Color is everywhere, it makes up our world. It’s a gift of nature in the rose I pass on
my walk through the neighborhood to one of the many parks near our house in
this concrete city. It’s in the sweet
blossom print on my daughter’s simple summer dress. Have you ever stopped to really notice a
color? Any color? All colors?
Yesterday at 845 a.m. I sat in my pj’s, having just raced
out of bed realizing the time, in my car, ready to move it because street
cleaning was from 9-11 Fridays on our block.
The car idled as I waited for the garbage truck in front of me to move
so I could as well. It wasn’t very interesting;
I’ve watched it before as I did now. The
guy (are there ever garbage women? Why
not? It’s a respectable job, someone’s
gotta do it but it’s not glamorous, then again not all jobs women do are
glamorous, by far) grabs my blue recycle can and my black plain trash can,
rolls them over to the truck, latches them on, pulls a lever and up go the
cans, turning upside down, all my waste now joining everyone else’s waste. It’s not poetry, I’m just watching because
what else am I going to do? He sets them
down, rolls them back then grabs my neighbor’s bins. Latch, pull, up they go…however, when the
lids open this time and the trash dumps out, a solid red mylar balloon, still
very much inflated, with a short white ribbon attached to it, floats out and
up. My mouth may even have dropped open,
not that it was such an amazing site but it sure wasn’t something I was
expecting and it had some kind of poetry in it, it almost spoke out but what
was it saying? “Let me out! I’m not finished yet!”?? It floated up gracefully into the branches of
the full tree above that adorns the front of our house. One of only a few of the trees on the
block. It could have just floated up,
up, up and away, not getting caught up in the tree. How far up do those things go before they
finally just don’t anymore? I wonder if
the garbage man even saw it. Probably
not, though it may have been something of interest to tell his wife that
evening over dinner. Or not, maybe it
happens all the time?! But who puts a
still full of helium balloon in their trash?
I always pop mine, or actually I wait until all the helium is gone and
it lays sadly on the floor, being kicked around, before I cut into it with the
scissors and put it in the trash. I felt
sorry for this balloon for some silly reason and yet I smiled at it and felt a
warmth.
The garbage truck moved on and I sat in the car, staring up
at the balloon in my tree. How long
would it stay up there? We lost a
“bouquet” of mylars in our backyard once after a party and it floated up to be
caught in a tree there. We didn’t try to
get it down. It added color, although
our backyard is not without color as I’ve worked hard to arrange pots of
flowers since I get so much joy out of staring at them. I’m almost embarrassed to say the bouquet
stayed there for well over a year, fading and deflating. We get some pretty gusty winds here but that
never knocked it loose. Every time I
looked up at it I thought, Tiff you really need to get that thing down, it
looks pretty tacky and sad. I recently
did some tree trimming and it came down.
Is that the fate of the pretty red balloon in our front yard? Its way up, I’ll need a tall ladder, but I
probably shouldn’t leave it there as long as I left the others, since it will
be seen by the world and I don’t want that “statement” for my house. For now I’m kind of enjoying looking up at it
as I leave the house.
What’s the point to this story? Other than the fact that I think it’s kind of
interesting. It has made me notice all
the red in my world. The plastic kid
shovel laying in the dirt in the backyard, the array of kid’s balls of different
sizes and bounce abilities in the house and yard, the potted flowers on my
front porch, the bristles of the large outdoor broom in my garage, my coffee
mug, the stripes on the awning covering our back porch, a stripe on a throw
pillow on my couch… You get the
point. There was a day last year when
for some reason the color orange caught my eye, I suddenly felt surrounded by
it. It popped up everywhere I turned for
several days. I even went so far as to
“see a sign” in it and I looked up the meaning of the color. With all the positive things it represents,
that I relayed to significant aspects of my life at the time (optimism,
rejuvenating…) I dug out a smooth, orange-brown rock from my house (I can’t
remember why I had it or where I got it from) and kept it near me, in the car
where I could see it since I spend plenty of time there taking my son to and
from school, to hold onto occasionally but mostly to glance at and remind
myself of the meaning.
I’m not sure I believe in actual healing powers of colors
but I do think they are strong reminders of things that can guide us in our
days, especially when we need that something extra. I used to have a calendar, I think it was
related to Wicca, which I don’t follow but think is interesting, which gave a
color for each day and I would dress accordingly. It’s not that I really needed any specific
guidance at the time, except to help me reduce the amount of time staring into
my closet trying to figure out what to wear.
It was fun!
So
now I look up the meaning of the color red:
According to the empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com, it is the
color of energy, passion and action. It is a warm and positive color associated with our most
physical needs and our will to survive. It exudes a strong and powerful masculine
energy. (Humph, who knew, I would have
thought it feminine?) 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
color of physical movement, the color red awakens our physical life force. It is also (of course??) the color 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. I could have guessed some of those, but not
all. So for now, maybe a few days or a
week or maybe more, I will look for the color red but I will not need to look
hard, it will just pop up all around me.
I will think about the meaning and how it relates to my life right
now. I think reminders are good for us
or we can just go through our days in a somewhat haze, regardless of how awake
we think we are. This is my perspective
and opinion anyway.
I’ll be looking up at that balloon every
time I leave, enter or pass my house. I
will think about the things in my life that need taking action, I will probably
feel more passionate, not just in the usual sense we relate that word to, although
I will feel it that way too. Passion for
life, for jobs, for ideals, for the mundane.
These are things I actually could use reminders of now.
How often do you take a look around and
notice colors? Are there certain ones
that are showing up specifically? Maybe
the universe is lending a hand to help you even if you don’t really think you
need helping. Or not, maybe you think
this is all silly and that’s fine too. I
invite you to try it though, if for nothing else but shits & giggles! (Someone in my past used to say that and I’ve
adopted it because I think it’s funny).
Have a fabulous, colorful weekend!!
Tiffany xo
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