By Shelley Abrams
March is traditionally associated with St. Patrick’s Day and – you know – leprechauns, that lucky pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and the color green. Green is the color of Leprechaunmoney (U.S. bills anyway) and often associated with good luck. But it is so much more than that.
Did you know that every primary and secondary color (primary being red, blue and yellow; secondary being green, orange and purple, along with black and white) has its own spiritual meaning and symbolism based on the feelings and emotions such colors evoke? And that much of this symbolism goes back eons! If you think about it, everything around us is based on color. It permeates our whole world. We are drawn to some colors and repulsed by others. It affects our mood and can even influence how we feel and what decisions we make.
For this month’s blog I am going to focus on the color Green as it is 1) commonly associated with the month of March (as mentioned above), 2) the most common color found in nature – all around us, and 3) is the second most cited favorite color – blue is first. It is also a key color for Shaklee – with our “green” products and our green logo.
“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.” – Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Throughout the history of mankind and all cultures, green has come to symbolize many things, with the most common associations being prosperity, abundance, luck, money, altruism, youthfulness, vitality, fertility, rebirth, renewal, health, safety, and nature. On the negative side, green is associated with illness, envy, greed, materialism, insincerity, deceit, and inexperience. Did you know all that? I certainly didn’t. So let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?
From a spiritual perspective, green is the color of the fourth, or heart, chakra, which is associated with healing and renewal. Green means balance, harmony, love and Heart Chakra – Greenacceptance. If you have a green “aura” you have balance and peace in your life, and you may be a healer. Green lets us be more loving and accepting of ourselves and others. It represents nature and rebirth and can renew and restore our sense of well-being, helping us to regenerate after we’ve exhausted ourselves physically, mentally or emotionally – in other words, drained our energy! If your heart chakra is in balance, you are perceived to be loving, empathetic and compassionate.
From a mystical and religious perspective, green represents safety, resurrection or rebirth and regeneration. In Japanese culture, green is the color of eternal life, and in Chinese culture it represents virtue and beauty. In the Islam culture, green represents paradise as well as respect. In Portuguese culture, green means hope. In Greek and Roman mythology, green is tied to both Aphrodite and Venus as the color of love (and I bet you thought Red was the color of love!).
More recently, in the world of politics, green has come to be associated with progress, ecology and the environment.
From a physical standpoint, being surrounded by green stimulates your pituitary gland and relaxes your muscles. It makes you calmer, quieter, and less stressed by emitting a soothing energy. It has even been known to help minimize panic attacks, anxiety, and some depression. It strengthens the circulatory system by dilating blood vessels. And it Green Foresthelps ward off allergies, infections, and viruses because it raises your blood histamine levels, thereby enhancing your respiratory system. Some also say it also enhances your creativity and allows you to see situations more clearly, enabling you to make better decisions. Not so sure about creativity, but I can certainly vouch for the calming effect of green – at least I feel much more calm when I am going for a walk in a green forest than on a city sidewalk! Green is also the color the human eye is best able to perceive in all its variations, is the most sensitive to, and most likely to respond to when trying to improve vision.
“Absolute green is the most restful color, lacking any undertone of joy, grief, or passion. On exhausted men this restfulness has a beneficial effect, but after a time it becomes tedious.” – Wassily Kandinsky
So now that you know what green really means, how does this tie into Shaklee and health, wellness, and mindfulness? Shaklee’s mission from its inception is for every product, and therefore our lives, to be in balance and harmony with nature. This in turn, brings increased peace, health and happiness and perhaps a better sense of safety and security, both financially and spiritually. Green is nature, energy, and balance. Surround yourself with it, get out in it, use “green” products, and you too may eventually find yourself not only more energetic but also “rolling in the green”. Like Dr. Shaklee and his motto to be in harmony with nature, mystic Edgar Cayce, who did considerable work on colors and their vibrational energy, said that “contact with nature is very important if you want to be in balance and have a peaceful and harmonious life.”