Joy is a revelation of what was unknown before. Rollo May

I’ve always been drawn to the concept of Auntie Mame. It seemed to me that she lived a colorful life, embodying many characteristics that I want to live in my life. She marched to a different drummer, not letting life’s difficulties bring her down. It is right to dance to life, to celebrate life, to celebrate and include the good in life, and she did.

I consider myself a sensualist, but not a hedonist. I’m quite ecclectic in my interests. I appreciate many things: color, texture, taste, perfumes and candles,music, flowers, and I try to surround myself with color. I think consciously and unconsciously I have added color in my life to balance other things going on around me.

Love many things. Van Gogh

Love many things — it adds to happiness.

Why wait to enjoy the good things in life — add the color you need; use the good china, crystal and table ware; spray your perfumes with abandon, if it makes you happy; enjoy the meals you love to eat; pick up fresh flowers, they add color and fragrance to your life; include your friends whenever you can; put on your makeup — and check the colors periodically for new shades; color your hair. What are you waiting for? You deserve the best; it isn’t just for special occasions or company.

Color theory, which was so popular a few years back, educated many on what colors worked for them and why. Growing up in the fashion business, it was innate to me, but having it systematized made it easier to grasp and explain to others. Sometimes surrounding yourself in your house with colors you can wear even makes you look good! Go for it! (And I laugh and say if you can all wear different colors as we can in my house, then pick what works best for you.)

…color is the quickest, easiest, and least expensive form of self-expression…We are sensitive to the effects of color on our mood and energy whether we are aware of it or not. Alexandra Stoddard

Not too long ago I was watching the HGTV channel, and it seemed as if every designer was including a red wall somewhere. I thought, where could I put red into my house…we have skip trowel walls which are basically white, though I laugh and say if I took everything off the walls which add color, they would collapse from the holes. I really admire homes where all the walls are not white, but it doesn’t dizzy your eye. Someday I will work out other colors — maybe! Our only smooth walls were under wall paper which we removed. That left the walls somewhat rough, not as though they were virgin for paint.

My only possibility for red was my kitchen, which at the time was painted a lovely blue. Did I dare? Did I not dare? For about 6 months I had two swatches of different reds that I had found in magazines tacked to my kitchen walls. I would move them around, look at them in different lights and different places, and finally chose one of them. We hired a painter who said red was difficult to do, but he did a great job. Wow! what a difference. Even my dh remarked how well he liked it as his first comment.

Then, as I stood in the kitchen and looked across to a door leading to a bathroom, I thought, I think we could put that red there too and it would draw your eye, so we did. Different painter, a sub-contractor of the first, and he didn’t do such a good job, but it’s still suitable.

This spring I wanted yellow for some reason, maybe because it was spring. So I looked for something yellow in kitchen towels — a first for me. That spot of color adds to my happiness.

So long as you have ideas, you have the opportunity to be happy. My mother used to change the furniture a couple of times a year by moving it around. She didn’t spend any money. We always liked it better one way, but it was good to get a change and a fresh view.

What do you do to add color to your life? what can you do to add more color, in whatever form, to add a little joy and happiness?

Karin

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Categories:

Joy and happiness, Just thinking, Opportunity, Quotations