Last week, our senior editor Rachel talked about “Making your day more beautiful with colour”, today our Do What You Love team member and colour enthusiast Louise is looking at how different colours affect us with the clothes we wear, how we decorate our homes and the food we eat.
Imagine for one moment what your day may feel like without colour.
Colour is essential to our life. Using colour in our day to day affects us more than we realise, through our wardrobe, how we decorate our homes, the food we eat and creative life. Colour is also a tool that can be used to heal ailments and essentially change our moods, so today lets take a look around us to see which colours we are drawn to and which colours we use the most.
Colours in Your Wardrobe
Image via createyourcolorstory.com
What are the colours that appear most in your wardrobe? Are your clothes hung or organised by colour? Which colours are missing? Think about the colours you like to wear and how they make you feel when you are wearing them. Here are recommendations for each:
Wear Red when you want to draw attention to yourself. Wearing red will make you stand out from the crowd, but avoid red if you are nervous, self-conscious or need to invite more calming energy into your life.
Wear Orange when you want to stimulate your creativity, socialize with other people, be cheerful and have fun. Orange can also motivate you and uplift your spirit.
Wear Yellow to encourage personal power, stability, confidence and happiness. Yellow can sometimes drain your energy levels, so avoid wearing when you are tired.
Wear Green when taking classes or learning something new as it signifies growth. It can also be a stimulating colour, so avoid it if you are a little restless.
Wear Pink to convey compassion and an open heart. Whether you are male or female, you will appear approachable and capable of loving others.
Wear {light} Blue to encourage peace and healthy self expression and to be open to receiving communication from others.
Wear Indigo to encourage intuition and insight.
Wear violet or Purple when you are going through a transition, want to attract new opportunities, or in a spiritual place or setting.
Decorating Your Home
Image via createyourcolorstory.com
What colours do you live with? Do you have different colour accents in different rooms in your home? How do your rooms make you feel? Here is a little overview of how various colours affect us in our living space. Here are recommendations for each:
Decorate with Red: Add red into rooms where you want to invite more energy in or require warmth or physical activity. These are usually a playroom, hallway or kitchen. Red in the bedroom may generate a little passion, but it might also disturb sleep as it is too energizing on the physical body. If you would like to add red in your bedroom, try accents such as throw pillows, blankets or other ornaments in this colour.
Decorate with Orange: Many find orange a hard colour to live with in their environment, so finding a tone that is softer is a great way to bring orange energy into your home/office. This can be in tones such as amber, peach, apricot, terracotta etc. Orange is a great colour for the digestive system so having this energy in your dining room is really good. You may find many restaurants use a tone of orange too!
Decorate with Yellow: As yellow stimulates the brain, using pops of yellow in your study or work area will improve your concentration or when you need to expand ideas. Some yellows can feel a little sickly, so golden yellows, primrose and buttery creamy yellows. Decorating a whole space in yellow with yellow light can have a negative affect and is not recommended as it encourages irrational behavior and nervousness.
Decorate with Green: Green is the colour to use when you want to feel calm and balanced in your space. It reminds us of nature, so if you do not get to enjoy the outdoors much, bring it inside with accents of green and plant life. Be careful to use clear or soft greens only. Muddy, dirty, olive greens have a negative effect indicating decay.
Decorate with Pink: As pink has energetic red in it, if you decorate with a hot pink or deep rose pink, you will be getting some of that vibrancy shine through (and maybe passion too!). Pink is also a muscle relaxant and relaxes our emotions too.
Decorate with Blue: Blue rooms and lighting create a calm, relaxing, expanding space. Many waiting rooms decorate with blue as it reduces anxiety.
Decorate with Indigo: Indigo helps us open up to our intuition and acts as a sedative. Suitable for more ‘quiet’ places. It works well in bedrooms or treatment rooms. Some people find indigo is helpful for studying so using in a library or study could work well.
Decorate with Violet/Purple: Violet and purple create an air of royalty, luxury and mystery. Many might use this colour for entrance halls or areas of worship. For the home, it is recommended to use small amounts, combined with other colours.
Eat a Rainbow
Image via createyourcolorstory.com
By including all the colours of the rainbow from fruits and vegetables, you are ensuring that your body is receiving all the nutrients and colour energy it needs to stay healthy and balanced. Like everything in life, balance and variation bring us everything we need.
What colours do you notice the most in your meals? Are there any colours missing, do you eat one colour more than others? Here are some benefits for each:
Red food: In addition to vitamin C and folate, red fruits and vegetables are also sources of flavonoids, which reduce inflammation and have antioxidant properties. Cranberries, another red fruit are also a good source of tannins, which prevent bacteria from attaching to cells.
Orange food: Thanks to the huge amount of nutrients associated with orange-coloured fruits and vegetables, consuming orange foods can help your overall health. The abundance of antioxidants, vitamins, fiber and phytonutrients in orange foods are good for your skin, eyes and heart, and they may also decrease your risk of cancer.
Yellow Food: The colour is sunshine, yellow food includes water soluble plant pigments that function as antioxidants. There is also an abundance of vitamin C. Studies suggest that these nutrients will help your heart, vision, digestion and immune system.
Green food: The natural plant pigment chlorophyll gives fruits and vegetables their green colour. Green foods that are rich in isothiocyanates, induce enzymes in the liver that assist the body in removing potentially carcinogenic compounds.
Blue/Purple food: Foods that are this colour are rich in flavonoids. Flavonoids are the most abundant and powerful of all the phytochemicals contained in the foods we eat. They help make our blood vessels healthier, meaning a healthier cardiovascular system and lower risk of heart disease. They are also very beneficial in reversing the short-term memory loss associated with aging. They also help improve our motor skills, from walking and sitting to smaller delicate movements such as using our hands, wrists, fingers, and toes.
How else does colour show up in your life?
What colours are missing from your life?
How can you invite these colours into the different areas above?
Have a beautiful and colourful day
Dr. Lynn von Schneidau 
I’m now 53 and have three grown up children
Image credit: Haramara Retreat
