Color Me Beautiful
Impact of shades goes
beyond eyes BY ALICE INOUE FENG SHUI
You would feel very different in each of those two rooms, would- n’t you?
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Color has the power to change the entire energy of an envi- ronment and is very important to consider when creating a space that feels good. Color can change a mood, activate your emo- tions, and affect your subconscious. The impact of color is greater than just what you see through your eyes; it also has a vi- bration that affects you both physiologically and psychologically. In addition, your reaction to color is cultural and depends on your traditions and beliefs. For example, in America, people wear white at weddings, whereas in Taiwan, where I grew up, people wear white at funerals, so culturally speaking, white means something different depending on whether you are Ameri- can or Chinese.
Color likes and dislikes are also very personal, so I always ad- vise clients to stay away from using charts that list what colors are good for the various rooms in the home. I prefer to work with what feels good to them. Although every color has a mean- ing in feng shui, it doesn’t make sense for me to suggest that someone paint a room blue just because it’s a good feng shui color for that room if the person doesn’t even like the color blue. Feng shui color systems
There are multiple color systems used in feng shui that can cause confusion at times: bagua, five elements, and rainbow spectrum, to name a few. The bagua color system uses green to represent new life and growth, purple to symbolize wealth and abundance, and pink to represent love and marriage. You can use these meanings as your intention when you choose colors. The five elements color system, uses the colors green, red,
yellow, white, and black, and assigns meanings to each of these colors. You can choose to use these colors to represent the ele- mental qualities that you desire to enhance such as red for action (fire), yellow for stability (earth), and green for growth (wood). The rainbow spectrum color system is based on having all the
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magine how you would feel walking into a stark white room versus the same room with walls painted with an en- veloping comforting earth tone such as golden bisque.
colors of the rainbow in a space to create a positive feeling in a room or in a home.
Psychological color attributes Interestingly, the discipline of psychology also has a color at- tribute chart that provides information on the subconscious im- pact that colors have on people. Some of this is very similar to the feng shui color attribute chart and is useful when you want to find colors that evoke certain emotions. For example, the psy- chological chart I have says that yellow represents joy and happi- ness, grey pulls down energy, and red provides energy and stimulates the appetite.
Bring in the essence of nature When it comes to color, if you are not a trained interior de- signer with experience in picking out colors, keeping it simple is safest. Color and color strips can be confusing if you are not an expert, but by following the guidance that nature has set forth for us, we can appear as though we are experts.
My advice is always, when in doubt, use colors you would find in nature. Look at your favorite landscape image, or go to the park. The colors you see in nature are the colors that you can bring into your home without making a mistake. We never tire of looking at nature, so by choosing shades of our favorite colors from nature, you can create an environment that is based on na- ture’s perfection.
(Alice Inoue is a life guide who uses the modalities of feng
shui, astrology and spirituality in her work. Her offerings in- clude award-winning, mind-body-spirit themed books, as well as a series of feng shui instructional DVD's. For more information visit
www.aliceinspired.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive monthly articles on feng shui, astrology and life wisdom.)
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