How color affects your mood
Color in your home affects your mood
So here I begin to track one aspect of how color affects our mood and found a significant place in homemaking.
They say hindsight is 20/20. That is absolutely correct. If you are a self-pronounced mental health promoter, your favorite subject ought to be yourself. As always I find myself reflecting on, coping with the last few extraordinary years. I realize that color has played a significant role in my life.
Color affects our mood
- Color therapy or chromotherapy
- Color reflects how you feel
- Color can change your mood
- How to use color for home improvement
One of the serious changes I observed in myself almost 3-4 months into the the pandemic was chronic insomnia. Sleep has always been elusive, but this was of a different order. In order to help myself I meandered into color therapy for physical well-being or chromotherapy. A very well-established practitioner, who came highly recommended taught me the rules of chromotherapy. This involved coloring different parts of my hand to induce calm, relaxation, reduce blood pressure and hence sleep.
I followed this practice for quite a while and I really don’t have any empirical or real evidence to say that it worked or didn’t. But it was one of the many things I tried to exert control in an otherwise totally helpless situation. I can safely say that color does affect our mood!
Time to reflect
The down time in the pandemic gave me ample time to reflect about myself like everyone else. The isolation helped us listen to ourselves for the first time. Many of us came to conclusions and decisions about our lives which would have long lasting effects. It’s just been a few years since isolation and what we almost always hear is; “did it really happen?” A sense of disbelief that we lived through this time – almost as if an alter ego experienced that time.
Over the pandemic I learned to be grateful for the isolation and the forced togetherness of our family. We learned to love each other’s company and connect with our lives in ways we never had before. I have struggled with physical challenges almost all through my life, the pandemic helped regain confidence about the fact that I can care for myself and am not as dependent or disabled as I thought myself to be.
Does color affect our mood? – It definitely reflects how i feel!
One of the first things we did when the pandemic had turned into the Omicron wave, was to refurbish our house. Here is a picture of one of the walls I painted.
Why did I choose this color or did this color choose me? To find an answer I refer to the lessens of Chromotherapy or psychological art-based therapy, its clear a vibrant pink reflected my need to embrace vitality, energy and vigor. The 2 years of isolation had left us all with a feeling of slowness and we craved the energy of engagement and connection with others and the outside world. The choice of color was clearly serving an emotional need that was otherwise unaddressed. It is no surprise that the color affects our mood.
This didn’t happen without help. I needed my regular therapy sessions to help me understand my triggers and channel my emotions constructively.
A great resource for getting counseling
www.hasionline.com A not-for-profit organization with the aim of changing the conversation around
mental health and ensuring that people have access to affordable mental
health services.
Color affects our mood for sure – My choice of color now!
Cut to 4 years later – end of 2024, once again a time to refresh.
This time it’s a gray green or Swedish Ivy. Of course, its not as if I thought of color therapy as a means to chose colors for my house. I am writing this article as an afterthought questioning the reason for why I would gravitate toward a totally different color family.
Here’s a picture of the same wall redone.
How did I use color to affect my mood?
The answer is clear, my life is currently a whirlwind; attending to needs of our 4 sets of parents, A newly married daughter who is setting up house, a very demanding master’s program I am currently pursuing, a very high maintenance dog who has a piece of my heart and the various other individuals in my household. In all this chaos I struggle with time to slow down. This overdrive could very well be a reaction to the 2 years of complete isolation.
No surprise there that green is the choice for the wall. Green which symbolizes a sense of calm, relaxation, adjustment and reflection. That probably IS what I seek. Obviously color does affect our mood – and I chose green to bring moments of tranquility in the chaos that surrounds me. This color gives me an opportunity to find time to focus on myself and reflect on my needs. I need it to hear myself.
How do I reflect on how color affects my mood
Now whenever I am faced with a challenge and when the event is over, I consciously ask myself what I need to do to make myself feel better. I will find a solution; it could be cooking a favorite meal, penning my thoughts, choosing a desirable color to wear etc. I will remind myself that color might just help improve my mood!
COLOR IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF HOME IMPROVEMENT
For most of us home improvement is a constant and ongoing pursuit. Perhaps it would be good to ask oneself, why am I gravitating towards a particular color? Is there something in my life or mental state that needs attention. There are several techniques available to us to pursue color therapy. But even better, invest in yourself and go to an art-based therapist who can help you uncover your unconscious schema and blockages. And work with you to induce contentment. And above all recognize that color does affect our mood!
Here’s an earlier article on “how to accept yourself”:
For ideas on art therapy, you could visit:
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Very interesting blog post! Changed my perspective on how to deal with my negative internal dialogue.
thank you. so glad you resonated with the thoughts.