Colours and Human Behaviour Part 8

The Colour Pink

The meaning of the colour pink is unconditional love and nurturing.

The colour pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.

A combination of red and white, pink contains the need for action of red, helping it to achieve the potential for success and insight offered by white. It is the passion and power of red softened with the purity, openness and completeness of white. The deeper the pink, the more passion and energy it exhibits.

Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. It tones down the physical passion of red replacing it with a gentle loving energy.

Pink is intuitive and insightful, showing tenderness and kindness with its empathy and sensitivity.

In colour psychology, pink is a sign of hope. It is a positive colour inspiring warm and comforting feelings, a sense that everything will be okay.

Pink calms and reassures our emotional energies, alleviating feelings of anger, aggression, resentment, abandonment and neglect. Studies have confirmed that exposure to large amounts of pink can have a calming effect on the nerves and create physical weakness in people. Violent and aggressive prisoners have been successfully calmed by placing them in a pink room for a specified amount of time. Exposure for too long can have the opposite effect.

The colour pink puts people in touch with the nurturing side of themselves, through either the need to receive or the need to give, nurturing and TLC (tender loving care!). Be aware of this if you have a friend who constantly wears pink as it may indicate a need for acceptance, support and unconditional love!

Pink is a non-threatening colour seeking appreciation, respect and admiration. It doesn't like to be taken for granted and just loves to hear the words 'thank you'.

Pink can signify good health, being 'in the pink', and success as in 'everything's rosy'.

The colour pink represents the sweetness and innocence of the child in all of us. It is the colour of uncomplicated emotions, inexperience and naiveté. A constant and exclusive use of pink can often lead you to become immature, silly and girlish, abandoning your adult responsibilities.

Pink can also remind you of earlier childhood memories, associated with nurturing and comfort from your mother or a mother figure.

Pink, from a negative colour meaning, can represent a lack of will power, a lack of self-reliance and a lack of self-worth. It can indicate an overly emotional and overly cautious nature.

Combining pink with other darker colours such as dark blue, dark green, black or gray, adds strength and sophistication to pink.

Positive and Negative Traits

Positive keywords include: unconditional and romantic love, compassion and understanding, nurturing, romance, warmth, hope, calming, sweetness, naiveté, feminine and intuitive energy.

Negative keywords include: being over-emotional and over-cautious, having emotional neediness or unrealistic expectations, being immature and girlish, lack of will power and lack of self-worth.

The Colour Pink Represents:

Unconditional love: Pink relates to both unconditional love and romantic love.

Compassion: Empathy and understanding are the fuel for pink's nurturing.

Nurturing: Pink is both the giving and the receiving of love, understanding and respect.

Hope: Pink inspires the possibility of a positive outcome.

Effects of the Colour Pink:

Calming: Pink calms our emotional energies.

Non-threatening: Pink lacks any aggression or anger, although the deeper pinks can be more assertive and confident.

Affectionate: Pink offers warmth and tenderness to friends and family.

Caring: Sensitivity and tender loving care relate to pink's feminine and intuitive energies.

Immature: Pink is the colour of the sweet young girl, before life's experiences take over.

Variations of the Colour Pink

Blush: Similar to skin colour, this very pale pink has sensual and sexual connotations. It is non-threatening but lacks passion and energy.

Rose Pink: This is the pink of universal love and unity. It is mature, feminine and intuitive.

Salmon Pink: There is a touch of orange in salmon pink. It encourages the flirt, and can be a sign of the timid lover, all talk and no play.

Orchid: This is an unusual lavender-pink and relates to the unconventional and the individual doing his or her own thing. It is the non-conformist.

Fuchsia: A blend of deep pink and blue, fuchsia inspires confidence, assurance and maturity, a more responsible and controlled nurturing and love.

Hot Pink: Hot pink inspires a more passionate, playful and sensual love. It exudes warmth and happiness and a love of life.

Colours and Human Behaviour Part 7

The colour turquoise

The meaning of the colour turquoise is open communication and clarity of thought.

Turquoise helps to open the lines of communication between the heart and the spoken word. It presents as a friendly and happy colour enjoying life.

In colour psychology, turquoise controls and heals the emotions creating emotional balance and stability. In the process it can appear to be on an emotional roller coaster, up and down, until it balances itself.

A combination of blue and a small amount of yellow, it fits in on the colour scale between green and blue. It radiates the peace, calm and tranquillity of blue and the balance and growth of green with the uplifting energy of yellow.

This is a colour that recharges our spirits during times of mental stress and tiredness, alleviating feelings of loneliness. You only have to focus on the colour turquoise, whether on a wall or clothing and you feel instant calm and gentle invigoration, ready to face the world again!

It is a great colour to have around you, particularly in an emergency, as it helps with clear thinking and decision-making. It assists in the development of organizational and management skills. It influences rather than preaching and demanding.

This is a good colour to aid concentration and clarity of thought for public speakers as it calms the nervous system, gives control over speech and expression, and builds confidence. Print your speech notes on turquoise and every time you glance down you will feel the effects of the colour.

It heightens levels of creativity and sensitivity; it is good at multi-tasking, becoming bored if forced to focus on one thing only. Sometimes thinking can become scattered if surrounded by too much of this balancing colour.

Turquoise encourages inner healing through its ability to enhance empathy and caring. It heightens our intuitive ability and opens the door to spiritual growth. It is the colour of the evolved soul.

The colour turquoise can also be self-centred, tuning in to its own needs above all others. At the same time, it can help us to build our self-esteem and to love ourselves, which in turn supports our ability to love others unconditionally. At its most extreme it can be boastful and narcissistic.

Although it is self-sufficient, it fears being alone and can become aloof and unapproachable when this occurs, making the situation worse.

Turquoise has strong powers of observation and perception and can be quite discriminating. It has the ability to identify the way forward, the way to success, balancing the pros and cons, the right and wrong, of any situation. It is a good colour to use when you are stuck in a rut and don't know which way to move.

This is a colour that can sometimes be impractical and idealistic and remote from emotional reactions, appearing excessively cool, calm and collected.

Too much of this colour in your life may give you an overactive mind and create emotional imbalance, making you either over-emotional or non-emotional.

Too little turquoise in your life may cause you to withhold your emotions, resulting in secrecy and confusion about your direction in life.

From a negative perspective, the meaning of the colour turquoise relates to being either over-emotional or non-emotional, lacking communication skills, being unreliable and deceptive.

Positive and Negative Traits

Positive keywords include communication, clarity of thought, balance and harmony, idealism, calmness, creativity, compassion, healing and self-sufficiency.

Negative keywords include boastfulness, secrecy, unreliability and reticence, fence-sitting, aloofness, deception and off-handedness.

The Colour Turquoise Represents

Communication: This colour represents open communication from and between the heart and the spoken word. It relates to the electronic age and the world of computers, and communication on a large scale.

Emotional Control: Being the mid colour between the extremes of red and violet, turquoise is the colour of balance, for the emotions, thoughts and speech.

Self-Sufficiency: It has the ability to tune into its own needs and find the way to success.

Effects of the Colour Turquoise

Clarity of Thought: It enhances the ability to focus and concentrate, assisting with clear thinking and decision-making, and the development of good organizational skills.

Calming: It is calming yet invigorating, restoring depleted energies.

Non-emotional: A negative effect of turquoise is that it can cause people to be too aloof and to hide their emotional reactions.

Variations of the Colour Turquoise

Aqua: Closer to green than blue, aqua is refreshing and uplifting. It is creative and light-hearted, yet strong and individual.

Aquamarine: Enhancing creativity and inspiration, the colour aquamarine calms and balances the mind and the emotions.

Teal: A more sophisticated version of turquoise, teal signifies trustworthiness and reliability. It promotes spiritual advancement and commitment.

Colours and Human nature Part 6

The Colour Yellow

The colour yellow is the colour of the mind and the intellect

The colour yellow relates to acquired knowledge. It is the colour which resonates with the left or logic side of the brain stimulating our mental faculties and creating mental agility and perception.

Being the lightest hue of the spectrum, the colour psychology of yellow is uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness and fun.

In the meaning of colours, yellow inspires original thought and inquisitiveness.

Yellow is creative from a mental aspect, the colour of new ideas, helping us to find new ways of doing things. It is the practical thinker, not the dreamer.

Yellow is the best colour to create enthusiasm for life and can awaken greater confidence and optimism.

The colour yellow loves a challenge, particularly a mental challenge.

Within the meaning of colours, yellow is the great communicator and loves to talk. Yellow is the colour of the net-worker and the journalist, all working and communicating on a mental level. Yellow is the scientist, constantly analysing, looking at both sides before making a decision; methodical and decisive. Yellow is the entertainer, the comic, the clown.

Yellow helps with decision making as it relates to clarity of thought and ideas, although it can often be impulsive. Yellow helps us focus, study and recall information, useful during exam time.

The colour yellow can be anxiety producing as it is fast moving and can cause us to feel agitated.

Yellow has a tendency to make you more mentally analytical and critical - this includes being self-critical as well as critical of others.

Yellow is non-emotional, coming from the head rather than the heart. Yellow depends on itself, preferring to not get emotionally involved.

Yellow is related to the ego and our sense of self-worth, to how we feel about ourselves and how we are perceived by others.

Yellow is the most highly visible of all colours which is why it is used for pedestrian crossings. Take note of the crossings which are marked in white - they are less easy to see than those marked yellow, particularly on wet and cloudy days.

If you are going through a lot of change in your life you may find you can't tolerate the colour yellow very well - this will usually pass. It just means that you are having trouble coping with all the changes at the moment and yellow vibrates too fast for you, making you feel stressed. Introduce green or a soft orange into your life for a while to balance and restore your energies. Many older people don't respond well to large amounts of yellow because it vibrates too fast for them.

Positive and Negative Traits

Positive keywords include: optimism, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, fun, good-humoured, confidence, originality, creativity, challenging, academic and analytical, wisdom and logic.

Negative keywords include: being critical and judgmental, being overly analytical, being impatient and impulsive, being egotistical, pessimistic, an inferiority complex, spiteful, cowardly, deceitful, non-emotional and lacking compassion.

Yellow Represents:

Mind and intellect: From a colour psychology perspective, yellow stimulates our mental faculties; it activates the left or analytical brain.

Happiness and fun: Yellow is uplifting to the spirits; yellow helps create enthusiasm for life and can awaken greater confidence and optimism.

Communication of New Ideas: Yellow is related to the expression and integration of new ideas and thoughts.

Effects of Yellow:

Creative: The colour of new ideas, yellow helps us find new ways of doing things.

Quick decisions: Yellow helps with clear thinking and quick decision-making but it can also be impulsive.

Anxiety producing: Yellow is fast moving so too much time in its presence can agitate and lead to nervousness and emotional instability.

Critical: Yellow makes people more mentally analytical and self-critical of both themselves and others.

Non-emotional: Yellow relates to the head not the heart.

Variations of the Colour Yellow

Light Clear Yellow: This colour helps to clear the mind, making it open and alert.

Lemon Yellow: Lemon yellow promotes self-reliance and a need for an orderly life. This yellow increases our sensitivity to criticism.

Citrine Yellow: Citrine is a superficial and fickle colour. It encourages the serial relationship hopper, the teaser, with unstable emotions. This yellow can be deceitful and retreats from responsibility.

Golden Yellow: This yellow is the colour of the loner with an intense curiosity and interest in investigating the finer details of its interests. Golden yellow is sensitive to criticism.

Cream: Cream, tinted with a hint of yellow, encourages new ideas. However, this very pale colour can also indicate a lack of confidence and a need for reassurance.

Dark Yellow: The darker shades of yellow indicate an inclination toward depression and melancholy, lack of love and low self-worth. Dark yellow relates to the constant complainer and the cynic.

Colours and Human nature Part 5

The Colour Red

The colour red is the colour of energy, passion and action

The colour red is a warm and positive colour associated with our most physical needs and our will to survive. It exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy.

Red is energizing. It excites the emotions and motivates us to take action.

It signifies a pioneering spirit and leadership qualities, promoting ambition and determination. It is also strong-willed and can give confidence to those who are shy or lacking in will power.

Being the colour of physical movement, the colour red awakens our physical life force. It is the colour of sexuality and can stimulate deeper and more intimate passions in us, such as love and sex on the positive side or revenge and anger on the negative. It is often used to express love, as in Valentine’s Day, however it relates more to sexuality and lust, rather than love – love is expressed with pink.

At its most positive it can create life with its sexual energy, or use its negative expression of anger and aggression to fuel war and destruction.

The colour red can stimulate the appetite, often being used in restaurants for this purpose. It also increases craving for food and other stimuli.

Being surrounded by too much of the colour red can cause us to become irritated, agitated and ultimately angry. Too little and we become cautious, manipulative and fearful.

In Eastern cultures such as China red is the colour for good luck. Although times are changing and many Chinese brides now wear white, it is traditionally the colour for weddings. In Indian culture it symbolizes purity and is often used in their wedding gowns.

Positive and Negative Traits

Positive keywords include: action, energy and speed, attention-getting, assertive and confident, energizing, stimulating, exciting, powerful, passionate, stimulating and driven, courageous and strong, spontaneous and determined.

Negative keywords include: aggressive and domineering, over-bearing, tiring, angry and quick-tempered, ruthless, fearful and intolerant, rebellious and obstinate, resentful, violent and brutal.

Red Represents:

Energy: it boosts our physical energy levels, increases our heart rate and blood pressure and prompts the release of adrenalin.

Action: it is fast moving and promotes a need for action and movement.

Desire: it relates to physical desire in all its forms- sexual, appetite, cravings.

Passion: it means a passionate belief in an issue or undertaking, including passionate love or passionate hate. Anger is negative passion.

Effects of Red:

Stimulating: to the physical senses- the sexual and physical appetite. It stimulates the deeper passions within us, such as sex, love, courage, hatred or revenge. If you have a flagging sex life and would like to introduce more passion into it, introduce some red into the bedroom – the more red, the more passion, but don’t overdo it or it will have the opposite effect.

Exciting and Motivating: it excites our emotions and inspires us to take action.

Attention-getting: it demands you to take notice, alerting you to danger. This is why we have red traffic lights and stop signs – it is the universal colour for danger.

Assertive and Aggressive: drivers of red cars should take note! A small survey I did a few years ago showed that drivers of red cars, including females, said they felt quite aggressive behind the wheel of their red car.

Variations of Red

Maroon: a dark bluish red, it denotes controlled and more thoughtful action. It is slightly softer than burgundy and not as dramatic as true red.

Burgundy: a dark purplish red, it is more sophisticated and serious and less energetic than true red. It indicates controlled power, determined ambition and dignified action and is often favoured by the wealthy.

Crimson: has a little blue in it. It indicates a determination to succeed but without upsetting anyone else. It emits sensuality rather than sexuality.

Scarlet: has a little orange mixed with it, giving it a richness and brightness. It indicates enthusiasm and a love of life. It is a little less intense and more fun-loving than true red, tempered with a degree of defiance.

The Colour Orange

The colour of adventure and social communication

The colour orange radiates warmth and happiness, combining the physical energy and stimulation of red with the cheerfulness of yellow.

Orange relates to 'gut reaction' or our gut instincts, as opposed to the physical reaction of red or the mental reaction of yellow.

Orange offers emotional strength in difficult times. It helps us to bounce back from disappointments and despair, assisting in recovery from grief.

The colour psychology of orange is optimistic and uplifting, rejuvenating our spirit. In fact orange is so optimistic and uplifting that we should all find ways to use it in our everyday life, even if it is just an orange coloured pen that we use.

Orange brings spontaneity and a positive outlook on life and is a great colour to use during tough economic times, keeping us motivated and helping us to look on the bright side of life.

With its enthusiasm for life, the colour orange relates to adventure and risk-taking, inspiring physical confidence, competition and independence. Those inspired by orange are always on the go!

In relation to the meaning of colours, orange is extroverted and uninhibited, often encouraging exhibitionism or, at the very least, showing-off!

The colour orange relates to social communication, stimulating two way conversations. A warm and inviting colour, it is both physically and mentally stimulating, so it gets people thinking and talking!

At the same time, orange is also stimulating to the appetite. If you love having people around the kitchen table, orange will keep them talking and eating for a long time. Many restaurants use pastel versions of orange, such as apricot or peach or deeper versions such as terracotta, for their décor as they are more subtle than red, yet still increase the appetite and promote conversation and social interaction, which in turn encourages patrons to have a good time and to eat and drink more.

The colour orange is obviously the worst colour to have in the kitchen if you are trying to lose weight!

Orange aids in the assimilation of new ideas and frees the spirit of its limitations, giving us the freedom to be ourselves. At the same time it encourages self-respect and respect of others.

Orange is probably the most rejected and under-used colour of our time. However, young people do respond well to it as it has a degree of youthful impulsiveness to it.

Positive and Negative Traits

Positive keywords include: sociable, optimistic, enthusiastic, cheerful, self-confident, independent, flamboyant, extroverted and uninhibited, adventurous, the risk-taker, creative flair, warm-hearted, agreeable and informal.

Negative keywords include: superficial and insincere, dependent, over-bearing, self-indulgent, the exhibitionist, pessimistic, inexpensive, unsociable, and overly proud.

Orange Represents

Adventure and risk taking: Orange promotes physical confidence and enthusiasm - sportsmen and adventure-seekers relate well to orange.

Social communication and interaction: Orange stimulates two-way conversation between people - in a dining room when entertaining it stimulates conversation as well as appetite.

Friendship: Group socializing, parties, the community - wherever people get together to have fun and socialize orange is a good choice.

Divorce: The optimism of the colour orange helps people move on - it is forward thinking and outward thinking.

Effects of Orange

Enthusiasm: Orange is optimistic and extroverted - the colour of the uninhibited.

Rejuvenation: Orange helps to restore balance to our physical energies.

Stimulation: Orange is not as passionate or as excitable as red, but it is stimulating, particularly to the appetite - the worst colour to have in the kitchen if you want to lose weight.

Courage: Orange helps us to take account of our lives, to face the consequences, to take action and make appropriate changes, and then to move onward and upward.

Vitality: Orange has a more balanced energy than red, not as passionate and aggressive, but full of vitality.

Variations of the Colour Orange

Peach: Peach encourages great communication and conversation. It inspires good manners and puts people at ease. It has all the attributes of orange but in a much softer, gentler and more cautious form.

Golden Orange: This version of orange encourages vitality and self-control.

Amber: Amber helps to inspire greater confidence and better self-esteem. It can promote a degree of arrogance.

Burnt Orange: This colour emits a negative vibration indicating pride, tension and aggressive self-assertion.

Dark Orange: Dark orange indicates over-confidence and over-ambition. It tries too hard to prove its worth and to boost its self-esteem, but when it fails, which is often, it develops a chip on its shoulder. It is the colour of the opportunist, taking selfish advantage of every situation.