Green– the baby of blue and yellow combines the peace of blue and balances that with the optimism and joy of yellow. Green is one of the most common colours- just look around! Especially in Vancouver where there is plenty of greenery around, the colour green is easily connected to feeling rejuvenated and relaxed. Not surprisingly, green encourages love for nature!
The relaxation that comes with looking at green is why there are green rooms for performing artists just before a performance as the colour creates an overall calmness to reduce the sense of urgency and nervousness!
It’s a colour that restores energy- maybe why we stay for hours studying in Starbucks? A fun fact that I came across is that researches have found the colour green increases reading ability! If you lay a piece of transparent green paper on top of your notes, reading speed and comprehension increases!
Representing good luck, green also has a flipside! Does the term, “green with envy” ring a bell? The colour green is also linked to material possession and longing for material gains.
Green surprisingly also represents FERTILITY and I laughed as I read this next juicy bit- till this day, some people still think green M&Ms sends a sexual message!- Maybe you feel extra frisky eating them green candy? ;
Physically, the colour green relaxes us, “alleviates depression, nervousness, and anxiety and offers a sense of renewal, self-control, and harmony”
I don’t have a lot of yellow in my wardrobe- mainly because I only fancy a certain shade of yellow. I like the paler, banana yellow compared to the stronger, brighter, almost orangey yellow.
Optimism, happiness and positivity define what yellow is! Yellow is a very warm colour, a colour which makes it very hard not to smile when looked at. Yellow is psychologically the happiest colour of the spectrum!
Physically, yellow stimulates! Which makes it a stronger colour than the calming green. It stimulates the mental state and nervous system, as well as activates the memory!
It is the colour of the mind and intellect.
When I read more about it, I can’t stop thinking about the yellow highlighters that used to fill my textbooks when I was studying- it made remembering and retaining information that much easier! And it makes sense now- yellow is the most highly visible colour- a reason why road signs are yellow!
An interesting point to note though, is that in moments of stress- yellow is not the best colour to have around as it adds to the agitation and anxiety. To help this- looking at green actually helps to alleviate that stress and provide calm to the body.
So next time you want a feel good-calmingly stimulating mixture of colours- Go yellow-green
Collaboration with the lovely Alison Hutchinson from Styling My Life – show her some love!
Photography: Jessica Smith Photography- Studio Ninety9
Links:
About.com
Sensationalcolour.com
Empower Yourself with Psychology