A few years ago I met a woman at a conference who immediately took in what I was wearing and proceeded to tell me exactly how I was feeling that morning when I chose the outfit. I was wearing a pink shirt with gray pants and a charcoal cardigan [and she was right].
During lunch, she talked about the combination of colours [in the restaurant] and what they meant. I had NEVER encountered anyone who analyzed colour that way and I thought “Wouldn’t it be interesting if I could incorporate that kind of knowledge about colour combinations in my interior design and colour consulting business”. She told me she had studied colour therapy with Aura-Soma.
I promptly booked myself into one of their fall courses in San Francisco [2 years ago]. Aura-Soma’s teaching says; ‘You are the colours you choose’. The course was interesting, but I realized that I would have to do a few more before I had the kind of mastery my friend had. Then, the day that we spent a section of the class ‘combing our spiky auras’, made me question whether I would have the patience to continue with the training. [Not that I think there’s anything wrong with that. It just seemed—for lack of a better word—a bit airy fairy to me.]
My point [and I do have one] is the scientific part; the meaning of the combinations of colours that you choose. They have over 100 bottles, and each have 2 colour combinations like this one. (my favourite one—of course)
The above bottle was the first bottle I chose and this is what it means: “Great strength and knowledge in the conscious mind (the yellow) and an immense wisdom (gold) within our depths. We may have a sense of humor and an ability to deal with life in a sunny, happy manner. (Now the name of my blog makes sense :)
Sunlight is about consciousness. It is self-awareness, which can sometimes manifest in a negative way as a self consciousness or a knot of contradiction within the solar plexus. As the knot begins to loosen and we let go of fear, we can undo the knot of contraction completely and the light can begin to shine. More confidence emerges as self-consciousness is released. Knowledge begins to dawn more brightly. To let go of the knowledge (yellow) may be the first step toward refining our wisdom (gold). The sunlight bottle’s separation of yellow and gold symblolizes the necessity of discriminating between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge can be acquired; wisdom is inherent.
Then I was reading Penelope’s blog the other day and in an article she posted about ‘How to be more interesting to other people’ she said;
“One really cool thing someone taught me is that the color I choose is most interesting when it intersects with another color. Just knowing the right color to use is not the clever, interesting thing. Rather, interesting is when I am unsure what the two colors will do when they interact. (Here's a great set of paintings that illustrate this idea.)” Penelope Trunk
When I clicked on the above link, here is what I found (above). And it was so similar to the bottles I have just shown you, I was intrigued. It got me to thinking about one of my new clients. A young woman who is getting a divorce after having been married for 12 years. The colours she choose for her new space are a fresh green (including beige/creams) with an eggplant as the accent colour. The closest bottle to that kind of colour combination is this one:
Green means balance and space. Purple; transformation, a point of change/re-evaluation and healing.
Perfect colours for her new home don’t you think? And a way better method for picking your new sofa colour. This way you'll end up with a colour that reflects your personality instead of picking up the latest, most trendy colour which you will tire of as soon as the next trend comes along.
Back to Penelope’s post; “We each have spots in our lives where two colors are coming together and we're not sure what will happen. That's the part we should talk about when we talk about ourselves. If you limit the conversation, discussing only what you are certain about, then there's no chance to stand on equal footing with your conversation partner. You stand on equal footing when you both reveal your struggles with what you don't know yet, and the conversation can contribute to the answer.'”
Actually, it was reading the above paragraph that made me decide to tell you the story about the purple colour I picked for that room that ended up wrong.
And this paragraph I just loved (hey I’m a new writer, so this is completely fascinating to me) but isn’t it true"?
“The same is true for writing. The interesting part of writing is not the part of the piece where you know exactly where it's going. The interesting part is when you get to an unplanned moment in a paragraph and you surprise yourself by what you write next. It's the moment of uncertainty, when you have to look inside yourself to keep going, and pull out something you didn't know you had before.”
That’s why blogging has you get to know yourself in a whole new way. And those of you who don’t fancy yourself writers (or you might be surprised like I was) could just write anyway. Remember the book The Artists Way? Here you can just write, and no one but you has to see it.
Related post:
Happiness is. . . Being Uncomfortable (when you pick the wrong colour)
Happiness is. . . Getting What you Want
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