January blues

Tags

blue, Dublin, hibernation, January, January blues, photography, photos, window, writing

This morning the world is dipped in blue, the cold light breaking through the early morning clouds has coloured my neighbourhood in a pale azure, somehow very fitting for this slow time of year.

As I sit and type – slowly and not knowing where it’s going – I wonder if the blue of the atmosphere around me is seeping into my mind as I feel tired after a good nights sleep. But then, maybe, we are just more closely related to those clever animals that hibernate in blissful sleep while the world around them deals with cold and gloom and we too long for a few months of peaceful slumber.

So, as I yawn and rub my eyes the light stays dim, tricking me into forgetting the time and as the morning moves towards lunch I seem to be getting not much done. Maybe it’s time to ignore my inner longing to cuddle up in bed with a book and a cup of tea and paint the world around me in brighter hues of my imagination.

 

 

feeling a little bit azure

Tags

blue, colours, emotions, feelings, green, love, passion, psycology, red, sad

After a sleepless night I got up this morning feeling a little bit blue. The well known heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach and a tightness around my heart, making me a little sad, a little lethargic and not quite my usual self.

So while I stood waiting for the kettle to boil, choosing to allow the feelings of sadness to take over for a little while, I started to think about colours. and what impact they have on emotions. Why is it that when I see big bright yellow sunflowers I have to smile or when the sea is a clear blue or green with sunlight dancing on it, it makes me happy and when the sky is heavy with grey clouds I just want to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea?

It’s not just how we feel about colours but how we use colours to describe feelings. I love all shades of green, from the vivid apple green that makes me grin to the placid dark green of a forest. It is a calming colour, hence the name green room where people sit and relax before appearing on TV, yet we also say green with envy. Blue is  most named when asked “what is your favorite colour”, it also has significant meaning in most religions and has a calming effect, yet blue food does not generally appeal to us. And why do associate blue with feeling sad? Red is the colour for passion, love and actually does speed up our heart beat but if someone wears red it makes them look heavier as it draws attention to the body and thieves prefer stealing red cars. Yellow is considered an optimistic, happy colour and it actually makes the brain produce more serotonin (happy hormones). But looking a little yellow is never a good sign.

Pondering these thoughts that that are running around in my brain I take a sip out of my big red (energy) mug and sit down on my orange (ambition, but also a new attitude) and pink (romance and gentle feelings)  patterned desk chair and start typing on my grey/silver (practical) keyboard . And I make up my mind, that if I am feeling a little bit blue today I at least want it to be azure … the colour of the sky or the Romonovs china, a colour that comes from Persia and complements my eyes.

Colour Psycology