Promoting Health Through Color

COLOR THEORY…The mandatory class that I put off until the last semester of my senior year of college. I can still clearly remember watching as my roommates spent hours upon hours learning about the nature of color and training their eyes to see more deeply into its nuances.

Everyone said it was challenging and at this juncture of my life, I was grieving the loss of several close family members. The intensity and focus needed to complete the assignments were highly visible and I wondered if I had what it takes to make a passing grade while in the throws of grieving.

Although I struggled with the learning curve of transforming my newly found intellectual

understanding of color into an actual painting, I did pass the class…and to my surprise continued my studies and practice to this very day some forty years later. I found that it was one of the most safe and supportive methods of expressing the sometimes chaotic thoughts and emotions concerning my grief.

Colors are a beautiful representation of the world around us, and they have the power to impact our emotions and moods in profound ways because they are intrinsically linked. Once we have an understanding of the dynamic nature of our perception of and responses to color, we gain the power to consciously choose the colors to surround ourselves with. By embracing them, we can confidently navigate and grow through the ups and downs of life with both grace and ease.