Fashionable Colors - Color Therapy
by Elizabeth Harper

We all have our own fashion style, but did you realize your choice of
colors may actually reveal more about you than just your tastes or
that the colors you wear may even affect your moods?

It is now accepted that color can be used to stimulate or inhibit
certain behaviors.

Advertising executives are well aware that a product can have a
completely different impact if the color of the packaging is changed.
Psychologists have found that certain colors in our immediate
environment can help us perform some tasks. For example, exercise is
best performed in an environment of warm colors, such as reds and
oranges, whereas the tranquil blues and greens are ideal for mental
concentration.

Quite often the sayings in the English language have tapped into a
deeper interpretation of the colors. Red with rage, green with
jealousy, purple passion, feeling blue, he is yellow, are well known
to most people. However, each color has a cornucopia of meanings
associated with it. If you would like to understand what some of the
common colors mean see the chart.

Your Choice of Color

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung encouraged his patients to use color in
their paintings to express the deepest unconscious part of their
psyches. We all go through ?favorite color? phases. It has been
discovered that personality traits are reflected by your preferred
color. Extroverts favor red, introverts prefer blue, yellow is the
choice of intellectuals, and well-balanced individuals tend to go for
green.

Using Color Positively

Apart from recognizing whether something suits you or not, an inner
sense tells you which color to wear. Deny this feeling and you could
be ignoring a benevolent influence. For example, red increase's
energy and promotes free movement. For a woman it can reflect changes
in the reproductive cycle such as menstruation or ovulation. If you
have a sudden desire to wear red it could indicate that you are about
to experience a tiring day and need all the help you can get.
Interestingly when traffic lights were first introduced people had
great difficulty stopping for the red light because on a
psychological level red means "GO" and green means "STOP."

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Why do you look great in something one day and the next time you wear
the same outfit it looks dreadful? It is because the color no longer
reflects who you are in that moment. Wearing a color can cause you to
act and react to life in different ways. Your choice offers insight
into current life issues and can, in some instances warn of potential
illness.

Color and Illness

Each color has positive attributes or truths and the opposites of
these are challenges. For instance, the truth of blue symbolizes
faith and communication. The challenge is a lack of faith,
depression, and difficulty with speech. Conscious awareness of the
colors you choose to wear can offer insight into potential change in
your life. For example, Illness of some kind can be indicated when a
color that is out of character is worn frequently. If red is worn
regularly it could point to a physical condition, blue an emotional
imbalance, and yellow a nervous state.

Dis-ease means that we are out of balance, color can help to re-
balance and make us whole again. Red is good for improving
circulation and orange has been found to be beneficial for children
with autism. Green is useful for calming and balancing the heart, and
is supposed to influence regeneration of cells and elimination of
toxins. This is the basis of Color Therapy. Color healing was used in
the temples of Heliopolis in Ancient Egypt, as well as in China and
India. Hippocrates, the founder of modern day medicine, placed
colored strips on cuts to aid in the healing process.

The Gray Areas

Black is a popular non-color, often worn to suppress and protect the
emotions. Any color worn with it is a paradox since it represents
unrealized potential. The promise of power that black evokes lies
within the consciousness of the wearer. Combined with another color
it augurs control over its influence. With red it controls physical
power and yellow intellectual power. White on the other hand
highlights a color and worn alone symbolizes a clean palate,
completion, purity, cleansing, and strength. The challenges of white
are those that accompany a new start, anger, vulnerability, and
tears. Gray is the combination of black and white and symbolizes the
diversity of the two creating a state of caution.


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Combining Colors

When colors are combined each influence reflects off the other.
Wearing green with red puts a different slant on the meanings. As
green means stop and red means go, these colors together can signify
a difficult decision, usually involving staying or leaving a
situation.

Wearing these colors can aid in the decision making process through
the vibratory influence of each color.

Color Therapy

Whether it's a date or an interview, think about the impression you
want to make. Use this information to plan your wardrobe and achieve
the greatest impact. The truth of each color symbolizes potential,
the challenges indicate blockage. Wearing a color can stimulate
and/or counteract either of these energies. For example, if you are
lecturing wear blue, for a steamy night of passion bring out the red
dress, and if it's attention you are seeking opt for the
limitlessness of yellow. If you wear more than one color combine the
meanings and create your own new potentials and challenges.

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Red

Symbolizing awakening red exudes power, energy, and a passion for
life. Red is known to heal sexual difficulties and anemia.

Truth: movement,new beginnings, decisions, passion, love, energy,
life, security.
Challenge: anger, frustration, lethargy, nervousness.

Wear red when:
a.. You want your sexuality to exude from your being.
b.. Your energy is low and you need a boost.
c.. You want to be more assertive and want to make things happen
faster.
Don't wear red when:
a.. You are feeling nervous
b.. You don?t want attention
c.. You are feeling frustrated and angry with everyone.

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Orange

Often worn by eastern aesthetics, orange is associated with vibrant
health. It has the same vibrational frequency as DNA, the template of
all human cells. This color is known to heal shock.

Truth: creativity, new ideas, confidence, joy; sensuality, ambition;
sports, childhood
Challenge: shock, fear of survival, dependency, letting go, control

Wear orange when:
a.. You want to have fun and your sensual circuits need the boost.
b.. You need to heal your emotions.
c.. You want to heighten your creativity.
Don't wear orange when:
a.. You want to relax your feminine/masculine charms.
b.. You feel restless.
c.. You want to take a rest.

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Yellow

A color often worn by entertainers, because it makes them stand out
in a crowd and confronts the challenge of being center of attention.
Yellow is known to heal the digestive tract.

Truth: freedom, optimism, mental activity, concentration, open-
mindedness
Challenge: fear,no boundaries, negativity, timidity

Wear yellow when:
a.. You need to attend to details.
b.. You are studying and need to keep your mind awake.
c.. You want to infuse some joy into your life.
Don't wear yellow when:
a.. You feel fear.
b.. You don?t want to be the center of attention.
c.. You want to relax your mind.

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Green

Those seeking their own identity, fulfillment of their heart's
desire, and/or are searching for a new direction, are drawn to wear
this color.

By doing so they are challenged to find ways of creating their own
abundance. Green heals the heart, eases tension, and regenerates
cells.

Truth: security, abundance, nature, heart matters, new
space/beginnings,balance
Challenge: unrealistic, shying away from people/society,stagnancy

Wear green when:
a.. You want to see things from a different perspective.
b.. You desire to feel more space around you.
c.. You need to feel like both feet are on the ground.
Don't wear green when:
a.. You are confused about where life is taking you.
b.. You feel your life is stagnant.
c.. You don?t want to face the truth of a situation.
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Blue

True blue symbolizing devotion to duty worn by most authority
figures - nurses, policemen, etc. Anyone who consistently wears blue
are deep thinkers and tend to re-energize by seeking their own
company above that of others.

Truth: authority; peace, organized, practical, devotion, structure,
communication
Challenge: aloofness, control issues, isolation, depression, martyrdom

Wear blue when:
a.. You want to exude an air of calm authority.
b.. You need to be more organized.
c.. You want to communicate something important.
Don't wear blue when:
a.. You are feeling isolated or lonely.
b.. You feel depressed.
c.. You are being too critical of both yourself and others.
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Violet

Violet can indicate major change and a need to retreat, as a
caterpillar retreats into a cocoon before it transforms into a
butterfly.

Truth: transformation, spiritual self-realization, truth, creativity,
recovery, healing
Challenge: pain, misuse of power, bruising, looking for a way out,
grief, unemotional

Wear violet when:
a.. You want to transform something in your life.
b.. You are seeking purpose in your life.
c.. You need to let go of destructive behavior or addictions.
Don't wear violet when:
a.. You are daydreaming instead of doing.
b.. You want to turn your back on society.
c.. You suffer grief but your emotions are blocked.

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Pink

Pink symbolizes unconditional love. Wearing it encourages a sense of
affection, increases sensitivity, and challenges you to confront your
vulnerabilities.

Truth: unconditional love, affection, flirting, open to love, hearing
Challenge: lack of self-love/self-esteem, healing grief, immaturity,
vulnerable

Wear pink when:
a.. You want to feel feminine and vulnerable.
b.. You want others to love you instantly.
c.. You need to concentrate and listen.
Don't wear pink when:
a.. You feel vulnerable and insecure.
b.. You are giving all the time and not receiving.
c.. You feel fragmented.
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Brown

The symbolism of color is based in part on the natural world.

For instance soil offers some insight into the meaning of brown -
needed to grow food, without it we would be challenged to find ways
to survive.

Truth: security, practicality, work, money, commitments,
determination to succeed
Challenge: loss of security; lack of money; fear of survival

Wear brown when:
a.. You need to get down to some hard work.
b.. You want to organize your finances
c.. You want to feel that everything in your life is going well.
Don't wear brown when:
a.. You want to expend lots of energy.
b.. You are feeling too bogged down with things.
c.. You are not interested in hard work and want to play instead.
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Turquoise

Known to enhance healing of the immune system, useful for illnesses
such as AIDS. Native Americans use the semi-precious stone Turquoise
as an allergy healer, also an autoimmune condition.

Truth: communication, lecturing; media, creativity, immune system
healer
Challenge: inability/unwilling to communicate, poor defense,
rejection

Wear turquoise when:
a.. You are lecturing - especially around the throat.
b.. You want to tap into your creativity through dance, music, art,
etc.
c.. You want to connect with your own spirituality.
Don't wear turquoise when:
a.. You feel rejected.
b.. You don't want to talk about it!?
c.. You are more interested in yourself and not others.