I hope you had a fabulous weekend! In the heart (or tail end?) of winter, the topic of color was in the front of my mind.
I’ve long been a fan of Feng shui. Feng shui is the ancient Oriental science of how we set up our personal space, be it our home, desk or office, and how the energy of arrangement has a profound effect on our life. I have personally seen incredible things happen in my life by rearranging furniture in my apt. in a certain way to support my goals. Apparently, even Donald Trump has a Feng Shui expert arrange his office- since he learned about it through business associates in Hong Kong! Colors, which are really wavelengths of energy, also play a part in Feng Shui. I also love certain stones and their energies and colors, and jewelry made of them (right not rose quartz is my favorite!).
But whether you are into Feng Shui or not, colors have an undeniable effect on our brain. During my college years at Georgetown I took a few elective Art History classes, and I remember hearing about the theories of color by the Impressionists, who used broad brush strokes, and modern painters, like Mark Rothko that made “color fields” with big spaces of color. These painters knew that colors affect our moods and help create or shape our emotional energy. Even some scientists have studied the effects of color.
Do you feel depressed lately, want to create more passion, or more relaxation in your life? One of the easiest ways to do that is to paint the walls! A can of paint is a pretty inexpensive way to boost your life, right? It sure beats having to buy more, new furniture. My second favorite way to spruce up your life is to get new sheets. When I went to a Feng Shui workshop, one of my teachers told me one of the worst things was stark white “hospital-like” sheets. They are sterile and will make your bedroom, and possibly your life, sterile and boring. Red or pink sheets, are great for passion and love respectively. At least off-white sheets are better than white sheets!
Of course, colors in foods are important, and we want to eat fresh fruits and vegetables that are all the colors of the rainbow. But in this discussion I want us to think wider, and more about our personal space and our environment.
Let’s go down the rainbow for some basic color ideas:
Red: Stimulating. Creates passion! If you want more excitement in your life why don’t you at least buy some red candles or some red tablecloths? (I already talked about the red sheets 🙂 ). Red is the color of the root chakra. Can be useful for constipation and reducing nervousness. Maybe some red towels in the bathroom to greet you as you start your day?
Orange: Revitalizing. Associated with our second chakra. Good for stimulating appetite and deep breathing, in other words the taking in of energy.
Yellow: Energizes. Associated with our third chakra, which is how we deal with the material world. Simulates proper nerve function and assists our endocrine system and liver to function optimally.
Green: The color of love and our heart chakra (along with pink). Helps to stabilize emotions, promotes healing and overall balance. I am actually planning on painting my kitchen soon a pretty green! Of course we should bring green plants into our kitchen and living spaces, so as to promote life force and living energy.
Blue: Restful. Soothing, calm, and can help lower blood pressure and anxiety. The color of the third eye/throat chakra. If you have a stressful job, or are busy with lots of kids, it might be a great idea to paint your bathroom blue and make it your sanctuary! Take long baths.
Purple: Relaxing. Encourages sleep and a lower heart rate. If you are a chronic insomniac you might want some purple sheets! Or a comforter that has purple in it.
I hope this inspires you to look for ways to bring more color into your life! If we live a life surrounded by white, black and gray, our life might just be more white, black, white and gray. And then where is the passion, fun, life force???
How to get energy from the things around us is simple: do what feels right and always listen to that inner you.
I leave for LA tomorrow, so I’ll write more from there!
Love, Kimberly
great post! I did research for a paper on colour when I was younger, and the reason why blind people feel the same/similar effects of colour is because of wavelengths that colours send out which travels through our skin and into our nerves that send messages to the brain! Colours and their effects are amazinggg!!
A warm color in a classroom would be pale pink correct? I want warm but I also want motivational…?
I follow feng sui in my house, loosely. We painted our front door red to bring good energy into our home. I also painted my dining area green! 🙂 I love that colors can bring different meanings to every space in your house.
This is really interesting. I love color–especially bright, cheery ones! I’d love to learn more about feng sui. It sounds very intriguing!
It is quite amazing and has changed my life! There is a book I like by this woman named Gabrielle Alizay on Feng Shui. Check it out!
Gabrielle Alizay’s amazing book is called: Feng Shui for the Rest of Us – what you can do right now to change your life.
Hi Kim,
I totally agree with you about colors. I personally get blue with this long winter in NY, so I put color in my place as a way to create a different atmosphere. My kitchen is lavender and in one hall I have yellow and although I have a few walls white I always put pillows with rich colors like red, green, orange or fuchsia.
One bedroom has a purple wall and the other has an earth color.
Any way I tried to put color in my place to have a permanent spring going on indoors, it makes me feel better.
Please have a great-safe and succesful trip and see you next week!
Claudia
Excellent stuff, Kim. I can vouch for this information 100%.
When I changed my dark brown wallpaper for yellow paint, the feeling I got was so… different I just knew I needed to find out why on earth it was so.
I used to love red – still do – but now opt for purple. Not sure why, exactly. It’s really good to see a fresh spin on similar information I’ve read previously – many thanks!
Esop
Maybe your energy is opening and that is why you like purple! Purple is the color of the crown chakra. 🙂
:O
:O
:O
Oh. my. God.
Kim, this colour change of mine came about the EXACTLY same time I actually started to explore more esoteric/spiritual subjects…
(I just Googled this chakra)
Thank you very much yet again for letting me know… this is actually quite… a surprise…
amazing. kimberly those colors are as beautiful as you. don’t forget it:)
Thank you so much! I love the stuff you post, especially this and the green smmoothies 🙂 I play volleyball so the smoothies are a good boost, and me and my best friend are planning to redecorate my BORING room over spring break. This gives me so many ideas and so much inspiration. Thanks and I hope you have fun in LA!
Thanks love! I’m back in NY now, and was in Atlanta, but I’ll be back to LA soon enough. Where do you play volleyball- in LA?
No I play in Atlanta 🙂 since it’s summer I’ve been drinking smoothies in the morning with whatever fruit I have in the house (fresh pineapple is really good!) it’s easy to take in a mug or bottle so I have it in school.
Love the post! This is something I am wanting to share with my clients who are interested in my fine art photography series, “Nature Dissected”
I am having a gallery showing coming up September 18,2010 at The G2 Gallery in Venice, CA and would love to collaborate with you somehow to talk about the importance of color for your moods and health. Hit me up with an email when you can! Thanks again for the post!
you were really damm good at explaining and I wish i could do you really hard in the but
do you think it is a good idea to paint my room red? I’ve been wanting to paint it for a while, and i love red. almost like a dark red.
Hi Kim; thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with us. I find it very uplifting and refreshing to read tips from you. I have a few questions though:
1) What do you think about morning oatmeal and whole grains?
2) Do you have workshops that you attend in Canada (seminar styles where we can learn from you in person)
3) In terms of nuts and snack options can you please provide other options for in between meal snacking
4) I have noticed that I feel fairly backed up after having my glowing green smoothie…I have also been taking the probiotics…what digestive enzymes do you think are helpful…and any other multivitamins.
5) can you provide a detailed week of snacks/drinks/meals/pills that you would have in a week
Thanks!