Color me Green

Color me Green – Part 6 of a 9 part poem on mixed media

Did you know that green is the easiest color for the eyes to process? It is said to evoke growth, healing, peacefulness and calm. It’s the color of life and renewal. It is a secondary color, meaning it is made up of two primary colors – yellow and blue. It gets it’s optimism from yellow, and it’s peacefulness from blue.

It’s no wonder that my focus is on the green girl right now, because green is known to balance emotions. I have struggled for a number of years with… er, um… we don’t really know. I suffered with extreme insomnia for years, and finally did something about it when I wasn’t falling asleep until daybreak the next day. There were thoughts of it being depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety disorder and ADHD. I had been on medication since 2004 because of it, however I was having some undesirable side effects. My doctor decided to change medications because of it. I was suppose to slowly wean myself off of the medication I was already taking in order to start the new one.

When I started lowering the dosage, I began feeling down, depressed and a bit irritated. I went to see a friend a couple of days into this and her sisters were there visiting. I told them about what I was going through and they prayed for me. Since then, my mood completely changed. Even my husband was shocked by how tranquil and easy going I had become. I’m still weaning myself off of it, but I really don’t think I’ll have to start the other meds.

Yes, I think green is a wonderful color. Balanced emotions for someone who has been unbalanced for so long is a huge delight.

Have you ever struggled with unbalanced emotions? What do you do to deal with them?

 

 

Lemons & Lessons

Lemons are sour, but with the right ingredients they turn into a refreshing, sweet treat. We’ve all heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. That’s one of the decisions I made at the beginning of this year. To make lemonade with the lemons life throws at me.

It’s no wonder they’re yellow. Yellow is such a cheery color. One of the additudes that yellow symbolizes is optimism.

There is a small, yet very powerful passage in the Bible – “Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.”

There is so much negativity in the media. So much fear-inducing information. It is easy to complain and grumble about it all. It is also easy to complain and grumble when things don’t go our way. When our comfort and personal peace is being threatened.

Life will always throw us lemons. The secret lies within what we do with them.

Yes, I think I’ll squeeze mine into some refreshing water and add some sweetener.

How about you? How do you handle the lemons life throws at you?

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Original illustration and Tanaga poem.