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?
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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 |
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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