that comes something truly different. Blue matters. Red matters. Each of the colors is integral to the process. ? but then as we’re reminded, purple is the combination of blue and red, which is to say, once we’ve made the choice we think is best, we have something totally different. It’s not any more blue. It’s not any more red. It’s the choice we really want, the choice that will propel us toward something new, different and exciting. It’s a choice that’s truly purple! How do the ideas in this tip resonate with you, and what is one way you could implement one of them in the moment to immediately help you make a more satisfactory choice What comes to mind when you think of the eighth month of the year? Events? Associations? Colors? Well perhaps more so than many other months, the month of August truly means different things to different people. It’s a time when many of us are enjoying some well earned vacation, and we’re making very different choices about how to spend that time. Do you want to go to some new and exotic place; head out of town to a familiar destination or just reacquaint yourself with what it’s like to hang out on the front porch? Alternatively, you may find yourself in the office getting more work done than you expected because things may be a little quieter and more relaxed. Some of us may be anticipating the new work and school opportunities just around the bend, and others of us may be disturbed that the summer is going by so fast. And if you’re like me, you may simply be annoyed about the heat. All of this is to say that there are more choices out there than we think, and we make all kinds of choices as to how we’re going to take advantage of these opportunities. This month’s color(s) symbolize these possibilities along with much much more. Through the ages and in very different ways, all manner of people (philosophers, scientists, poets, curious people) have been fascinated by this color combination. This is the case because this configuration of colors on the one hand is so rare and fleeting in the natural world and at the same time they’re so beautiful and striking. From the scientific perspective, it turns out that no two people-- even if they’re looking at this exact same color combination at exactly the same time--process it in exactly the same way. As well, there’s even more to this configuration of colors than we realize; what we think of as discrete colors is really a merging and blending into a whole and vibrant continuum of colors that sometimes provides more than the eye can see. Finally at least in the northern hemisphere, the summer months are the most likely time to observe this color combination. From a different perspective altogether, the mythology and symbolism which historically has surrounded this combination of colors is often times downright inspiring. The associations we have with the colors for starters emphasize harmony (of disparate elements) and the unity (among those elements). As this color arrangement reminds us, there are parts that need to be blended, and then the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts. How true is that for each of us inside ourselves too? The colors in this combination are also appropriately associated with some other pretty uplifting qualities: connection, hope, potential, possibilities, creation and even expansion and transformation. What a great set of images. Any one of them in its own right evokes a good deal of optimism and power; put it altogether and you’ve really got something good! And something that gets better and better the more you make it your own. That is to say, we usually think of this color combination as one we can only observe from a distance. We wait passively, then delight in what we see. Well you don’t have to be that passive! You can travel to areas where these colors can be seen more frequently. You can go to places that are actually named for the colors; and with only water from an ordinary garden hose and just the right amount of sunlight, you can within minutes have your very own vision of this set of colors. You’ve probably figured it out by now. But in honor of all the different choices and possibilities out there; in the spirit of being proactive and creating what you really want; and in the encouragement of finding the things that really inspire you, this month’s colors are---red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (that’s right; remember “roy g. biv” from high school)—all the wonderful colors that each bring their unique perspective and also combine to blend and merge into a beautiful and happy-making rainbow. Notes: *There are a surprising number of places around the world (cities, islands, lakes and mountains) named Rainbow, one of the most intriguing and spectacular being the Rainbow Mountains in China. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1274350/images/o-RAINBOW-MOUNTAINS-facebook.jpg *You really can make a rainbow of your very own. “All you need is bright sunshine and lots of water drops. Go outside on a hot summer day with a hose with a nozzle on it which will produce a fine spray of water and spray water in the air in the direction you would expect to see a rainbow…. So find the shadow of your head, put your thumb over it at arms length, move your streched out hand again one width, and that is the direction to spray the water.”( http://optics.kulgun.net/Rainbow/rainbow-faq.shtml) |
AuthorI am a Life Coach, a Color Wisdom Card Practitioner, and yes, even a Professor (political science, State University of New York at Albany). I use the Color Wisdom Cards to support clients in exploring priorities and taking concrete actions to stay on track with the goals they set. Because in my own life I have overcome a lot of self-doubt, I want to work with people towards more confidence and self-empowerment. You can do it! What is it you want to do? Categories
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