Live Inspired!
When topaz touches You…. “Whenever you touch topaz, it touches you. It awakens a gentle fire, like wine awakens in grapes. --Pavlo Neruda (poet) What do you think? As befits the words of a poet, there’s a lot here, and Pavlo Neruda packs quite a bit of punch into a couple of short sentences. Indeed, Topaz has a lot going for it. As a popular gem with quite a bit of interesting history, it holds meaning across many cultures. In ancient Greece, people thought the stone would provide strength in times of trouble. “When worn as a necklace, topaz was once believed to drive away sadness and strengthen intellect.” Though the best known version of the gem is the honey-gold color that is the birth stone for November, the “purest” version of the crystal is actually colorless. chemical “impurities” (perhaps actually a good thing)-- along with artificial treatments-- mean the stone can additionally be found in just about any color of the rainbow along with shades of brown and gray. It certainly seems that in some wonderful ways, Neruda has it right on the money: “Whenever you touch topaz, it touches you.” And there’s something even more profound that can happen when topaz touches us. “It awakens a gentle fire” like wine awakens in grapes.” In fact, the color of topaz known as imperial topaz from ancient days has been linked in a number of cultures to the sun. Some even have it that the gem got its name from either the Sanskrit word “tapas” or the Greek word “topazian,”both meaning fire. (the Sanskrit word also means heat.) But as Neruda describes, it’s a gentle fire. Just enough heat to make us feel comfortable; to give us time to sit back and reflect on things that matter; and to ignite some new passions to help us take things to the next level. Topaz isn’t going to hit us over the head or fire us up so much in the short term that we quickly crash and burn out. Instead, it’s here for the long haul, providing a setting to help us reflect and recharge. A pretty wonderful way to spend some time. Finally and from a different perspective, , there’s the possibility of experiencing the world in a “topaz” kind of way. As Neruda says, Even as we touch topaz, it touches us. But what does that really mean? When we touch anything (a friend; an event in our daily life), what about letting it touch us too? Really feel those experiences? Learn from the connections we make? Slow down to enjoy the gentle fire? In these ways, topaz invites us to go deeper as we go about the business of experiencing the world. Whether it’s grapes processing into wine or the ordinary events of our every day lives making a deeper imprint , let topaz connect with that gentle fire to encourage us to let things touch us. Let it help spark our better natures and let it serve as a reminder to ignite our experiences to the fullest. 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?
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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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