Color
April Ambles: Reflections of a Philosophical Forager — Day 20
What is it about color that attracts us or repels us, that makes us want to bite into a golden, juicy ear of corn, or sit on that plush red chair, or to stay as far away as possible from that electric purple backdrop?
What if corn were a dull brown, if strawberries were black, if blueberries were yellow? Would we still be tempted to eat them? Would they taste different because of our associations with their hue?
Eating the spectrum of the rainbow ensures an array of vitamins, as certain vitamins are associated with certain colors. Likewise, the colors we bring into our daily lives affect our moods and the moods of those around us.
Have you ever tried varying your habitual colors by throwing on a blue scarf instead of a black one, donning a bright yellow sweater instead of the more modest grey, choosing the red shoes instead of the brown? How do these differences in color affect your day? Are you sillier, more suave, do you take more chances, do you feel like more of who you are, or do you feel like someone else?
Color, of course, extends beyond our skins, beyond our wardrobes, beyond the cars we drive or the houses we decorate. Color is who we are, the words we choose, the friends we cultivate, the tone of our voices, the spring in our step. Some days we live with more color than others. Some days we are content to remain muted. Some days we reach for the rainbow, others we cuddle up in soft blue.
In the kaleidoscope that surrounds us every day, we choose the colors that make us feel safe, wild, adventurous, sexy, professional, aligned. These colors blend with the people whose paths we cross in any given day, and create a new hue each time we enter someone’s wake.
We are all elements of God’s palette, each of us lending to the mural of our times. Would we recognize ourselves should we look from another angle?
For more amblings from the author, check out Child of the Woods: An Appalachian Odyssey.
