We are surrounded by this vast spectrum of colours around us and they influence our lives in so many ways. One of the quotes I really like goes like this:
There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another. Edouard Manet
Even though Manet said this as a painter, I see its relevance in our lives. We have these imaginary lines of stress, anxiety, worry, busy-ness, pre-occupation that brutally cut across our areas of colours. There are so many colours around us and we simply fail to notice them. So this Holi, my attempt is to invite all of us to embrace and bathe in the forgotten colours of our lives. I want to illustrate my intent with a couple of colours. Let's dive right in!
Blues!
From the soothing feeling it evokes, we have slowly transitioned into associating blue with an undesirable feeling. 'Monday blues', ' I feel blue' are common remarks. But the forgotten aspect of blue lies right in front of our eyes in the most abundant amount. The rich blue skies (which this season of pre-summer generously offers) and the blue of the water are the most common forms of blue we come across everyday. Both these forms have a strong potential to induce calmness in us. Let's bring back the blue on a better note!
Greens!
Not just in terms of the environmental issues of deforestation and global warming, but also in our messed up diets. Green induces a positive feeling of balance, health and helps soothe the nerves.
Yellow, Red, Orange, Purple, Pink......the options are unending!
We have so many options available to us in terms of colours. As a kid, every crayon, every colour pencil fascinated us and back then every one of us was an artist. As we grow up, we all leave that kid behind. And today is the day when we can bring it back in our lives.
Colours and effects
Colours have an impact on our perception and through our experiences we create our associations with them. Here's how colours induce certain emotions in us

Feeling the colours
We have gotten into a habit of looking at all our colour digitally. We'll look at a million photographs with all the colours in them. And that affects us as well. No doubt. But there's another aspect to experiencing colours. Along with our visual sense when we associate another sense such as smell, sound, taste or touch we experience that colour more intentionally and closely. Walking on the green grass, hearing the sound of the cool blue stream, experiencing the warmth of the orange-yellow sunrise, that as an experience is more enriching and we must not overlook or neglect that. A combination of just visual and visual+ experiences with colours reinforce our associations with them and naturally make our lives more colourful.
Painting our lives
An intentional introduction of colours in various areas of our lives can have an impact on our outlook towards it. Adding colours to our everyday products like stationery, clothing, food choices, workspaces, homes can enrich our experiences with these products and spaces. That in turn reflects in our behaviour and take on life. Nature offers us all the colours it has without demaniding anything in return. All we have to do is use it with the best of our intentions. Its really that simple.
“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.” Khalil Gibran
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