Mary’s Musings: Color teaches us about attitude

Do you have a favorite color? Has it always been your favorite color or has it changed through the years? I’ve always liked purple.

My mom was a fantastic seamstress and made all my clothes. For some reason, she thought my Aunt Mary, who lived next door to us, was the fashion guru in our family. My mom and I went shopping for a pattern for my prom dress when I was a junior, but before we could purchase the material, we had to have a consultation with Aunt Mary.

I had my heart set on purple, but Aunt Mary said, “No, your complexion is too dark for purple, yellow is a better color for you.” That’s why I went to my first prom in a yellow chiffon dress that I really didn’t like. My second favorite color was red, and when I was a senior, I somehow was able to convince my mom to bypass Aunt Mary, and she agreed to make my dress red.

Ten years later, I went shopping for a dress to wear to our class reunion. Without consulting my mom or my Aunt Mary, I purchased my first purple dress. I got so many compliments on how nice I looked in purple. I was quite pleased with myself.

Color can teach us something about attitude. When coloring, we select the color we want and begin. That’s a lot how attitude works. We choose our attitude and how we react to different situations. Colors have come to represent different emotions. Instead of waiting for things in our life to get better to be happy, why don’t we choose to be happy now? Just like we’d pick a color of crayon to color with, we can pick our attitude toward the things that happen to us every day.

Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire and love. Red is used to indicate courage. It is a very emotionally intense color. It can increase our blood pressure and respiration rate.

Yellow is the color of sunshine and it is associated with joy, happiness, intellect and energy. Its warming effect arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity and generates energy. Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness and stimulates mental activity. Yellow is connected with cowardice.

Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. It is associated with tranquility and calmness.

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. It has a great healing power and is the most restful color for the human eye. It suggests stability and endurance.

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success and encouragement. It gives the sensation of heat.

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery and magic. Surveys show that almost 75% of children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature.

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