United Colours of Design • Orange Edition • January 2022

What does orange have to do with bunnies? 

Yowsa! The last month has been a HUGE lesson in what it means to work with orange sacral energy. As all of you were enjoying the Coral Edition, we here at United Colours of Design have been preparing and producing the Orange Edition. And it has been a doozy! When you read through the magazine you’re going to find out all you ever wanted to know about orange. Every writer is taking a look at their area of expertise through the lens of orange so I am going to allow them to give you all the juicy details about orange. What I’d like to do is show you how orange showed up for me in just the last four weeks! Honestly, I can’t believe the changes that have occurred in such a short period of time. So here it goes…

On each cover I list the three most positive aspects of each colour. Orange is all about creativity, manifestation and sexuality. Pretty amazing aspects for sure! So, I was geared up to experience a wicked-awesome quarter full of creative inspiration, thinking my dreams into being and fabulous sex! Like who wouldn’t be excited for all that, am I right?!

Plot twist! What transpired was a completely different orange story. What I and a few of the writers actually needed were the properties of orange that lead to deep spiritual healing in the areas of overwhelm, shock and creative blocks. Once we faced the dark side of orange, the positive aspects were able to shine through. Did they show up the way we originally thought when we started this orange journey, nope. Were they equally beautiful and insightful, yup!

Inside this edition you will find articles giving you tips on how to manifest like a rock star AND how to remove the blocks to creativity. Because the fact of the matter is, the free flow of creativity, no matter how it manifests for you, is dependent on getting that orange sacral energy spinning brightly.

Here’s my analogy: You know those spinney wheels in the playground? The ones where you grab the bar and run like mad to get it going and then you hop on? So fun right? But sometimes there’s a gross, muddy mote that settles in the groove around the wheel and no one wants to be the runner. We used to settle that messy job with rock, paper, scissors to see who had to trudge through the muck to get the wheel going while the others sat and enjoyed the ride.

Needless to say, this issue we have some who won rock, paper, scissors and some that lost. Those that won found the writing process for orange fun and easy and joyful, where those that should have picked rock, wound up getting dirty shoes and soaked socks before seeing the great side of orange. I should have picked rock!

My orange lessons started around the end of November when two of my writers (who also should have picked rock!) texted (on the same day!) to tell me they were very sorry but just too overwhelmed to submit an article for this edition. They were creatively out juice even though we all thought orange would be an easy colour for each of them to write about. Being the helpful person that I am, I attempted to save the day by offering fabulous topic ideas that would inspire them to write their best article yet.

Truth bomb… Being ‘helpful’ by trying to save the day was me activating my ‘need to please’ orange pattern. My orange shadow needed the praise and accolades that I would get for being the muse that ignited their creative flow. The more I tried to ‘help’ by pushing my orange agenda, the more overwhelmed they felt.

After recognizing that my orange shadow was beginning to take over, I sent them each a note letting them off the hook. I reminded them that this was supposed to be a fun experience and if they were feeling overwhelmed it was fine with me if they needed to sit this ride out.

Truth bomb… Although I was disappointed that two of my favorite writers weren’t going to be in this orange edition, I knew I had to stop fighting it into being and just allow. The truth is, forcing creativity only produces an inauthentic message and that is definitely not what we’re after here. Once I stopped trying to rule the roost the universe was able to take over! Both writers are very familiar with colour and the shadows that can be activated when working with them. Luckily for all of us, both of these kick-ass lightworkers took this resistance as a sign to do some work around orange to see what was coming up. After inner reflection, meditation and a whole lot of swearing and tears both handed in their columns and both stories are brave and brilliant examples of the healing properties of orange.

Two weeks later another lesson in orange…

A year and a half ago we (and by we I mean my man) rescued a little Yorkie named Ammie (hello…how could I say no?!) She was a blind, deaf old girl who was surprisingly active and not at all bothered by having to bonk her way around her new home. Although she was 14 and in pretty bad shape when we got her it was only just 2 weeks ago that her health led us to making that dreaded call to the vet. I had no idea that this quirky little fur ball would have such a big impact in such a short period of time. I also found it interesting that she transitioned while working on the orange edition.

I reached out to my colour mentor, Moira Bush and she reminded me that animals have an orange aura, so this is why we use orange bottles when working with animals. The fact that Ammie decided it was her time during our orange edition (and not any of the other colours we’ve worked on so far) means (to me) that she was content to go. She went full circle, born in orange and leaving in orange. From a numerology perspective the date we leave this planet is as significant as the date we arrive. Ammie left us on 13/12/2021, this is a 3 day and in Colour Mirrors 3 is represented by the colour coral… our last edition’s colour. So interesting how the universe works.

Even though it was her time, even though she had a great life and even though we provided her with a great ‘last hurrah’, the shock and trauma (orange) of making the decision to end her life has not been easy to shake. But orange has a sneaky way of healing wounds and supporting us in moving forward.

One week later another orange lesson…

My step-son has been bugging us for years to get a hamster. Do you know how difficult it is to tell those big brown eyes that there is no way on this earth we’re getting a hamster? Ha! It’s not difficult at all actually lol! There was NO way I was getting a hamster (or any other animal for that matter) and I had no problem telling him so.

December 23rd he and I were in the pet store getting some kitty litter for our BBK (Big Beautiful Kitty) Trixie. (Trixie is another geriatric pet that came with my man and she too is spending her last days at Amy and Brian’s Retirement Home for Wayward Animals). We stopped by the hamster cages and honestly, I was an inch away from breaking when (thank God) the fire alarm went off in the store. I gave my head a shake and left with the other grateful parents who were getting away unscathed.

That night I couldn’t sleep. I was consumed with searching for hamster cages on Marketplace desperate to make this kid’s Christmas one for the books. But something was holding me back… and then I saw it. A photo of THE cutest bunny I have ever seen. I woke up Christmas Eve on a mission. The boys had gone to their mother’s for the day and after they left I looked at Brian and asked him what he thought about getting a bunny. Anyone who knows him, knows he has a weakness for animals, and I knew this wasn’t a hard sell. I was the hard sell so with that out of the way he was increasingly excited about the idea.

Remember the Cabbage Patch and Tickle Me Elmo frenzies from years ago? Well, they had nothing on Amy and Brian’s great rabbit adventure of 2021! By the time the boys got home from their mom’s we had not one but TWO (don’t ask!) of the cutest bunnies in our kitchen. We told the boys they were allowed to open on gift but it had to be the gift we chose and I will never forget their faces! Shock, joy, disbelief but mostly joy. I can’t believe how much life was sprinkled into the house just by inviting these two creatures in!

Truth bomb… I was the one who needed some joy! Yes, I love what I do, I love my life and all the people in it, but I had no idea what I was missing until these two hopped in. Orange is known as “the life of the party” colour and let me tell you, these two (Jet and Olly, or at least we think they are Jet and Olly, they could be Jet and Holly… sex to be determined hopefully before we have 20 of them running around!) are certainly the life of our party.

So what are my lessons from orange?

• Stop being a control freak and allow the universe to flow as it should
• Give others the freedom to be creative without restraint
• Tears and F-Bombs go hand-in-hand with orange lessons
• Don’t forget to breath
• If you can’t personally be the life of the party, invite someone (or bunnies) who are and enjoy the ride
• Don’t worry, be hoppy! (Yup, I’m one of those people now!)

Metaverse the real story

The word itself makes me think of a Block Buster movie, produced by a huge network, anticipated by an even bigger audience that embraces the subject matter and engages younger generations in buying tickets, while the producers sit back enjoying the fruits of their labor. This is one way of thinking about it and the crazy part is that in reality, the metaverse is going to have such an impact on society, that we have no idea what this really means for the future of the event and hospitality industry.

If the contemporary internet experience is two dimensional—meaning you browse and scroll through it on a screen—the metaverse is 3D. You’ll be “walking” through it via connected headsets. Essentially, the Metaverse is a virtual world, with virtual assets such as land, buildings, offices, cars and cryptocurrency is used in the Metaverse. It is an entire world where people can get together, congregate, communicate, chat and share. Think of it in terms of you as a business owner, needing to buy a website, that’s considered an essential nowadays, and you call it your digital real estate. Owning digital assets in the Metaverse, is the next step into a 3D world, and that’s potentially the way of the future.

The Meta, now made famous by whistleblower, Frances Hagan is the new established brand name of Facebook, and because it involves Mark Zuckerberg, you can only assume that it will make him that much richer as he embarks on the future with a vision that wired futurists and techies have been studying for the last 2 decades.

Frances Hagen said, “The world should fear the impact of the metaverse.” Why? Because everything about you will be an open book for others to feed on. Not that it is a surprise but Facebook and transparency are locked in an ongoing battle, on the security and well being of humans around the world. Facebook knows that by changing the conversation, Meta will force people to give up more information, while Mark Zuckerberg gets rich and monopolizes the online world.

Our safety as individuals is at high risk. To participate in the metaverse you will have to add sensors in your home and workplaces. However, you do not have the advantage of choosing, if your employer decides to become a metaverse company. Your personal data is just as it says, “personal and private”.

When I thought about writing this editorial, I called upon my colleague Alan Smithson whose company “Metavrse” has been in business for 5 years and has been a leading force behind this new technology.

So, let’s ponder an idea; you create your own avatar much like an emoji and you enter what is naturally a gamer’s world, where everyone you work with has an avatar. You begin to have meetings as an avatar of yourself and soon your avatar emerges as a bigger player in a global world with virtual and live (hybrid) players online only.

Alan explained it to me this way, “The internet was designed to go on and off. Augmented reality allows you to walk into a 3D world that requires a VR headset. In virtual reality, you are blocked out from the real world. In augmented reality the digital world comes out into the real world.”

You’re likely scratching your head right now and asking yourself what does this have to do with me and how does this impact me? As event professionals, you have to plan for all demographics, road blocks, generational changes and virtual worlds that play with each other in a virtual sand box so to speak.

Understanding the metaverse is complicated, especially because it doesn’t exist yet. Since companies like Epic Games, Nvidia, Microsoft and Facebook (I mean, “Meta”) won’t stop talking about it, there’s an evolving lexicon to describe the next iteration of the internet. Microsoft mesh and Facebook meeting have been created for the metaverse.

Brands will benefit from this the most, as they produce interactive video, get circles of people conversing, while meeting people in the virtual world, creating presence and comradery.

There is much work ahead of us, as our children are learning this at a very young age and the whole world is playing games online and participating in these 3D settings in augmented reality. It is addictive, and can be dangerous, if not regulated for the real world of business.

The creation of 3D worlds, avatars, and 3D assets, will be converted to 3D versions with super high resolution keynote events, with interactive Roblox-like worlds that have breakout sessions, and plenary networking.

It is unclear whether there will be one metaverse, or many different separate metaverses (or any metaverse at all, really) but this seems to be the one constant: The metaverse is an immersive next-generation version of the internet, likely rendered by virtual or augmented reality technologies.

The venture capitalist, Matthew Ball, whose writing on the metaverse has influenced Mark Zuckerberg, describes the metaverse as, “a successor state, to the mobile internet” and “a platform for human connection.”

But, the metaverse will be for work, and you can expect lots of workplace applications too. Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson says, “It’s not something that you do for fun yet. VR has always been about solving problems. You’re putting something on your head. You can’t see the real world. You can only do it for a certain amount of time because it is different perceptually, than the real world.”

What you need to know right now:

1. Microsoft wants to make the metaverse available on any device.
2. Snap AR-based connected lenses put snapchat closer to the metaverse than many social media platforms.
3. Nike recently changed its trademark fillings because of, The metaverse.
4. There are others who are making changes and you should keep your eyes and ears to the reality of the future.

What is the biggest challenge facing the metaverse?

The experience has yet to improve on real life. Think of all the 2D social network struggles to eradicate, and multiply them. Is it even practical?

I believe that it is going to be huge, and I would invest now on the metaverse because I believe that younger generations are in pursuit of the future at a faster pace than our children ever were. They are smarter, driven, indulged and challenged by being at home continually with changing systems of health concerns. They are growing up with the tools that make it more viable to play with and create from.

Are you ready for the Metaverse?

The perfect colour choice for raising the social vibe in any Feng Shui design. The colour orange is a blend of red and yellow that associates with fire and earth elements in Feng Shui theory. Orange is a combination of activating and grounding energy, making it a true asset as a design feature. In Chinese culture, orange represents good luck and prosperity. Confucianism teachings believe orange is the colour of transformation. In China and India, the word orange was derived from “saffron,” a widely prestigious dye used during ancient times.

The colour orange is the social colour of Feng Shui and is commonly recommended to be applied in areas where people meet and mingle.

The Chinese New Year is known as chúnjié. It is celebrated with oranges. The Chinese word for Mandarin is ‘KAM” which sounds like the word “gold” in Chinese. Mandarin oranges symbolize prosperity and wealth and very prominent in Chinese New year celebrations.. It is suggested in Feng Shui teachings that wealth Chi can be activated with a display of nine fresh oranges as a centerpiece in the center of your home. This is usually done during the Chinese New Year.

For the dining room and kitchen area, orange glassware, coloured table linens, table settings, and floral arrangements with combinations of orange hues are excellent ways to boost the Chi. It will bring out lively conversation and create joyful nourishment for family and guests.

The living room or family room welcomes orange Chi for its warmth and cozy feeling where everyone can feel secure while lounging and relaxing. Introduce orange by displaying orange pillows, throw blankets, and orange décor. Shades of orange may be used in wall hangings or artwork. Use orange in moderation as it may cause agitation in hyperactive individuals, especially kids. There are many tints and shades of orange such as terra-cotta, rust, peach, and salmon that balance orange’s high energy. The paler tints of orange with more yellow than red bring in grounding energy of the earth element.

Couples can harness playful, spontaneous, and sexual Chi energy in their primary bedroom by introducing softer shades of orange fabrics and textures in bed linens, drapes, artwork, and lighting. Orange Chi stimulates intimacy and bliss in the adult bedroom. Soft orange lingerie will fan the flames of desire for your lover. Beware parents—make sure to have a functioning and solid lock on your bedroom door!

In the home office or craft room, orange will promote creativity in your work and hobbies. I suggest using salt lamps for their stimulating orange Chi and cleansing effect on small spaces. Be careful not to overuse bright orange as it makes a room appear smaller and increases body temperature. Orange is used in large buildings like warehouses in colder climates so employees feel warmer, which, in turn, lowers company fuel bills.

Orange was used as the colour of choice for safety equipment such as life rafts in the Navy during the second World War. Orange is used to treat shock in emergency situations and accidents and for victims of abuse. In Ontario, Canada, the health care system includes an air ambulance helicopter service known as ORNGE. Critically ill or injured patients are transported to hospitals in bright orange helicopters.

Canada’s Indigenous Peoples were egregiously victimized by its Residential School System. When these atrocities were recently made public, their descendants wore the colour orange as a protest. “The brightness of orange dispels those grim days of darkness and despair.”

Retail spaces and restaurants may use the colour orange to promote a joyous ambience with warm lighting, posters, and welcome signs for customers. You may have seen small orange trees in Chinese restaurants as a symbol of gold and abundance. Orange may be associated with items on sale.

Feng Shui consultants often use crystals in meditations to manifest set intentions for abundance, health, and prosperity. Orange crystals such as citrine and carnelian come in many shades of orange and can be used in all meditation rooms, spas, and yoga rooms for grounding positive Chi in the spaces.

Feng Shui is the ancient art and science of placement. The environment is altered in a manner for promoting and harnessing the best Chi to enhance our lives and well-being. I integrate Chakra balancing as a joint modality to balance Chi for clients. Feng Shui represents energy centers in our homes and space while the Chakra system represents the energy centers in our bodies.

The second Chakra center in our body, known as the sacral chakra, sits right below our belly button. Orange is the colour associated with the sacral chakra. It is also known as the social center. The sacral chakra stores our feelings and emotions. This is where past energies of hurt and abuse sit and where the colour ray of orange can heal these old wounds from the past. When we heal and transform our past wounds and open the blockages of energy, our creativity center is restored and we can give “birth” to new ideas and projects in our life. The colour orange is used in colour therapy, such as the Colour Mirrors system, to transform and shift energies. Orange heals our inner Feng Shui and brings more heavenly joy into our life.

The Feng Shui Bagua represents eight life aspirations plus the center gua. The center of the Bagua resonates with health and unity. The colour orange supports the center of the Bagua. Orange is also associated with the earth element in orange hues containing more yellow. Yellow is the colour of the earth element in Feng Shui.

The colour known as red earth in Feng Shui is a remedy that is implemented when both fire and earth are required to shift and balance Chi flow. Terra-cotta is an example of red earth décor. I recommend placing the earth element in the center of your home for the supportive and grounding energy of Gaia.

The invigorating Chi of the fire element and supportive Chi of the earth element found in the colour orange is a prime Feng Shui design choice in any space.

ORANGE: the colour of passion, emotion, creation, inspiration. Often tamed on the artist’s palette by muting with black or softening with white—much like extinguishing a fire with sand or water. But there are times when flashes of inspiration, like untamed flames, sear their way across the canvas in patterns of unbridled passion.

Creativity for me as an artist is a fire fueled by passion and guided by purpose. I believe that we all have a way to access our unique purpose in this life. Some of us share our talents and skills, while others shine their light by spreading love and positivity. No space is too small or large for a purpose. Your voice may reach a single person, a stadium full of people, or be heard worldwide.

If you can impact a single life positively with your unique gift, you are on a path of purpose. If you can inspire a connection with sharing your story, you have created an impact. You have the power within yourself to heal yourself and an opportunity to impact family and community with this purpose.

“If you can impact a single life positively with your unique gift, you are on a path of purpose.”

The first step is to be aware of your passion. Some of us may be fortunate enough to follow this in our jobs or businesses. Unfortunately, this passion becomes stifled as we get caught up in the mad pace of survival.

Challenging as they have been, the present times have given us a chance to take a breath and appreciate all that we truly value in life and discover what helps us to de-stress and create an oasis of calm and peace. This might be listening to music, appreciating the beauty of nature, trying out new recipes, undertaking creative endeavors such as painting, knitting, and other crafts, or getting lost in the world of stories and movies.

Some of us enjoy teaching or engaging with the youth or helping with the needs of seniors in the community. If we can find any small way to share this passion, it will be a big step toward living a life of purpose.

BLUE AMBER

This is gemstone found in the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic. The earthy, passionate, orange surface of this unique gem transforms into a mesmerizing purposeful blue of the ocean under the rays of sunlight. Passion ignited by the fuel of PURPOSE. Or PURPOSE following the path of Passion?

Inspired creation and authentic expression; this transformative power of colour is the mission and guiding light of my inspired offerings at Blue Amber Arts. The complimentary colours blue and orange hold the essence of the power of opposites and contrast. A favorite colour scheme of traditional and abstract artists, these colours have found their way in much of the art created in my studio.

SENSES AND SENSIBILITY

Our five senses together form our sensations and experiences. The seven chakras in our bodies correspond to the seven colours of the rainbow. When seen as a holistic experience, the daily choices we make involving our senses take on a new level. Art, home décor, attire, accessories, fragrances, music, and foods all become tools of awareness—energizing and healing.

This newfound awareness fuels my passion to impact the lives of as many people as I can by sharing my story of healing through colour and crafting simple creative processes that can heal our energetic bodies.

Reflect for a moment about what your area of interest is, and how you bring your own sensibility into creating or experiencing these interests. If we can begin to shape ourselves with this awareness, shaping families and communities wouldn’t be far away.

What are some ways that you can share your unique gifts and passion today? Once you explore the possibilities, opportunities will be literally strewn your way, awaiting your nod of acceptance. Once you find your passion and give it a purpose, each day the sun shines a little brighter and the clouds take a graceful exit.

Let us all commit to follow a path of passion and purpose and create strong individuals, families, and communities.

Varied shades of orange, cool and muted, can be blended with taupes, browns, and rusts to blend and blow out crease work from the most soft and sheer matte daily eye to ultra-smoky, night-out looks or even full-glitter ethnic wedding reception styles. The beauty of your client’s eyes can be amplified or even transformed with the layering and blending of the correct orange tones in their crease.

A light creamy orange, like a Creamsicle™, is perfect for clients with fair and light skin tones, where deep burnt or even sunset orange shades can work perfectly to blend out the crease on medium deep and dark skin tones. This helps to carve out and shape the client’s brow bone, changing the size and the angle of the client’s brow bone and eyelid overall, assisting you with creating whatever eye style you are trying to achieve.

The same goes for other bones in the face, like cheekbones! Orange blushes can be the perfect switch from traditional pinks or rosy tones. Clients with very fair skin that pull pink easily tend to turn quite red as the day goes on and make up wears. By lightly using an orange blush that leans more on a neutral or yellow side versus red, their blush will naturally appear as a soft “pinch-me” pink without turning ruddy or blotchy as the day goes on. Orange is an exceptional blush on redheads! For medium to richer skin tones, seeing that the cheeks and high points in the face don’t turn pink in the cold or with a high heart rate naturally, orange is the perfect solution to adding a beautifully sculpted shape to various bone structures that looks natural and compliments contouring while giving the effect of blush.

And last but not least, lipstick! Orange lipstick is the quirky, off-the-beaten-path sister of red. Still bold and beautiful but more free-spirited and less serious, orange lipstick can stand alone on a fresh, moisturized face, or compliment a well defined eye and sculpted face for a truly unique statement look. Traffic-cone-type orange can be truly breathtaking on most skin tones, while blue-toned orange can have the same effect as its red counterpart and whiten your client’s teeth!

Hybrid colours like orange have the mixed attributes from the colours they come from; use orange to empower your clients like red does, or to inspire fun, serenity, or lightheartedness from yellow in your client’s daily life by adding it to their routine. Encourage your clients to experiment with orange, and show them the many ways that orange can easily become a part of their makeup wardrobe!

Fit for a princess; we used orange both on the cheeks and lightly mixed on the lips for this stunningly full coverage look. The orange tones not only compliment her skin tone, making her dark eyes stand out even more, but are a fantastic contrast to her blue dress, making her makeup stand out even more— perfect for the audacious pageantry planned for her incredibly glamorous event.

Here we have a shimmering orange blended with champagne and a toasty brown on the eyes. When the client’s eyes are open, the colours blend seamlessly and softly for barely-there definition, making her brown eyes sparkle. But when her eyes are closed, the gentle drama of the contrasting colours shine through, adding the necessary drama to her otherwise soft and natural makeup so that it matches the level of intricacy and splendor in her elaborate outfit.

Pictured here is a client who wished for a transformational look to elevate her features. The orange blush suits her medium complexion perfectly, pulling on the yellow side, to balance out the coolness of her lip and eye shades. It is also brightening, which is perfect on skins that are prone to discolouration or hyperpigmentation. Additionally, the orange plays well with the warmer tones in her hair, tying everything together for her special day.

Just the word orange evokes the feeling of warmth and a sense of vibrance. When Amy and Moira introduced orange as the chosen colour to kickstart the first issue of 2022, my creative juices began to stir. As a designer of content and communications delivery channels, I did not have to dig deep to find a project where I used orange as the primary colour.

The influence of colour in cultures

The client, a non-profit charitable group rooted in Hindu culture, approached me to design their website with automated back-end processes. The client suggested a darker shade of burnt red1 as the base colour. They had been using this colour for print documents (letterheads and display materials).

As the designs began to take shape, I realized that burnt red did not lend itself to such a vibrant way of life. I experimented with different colour palettes and chose the colour that best represented the culture—orange.

A darker shade of orange (saffron) plays a significant role in eastern cultures including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. To the followers of these cultures, the colour orange embodies purity. It also represents fire which burns darkness and is symbolic of knowledge burning ignorance.

Styling with colours in web design

Designing with vibrant colours requires thought and research. Think in terms of white space. Then add bits of the colour as accents—create white space to separate the colours. Use strong colours sparingly (orange in this case) either to highlight or frame highlighted content.

The thought process in designing a website is different from print design. Colours for print are in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) mode. Since a computer monitor emits light, online content requires designs to be in RGB (red, green, and blue)2.

In the early days of web design, developers had to specify style along with content. So a main headline would have a set inline structure with multiple parameters ({font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold; colour: black;}) for every piece of content (headlines, sub-heads, paragraphs, pull quotes, etc.). Tedious work. Imagine a website with hundreds of pages!

A sensible approach evolved in later years. The content got separated from style, and it stayed separate. The plain text, wrapped in HTML, is then stylized with CSS (cascading style sheets). CSS controls the content display across all devices and platforms. It is akin to wearing make-up.

The main headline, for example, will have the tags wrapped in HTML as h1 (up to h6). They will be given a style (h1 {colour: #ff6600; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 600; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1px;}). If the client asks to change the colour of all headlines, one has to simply change the colour in the CSS to change it globally.

Responsive design shows off colours and images at their best

Responsive design was born out of the necessity to adapt to ever-increasing screen sizes. With this style, the website’s layout adapts to the device that a potential reader or customer may use to access the website.

Responsive design is user-friendly. The images, colours, spacing, and text begin to make sense. UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) are now essential disciplines in web and app design.

Choosing an image, illustration, or animation has farreaching consequences in any design. The cliche “a picture is worth a thousand words” is not all true in web design. If the layout is not responsive, it gets lost on the sidelines (outside the screen).

Smartphones consume more than 50 percent of all online content. You have already lost your audience if the website does not respond to the different screen sizes (from a 27- inch iMac to the smallest of smartphones). In this age, even enterprise-level companies send out documents as downloadable or PDF attachments. Imagine trying to pinch and zoom to read a white paper on the colour orange from your smartphone!

“Stick to the basics of design. A combination of common sense, principles of aesthetic design, experience, and practice dictate excellent outcomes. If you are an aspiring or practicing designer, look up some of the best websites in the world. Experiment with how design follows the contours of the device—be it a big or small screen.”

Use of colour in branding

A dominant colour such as orange can evoke strong emotions. Overusing the colour can also have disastrous effects.

Strong colours can be judiciously used with different colour palettes. To find palette combinations, an online service such as mycolour.space (https://mycolor.space) helps with the foundational elements. For my client, the colour orange is represented by the hex number #ff6600 (RGB (255,102,0)). I used orange sparingly and employed burnt red (their house colour) for headlines.

Try to restrict the use of different colours and styles in web design. I limit the number of colours used to three or four. I stick to a maximum of three font families for styling content—one for the headlines and two for the content. Highlighted text or pull quotes may use decorative fonts.

Styling websites has progressed to a stage where fancy fonts are used—similar to print. Third-party font repositories such as Adobe and Google Fonts can be directly accessed in realtime to stylize web content.

Stick to the basics of design. A combination of common sense, principles of aesthetic design, experience, and practice dictate excellent outcomes. If you are an aspiring or practicing designer, look up some of the best websites in the world. Experiment with how design follows the contours of the device— be it a big or small screen. It is now possible to create websites that are as pixel-perfect as a printed page. Drag-and-drop builders have helped designers take over the web and app design and development from developers.

Strike a balance between what needs to be visual and what has to be informative. Although perfection is an illusion, tweaking the colours, fonts, and spacing is a never-ending process. Avoid distractions with the overuse of colours and fonts. Stay away from rapidly moving animations. Nip the urge to add blinking text and flashy banners in the bud. If used well, orange may just be the new black! It definitely is for the latest issue of United Colours of Design.

We often set goals for our own personal growth or resolutions at the beginning of a new year; as a creative entrepreneur, do you do the same for your business? I’m guessing the answer is yes! I’m sure you set out the plan for the year and are completely excited at the picture you’ve painted. For many entrepreneurs the year starts out on track and then somewhere around February the goals lose their sparkle and reality sets in. How do I find clients to achieve these goals?

January 1 typically signifies a new beginning, a time to rethink, re-strategize, and start fresh. What will you do differently to attract new customers and increase your revenue this year? How will you keep your goals sparkling and your mindset positive?

It’s been a tough couple of years for business owners; however, history has shown whenever there has been a global crisis there is also a rebirth that follows. We are witnessing the evolution of how businesses have shifted their marketing strategies to include a combination of online and offline media. Our world is changing and how we interact with our clients also must change.

To build sustainability, creative professionals need to consider building relationships with their tribe by connecting with them where they live, work, and play. How can you add value, happiness, and joy to your potential client’s life? Where can you make these connections without being overly invasive? Creative advertising and marketing options are everywhere—you just need to find the most authentic outlets for your business.

So, this is it! 2022 is the year to get INSPIRED and let your fearless, flamboyant juices flow. It’s time you get your creative genius in front of YOUR people, the RIGHT people, so you can help them make quantum leaps in their life and business. Making sure you focus on their success keeps abundance flowing in your direction as well!

I know, that’s easier said than done, right? The thought of where to start or how much to spend to get a return takes away from what advertising should be—which is FUN!

I have been in the advertising world for twenty years. Most of my clients were and are smallto- medium-sized business owners like you. They struggle to justify spending their hardearned money on advertising when paying rent and bills is tough enough. They are looking to find those deep connections with their audience without having to break the bank to find them. It’s a chicken and egg situation, I think. Without advertising your products and services (aka letting people know you exist), there are no (or very few) clients; and without clients (aka income) there’s no money to spend on advertising. Such a conundrum we small businesses face!

There are no guarantees, but there are absolutes. Once you know who your people are, what they love to do, how they spend their free time, what their goals are etc., you have valuable information as to where you can find them. For example, my ideal client spends her mornings at the gym people watching while she’s on the treadmill for thirty minutes. My ideal client is using grocery delivery services because he’s a busy dad and entrepreneur with no time to waste in grocery stores. My ideal client loves reading creative magazines for inspiration and professional advice to help her grow her sculpting business. Hidden inside this understanding of our clients’ lives are creative ways to reach them. Did you catch what I was layin’ down there? The gym, the delivery service, the trade magazine—OH MY! But how do you advertise in those places? Oh, and of course, the burning question, how much is it going to cost you??

Great questions! You can certainly target through social advertising. On the plus side, it’s as affordable as you need it to be. However, there are a ton of things you need to manage and understand before embarking on a social campaign, like how to: • Run an A/B test • Read analytics • Manage the content and image ratios • Design compelling ads • Produce eye-catching videos • Create authentic copy etc. You can also advertise on local TV or radio stations but those are often very expensive, and sometimes it feels like you’re throwing a tiny net into a large ocean. Hearing how much Nike is paying to advertise during the Superbowl has pretty much knocked TV off our radar as small business owners. As a woman in advertising, I came across these frustrations daily and it got my creative juices flowing. What can I do to help small businesses get in front of their tribe with compelling messages, great design, and flawless execution WITHOUT having it break their bank accounts? After years of experience, research, and building relationships with media outlets and buyers; after listening to my clients’ challenges and feeling their pain, a vision emerged. What if there was a marketplace for small-to-medium-sized business owners to be able to source hyperlocal (information oriented around a well-defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of the population in that community) and regional advertising opportunities? AND, what if there were price points and options to suit everyone? AND, what if they could fulfill their creative messaging and measure their media campaigns all in one place?

Et voilà, www.Advertiise.com was born. It was pure serendipity that connected my business partner and I and, along with our illustrious team, we are connecting local businesses to unique media options in the places their clients live, work, and play! If they want to grow their clientele, we’ve got them. If they want to generate additional income by monetizing space in their location, bring it on! If they need content, design, or production, it’s all here.

We love building community. We love seeing our clients thrive and share their gifts with the world. With that in our hearts, we built our marketplace around local communities serving campaign, like how to:

• Run an A/B test
• Read analytics
• Manage the content and image ratios
• Design compelling ads
• Produce eye-catching videos
• Create authentic copy etc.

You can also advertise on local TV or radio stations but those are often very expensive, and sometimes it feels like you’re throwing a tiny net into a large ocean. Hearing how much Nike is paying to advertise during the Superbowl has pretty much knocked TV off our radar as small business owners.

As a woman in advertising, I came across these frustrations daily and it got my creative juices flowing. What can I do to help small businesses get in front of their tribe with compelling messages, great design, and flawless execution WITHOUT having it break their bank accounts?

After years of experience, research, and building relationships with media outlets and buyers; after listening to my clients’ challenges and feeling their pain, a vision emerged. What if local communities. Our “one size does not fit all” approach allows the diverse team we work with—start-ups, freelancers, service providers, and businesses with multiple locations—to be there with creative advertising options.

I am here, writing this Colours of Advertising column, because I know how confusing this area of your business can be. I am here to help you answer your questions and direct you to the creative lead-generating ideas you seek. Am I biased toward my platform? Hell, yes! I’ve worked hard to ensure there is a large variety of innovative, affordable ways for you to be found by those that need you. The legwork is done, the relationships have been built, and all that’s left to do is choose where you’d like to be seen.

So! Here’s your mission (should you choose to accept it): do things differently this year! Think outside the box, literally. Think outside the box on your desk, think outside the box in your hand, and think outside the box in your living room. Find ways to connect with your audience that surprises them and brings them joy! Advertiise.com is one way, but just look up and look around, ideas are everywhere!

So, who here didn’t have a very Amazon holiday season? I know there are some die hard people on this planet who refuse to use this service but for the other 99.9% of us, it is a life saver. The cost of shipping is insane right now so I love that my prime membership allowed me to send gifts to my family and friends for free! The happiness I felt, not having to battle the crowds and go out in our cold Canadian weather, matched that smiling, orange arrow that adorned every box that landed on my door step.

When I think of orange I think of community. And isn’t Amazon just providing a platform for a community of entrepreneurs, like you and I, to get their products out to the world? Authors, musicians, publishers, TV producers, crafters, artists, actors and everything in between have a place on this platform. United Colours of Design Magazine wouldn’t be available in print were it not for Amazon’s print on demand service.

Moira and I are going to do a deep dive into the colours behind this brand and by doing so you will see why they have become such a major player in the current marketplace.

The charts on the following pages, created by Moira, are a snippet
of t

The process we use to generate the foundational information about a company. We use the Pythagorean numerology system to get our numbers and then we convert those numbers to colours using the Colour Mirrors system. Colour Mirrors is a system of energy-infused oil bottles that contain a top and bottom colour fraction. Each bottle has a message that relates to a person’s or business’ conscious and unconscious patterns. When colour and numbers are combined we can begin to build the story! 

The very clever use of orange in the logo really says just about everything as to why Amazon has become the giant in the internet based business world. Orange says this is a business with passion, fire, courage and its amber light keeping both sides of the traffic flowing so that everyone benefits from being involved in this business. The orange amber speaks of the transport industry and the black speaks of the boxing up (when boxes are closed they are dark inside).

The shape of the arrow in a smile suggests exactly what orange is known for: being social, connected with others and happy about it.

The official logo colours are black and orange, yet in the numerology of the company name, there is not one drop of orange or black!

In colour psychology the combination of black and orange brings to mind a feeling of the exotic and incredible strength; literally describing the river it was named after. This is a power colour coupling and beams out that a male energy was behind its origins – which can be seen in the complementary colours blue and white.

Amazon and its Founder Jeff Bezos

How fabulous that the unusual letter in a name ‘z’ is in both the business and founder’s name. Jeff first called the business Cadabra which would have made it in numerology a 21/3 and its main colour coral.

A few months later he decided to go with Amazon, naming it after the largest river in the world and making the first logo turquoise.

The name Amazon and Jeff have the notorious number 16 in common. This is the symbolic tower that says old ways of being in business have to disappear for the new to flourish. So literally walls coming down, i.e. physical stores being replaced with internet based shopping.

The number 8 violet in Amazon, also in the founding date and the colour appears in Jeff ’s numbers 13 is all about attracting judgments and legal issues. In the first years Amazon was sued by Walmart and Barnes and Noble. Mostly because he was disrupting the markets with his 4 life path energy and the changes to on-line shopping was already feeling a threat to brick and mortar based businesses at that time.

When you look at the energy of black and orange through the lens of the highly influential violet, this business will at some stage either have a major transformation that will feel like a shocking death, or it will die off as it is – something Jeff Bezos is notoriously known for saying himself. If we look at the immergence of the Metaverse, it makes sense. Amazon will have to re-invent itself to step into the new technology or it will have to adapt to be an asset to the Metaverse businesses. Will its current and future CEO’s be able to lead them through that change in the next 5 to 10 years?

The newly appointed CEO Andy Jassy is a hopeful sign as he has 28 New Beginnings in his birth date. He can create a new phase for Amazon, but he has that yellow number 1 ego that tends to rub people the wrong way. Yellow is the complementary to the violet, so if they give him carte blanche, he may just be the first of the new CEO’s to guide the business up the new river in town, the Metaverse.

A search for BLISS. What two undergrads have to say as they embark on their creative careers? 

I interviewed two undergraduates, Olivia and Philip, to gain perspective on their futures. They shared their thoughts, concerns, strategies, and dreams as two university students seeking personal bliss while pursuing careers as creatives.

Olivia describes herself as a passionate student of graphic design, advertising, and illustration. She has a clear goal and path to becoming an art director and is currently earning her bachelor’s degree at Curtin University in Australia.

Philip is an aspiring Experience designer and a natural storyteller. He has written immersive plays and is drawn to avant-garde theater that engages all the senses. Philip wants to inspire others and transform the way they experience their world through his interactive art. He attends university in England.

Olivia and Philip, taking personal satisfaction into account, what do you want out of your career?

OLIVIA I want to have a long career filled with projects I can be proud of. I want to make an impact even if that just means making someone smile with my designs. Ideally, I’d like to get paid well, but ultimately having a career that brings me bliss is the most important thing.

PHILIP I wish to create experiences that impart bliss upon others so that they may make transformative changes in their lives that lead toward personal liberation.

Where would you like to see yourself in five years?

O: In five years, I see myself working as an art director at a creative agency where I enjoy both the people on my team and the projects we produce.

P: In five years, I see myself running my own studio, taking on unique projects, and, most importantly, being completely location agnostic.

Do you have a mentor and how did you find this person?

O: This past year I was lucky enough to join ArtBound Initiative—a program which provided me with coaching from industry professionals. The coaching I received allowed me to think about my goals and how to achieve them. It was very inspiring to talk to different creatives not only domestically but internationally and see how they got to where they are today. I also intend to find other mentors who are currently in the industry as part of my future development.

P: No. I know of likely candidates but there are few, and they are hard to reach. I have a lead on one.

What type of work environment do you thrive in?

O: I’ve found that I thrive in an environment that allows me to ideate in a group and gain feedback. This helps me get my creativity flowing, at which point I like to be alone to implement the feedback or develop other concepts myself.

P: I thrive in a lab-like collaborative, disciplinary environment, where risk-taking is encouraged and negative feedback actively sought out. A space where failure is creativity’s greatest friend. Some of the environments that provide me inspiration include The Chelsea Hotel, The Manhattan Project, Cabaret Voltaire, and MIT Media Lab.

What salary are you aiming for? How did you come up with that number?

O: Looking up the average salaries of junior graphic designers and junior art directors—the median salary is $50,000AUD. Ideally, as I work my way up in the industry, I’ll be aiming for $100,000AUD. I would like to be at a place where I don’t live to work, I work to live. Meaning that I can go out and enjoy myself and do work that I am passionate about as opposed to having to take a job that I don’t enjoy just to stay on my feet.

P: Actually, I’m not looking for a salary; I want projectbased work. Ideally, I will keep living expenses low as I anticipate high expenses from travel and paying collaborators. At this point my income is difficult to quantify.

How realistic do you think your expectations are? Are there any major hurdles?

O: I feel that my expectations are pretty realistic. Given that I am just starting out in the industry, I realize that I will be starting at the bottom and am very willing to gain experience and knowledge to move up. Finding a company that fits and is the right environment might not be immediate, but every opportunity allows growth and learning.

P: I do not believe in expectations; I prefer ideas. I am not committed to these ideas; they serve more as a compass than a roadmap. These ideas are directions rather than postcards. As for hurdles, there are many including my underdeveloped technical skills, the ability to get people to trust my vision, the skill to specify what I want to build, knowing the order in which to go about things, and the ability to sell my vision.

Have you looked at your competition to see how you compare?

O: Every week at my university we have three-hour feedback sessions, in which everyone in the class shares their project and receives feedback from their peers and the tutors. Initially, this was quite scary and disheartening due to the inevitable comparisons made about our work. However, this is what pushed me to work harder and improve my work and skills each week. It also allowed me to figure out my differences and strengths from the competition, which will be helpful to know when looking for work.

P: I don’t really think there is competition. There are others who are working toward a similar vision. This is reassuring. It is validating. I am in awe of many of these individuals and groups. They give me certainty that we may build together.

Does your portfolio reflect your specific goals or is it a random collection of work? Have you had it reviewed by an industry professional?

O: I am majoring in graphic design and minoring in illustration and advertising. These three skills complement each other and I am able to showcase them in my portfolio. The unique addition of illustration and advertising is what sets me apart from my competition. Industry professional mentors have reviewed my portfolio and helped me make it modern and industry ready. Their guidance was incredibly helpful; they were able to tell me exactly how to improve my portfolio. This was a relief, as good examples of professional-level portfolios were difficult to find on my own.

P: My portfolio is a random collection of work. I have not the resources at my disposal to create something of the kind I wish to create. It contains seeds of this, but it is unfocused. I am sad about this. But alas, I must make do.

What are you willing to be flexible about as you move into this new career?

O: My ultimate goal is to love the work I’m doing and, because of this, I’m willing to be flexible with my pay. As a junior designer I will also be very flexible with the type of creative job I obtain after graduation. I have my goals and will work hard to achieve them, but I am open to the unexpected opportunities that might arise along the way.

P: I’m most willing to be flexible with timing and direction. I can envision a fluid career that marries fine art and entertainment with startups and corporate clients globally.

How far are you willing to push yourself to achieve your goals? What plan do you have at this time to help you realize them?

O: Once I put my mind to something, I am always going to complete it to the best of my ability. That being said, I have prioritized my work over other things such as my health over the past few years. It is very important to note that sacrifices are necessary sometimes to achieve your dreams; however, there’s no point if you aren’t physically or mentally well to enjoy it.

One of the best and scariest things I have done to reach my goals was apply to an internship program. It requires me to move across the country for a few months. I haven’t started yet, but I believe it will be one of the most impactful experiences in my life and help my career immensely.

P: Not far enough. I have no real plan, just intuition.

An Interview with: ZEHRA ALY Forgiveness—The magic pill to change your money story.

Who is Zehra Aly?

I am an empowerment coach, Colour Mirrors practitioner and teacher, single mom of two beautiful teenagers and a little puppy dog. I also work full-time at York University. Colour and helping others has always been a passion of mine. Colour actually made it easier for me to be able to give people a tool to help them. So, that’s me right now.

About Zehra Aly

Zehra is an internationally qualified Colour Mirrors Master Teacher and has been a Practitioner since 2015. She is a specialist mentor, guiding people to live their most conscious, confident and powerful life using the magic & psychology of colour.

Notable Achievements: 2x Community Achievement Award Certified Leadership Coach

Current Projects: Creator and Teacher of Prosperity Breakthrough Academy of Colour – 9 Week Program

What does orange mean to you when we think of your money and your money story?

It was interesting that you brought up orange because as I’m going through my program with my students, I’m going into orange and the sacral chakra this Monday. It’s timing that we are having conversation today. In thinking about how money and orange relate, it was interesting any time something shocking or traumatic happened, I would go shopping as a distraction or spent money on things that I didn’t necessarily need. My inner child would come out to play and go spend all my money. I wouldn’t know where it went. That was my old pattern with money.

What about now?

Now instead of spending my money when something traumatic happens, I look through the lens of colour and analyze, to look deeper and ask what’s going on? It’s so beautiful; now when I am writing posts for social media, I can now use my trauma and how I worked through it. I am able to share my experiences with intention that it might help them start healing and move toward a state of bliss.

What is bliss for you?

Bliss is finding inner peace and for me that is when I am in nature or bathing with a Colour Mirrors bottle. It is while meditating and working with the Colour Mirror bottles. And for me, bliss has always been about helping others. One of the key principles of sacral chakra is forgiveness. Being able to forgive your past and the people that caused you that shock or trauma. When you’re able to forgive and truly heal from it, that is when you can get to a state of bliss.

What was an early belief about money?

You have to shop for the deals and save money for rainy day emergencies because things will go wrong in the future. An additional belief is you have to work hard for your money.

Who taught you about money?

Moira Bush through her Love and Money Bootcamp, meeting amazing financial advisers like Joanna Blackmore and yourself.

What changed?

I started paying more attention and become actively involved with managing my money. I am definitely more responsible and aware of where my money is now going.

• I use reminders for bills and bills’ due dates
• I set up pre-authorized payments for important monthly bills like my mortgage, property taxes, and condo fees
• Once a month I review and pay all my other bills— cell phone, internet, gas, credit card

What is the problem that you solve for your clients?

I empower women who have suffered a past trauma to find forgiveness, to start healing, and rediscover their lost inner child. I help them identify their limiting beliefs and step into their birthright of abundance and prosperity. Clients gain back their authentic power and become who they truly want to be.

Who is your ideal client?

A person who has experienced some sort of shock or trauma in their life and not yet dealt with it. They suffer from anxiety or depression and may be feeling lost, overwhelmed and don’t have a sense of direction as to how to move forward. They want something different and aren’t sure where to start. Examples: separation or divorce, loss of a job, or the loss of a loved one

What does forgiveness mean to you?

A lot of times people associate forgiveness with thinking that if you forgive your past trauma or the people that hurt you that you are saying that it’s okay. One of the biggest lessons that I learned about forgiveness is that it doesn’t need to actually mean that. Forgiveness is not saying that what happened is okay, but just accepting that was a process that you had to go through to become who you are today. And the more we can accept that, it makes it easier to forgive the people that caused us that shock and trauma and abuse or any of those things that may have happened that we’re holding on to and unable to let go. So, forgiveness is more about us. You can’t get to that place of bliss if you continue to hold on to all of that anger and that trauma.

Instead of creating connections, you should be cultivating the things you say to yourself, such as, “I don’t want to call them back because I don’t want to bug them; I don’t want to seem sleazy;” etc. Therefore, YOU DO NOTHING and you suffer, which means your business suffers, and then you consider yourself a failure.
Three things to improve your sales mindset:

• Stop trying to predict what they are going to say and how they’re going to respond and if they’re going to accept or reject what you have to offer. When you make these predictions, you won’t even initiate the conversation because you will have determined all that before one question has even been asked.
• Think differently. What if you acknowledge the fact that you have the solution? You have the ability to solve a problem for the people that you are working with and for the people with whom you desire to work.
• Keep your eyes open for buying signals. Someone might be giving you buying signals, and because you’ve determined that you don’t want to bother them—you don’t want to be salesy—you’ll miss the buying signals and thereby miss the opportunity.

If, for instance, someone says, “I love the necklace you are wearing,” and you just happen to make jewelry, you miss the opportunity when you don’t say, “Oh, I made this. I have a business and I am a jewelry designer.”

They’ve already given you a buying signal. They’ve already told you that they’re interested in what you have to offer. I am not recommending that you say, “Hey, I’d love to sell you one!” Instead, you’d say, “I actually make these. I create custom jewelry.” And the next thing they’re probably going to say is, “Oh, my God, do you have a business card? Do you have a website? Can I ask you a little bit more about what you do? I have a gift I’d like to buy. I’m looking for something for a special occasion.” Respond in kind. You now have a conversation that’s very organic, that doesn’t feel salesy.

Think about it this way: There’s an elderly lady standing on the street corner, looking for someone to help her cross the street. She’s already on the street corner; she’s already decided that she wants to get across the street. Would you walk by that lady and say, “I don’t want to bother you,” or would you say, “Hi, ma’am. Can I help you cross the street?” Once again, you didn’t go to her house, force her to come to the corner, and then beg her to get across the street. She’s already on the corner; she’s already looking for assistance to get across.

Your job is to help her cross the street. In your business, your job is to help your prospective clients to cross the street, help them to achieve what they already desire, and just don’t know who can help them.

“ YOU have the solution.

Remember, salesy is a mindset. Reject that mindset and embrace the fact that you’re there to help the people who need you the most. “

As business owners, we frequently hear the term “Take your business to the next level.” In relationships, we hear the same term. But what does it mean? As creatives, we are always thinking of new ideas, downloading and sharing our discoveries, and in relationships looking for acceptance and unconditional love.

Well then, Orange is just the colour for us! It’s flamboyant and ignites the social bee and creative bug that resides in us. It even ignites our hormones!!

In this space, we creatives can really be in our zone of genius, and surprisingly reap rewards that originally, we were not seeking.

Let’s take a look at this.

Everything is about growth, right? Wrong. Ever struggle with the polarity of being active and getting things done versus indulging in laziness and inactivity? Any of us can get stuck in this zone. It happens. And we need a way out. Many women, including myself, became stuck in a marriage where we followed an old message that led us to co-dependently relying on our partner’s income, not feeling in love, and not having the confidence to propel. I know this, I experienced this decades ago. And my zone of genius was dead. Coming from this place reduces us to survival mode. It dulls our soul. We have lost touch with our magic. It does not have to be this way.

To be alive is to grow. It is to thrive. It is to create. It is to generate. And what we give out, we take back in spades! Orange is extravagant!! Re-activating our creativity is our lifeline. Here is how I made the change:

6 Steps to bliss, creativity & wealth:

Step #1: FOCUS ON EXPANSION

I had to shift my thinking from barely surviving to “I am ready to thrive.” Negativity flattens creativity. Everything really begins with mindset. Choose a positive mantra.

• I am ready to break out and show the world want I have
• I am building a machine that will create recurring income
• I have so many ideas creating money in flow

Implement a new daily mindset. Release fear. Embrace expansion. Whatever mantra speaks to you, create it, say it daily, post it on your mirror and believe it!

THINK BIG. If the WHY is big enough, the HOW will show up.

Step #2: EXUBERATE PASSION, ALLOW FORGIVENESS

Believe in yourself. I achieved reaching Gr X piano at the Royal Conservatory. I found that “if I could hear it, I could play it.” THEN, as an adult, I found that “if I could see it, I could make it.” Dream big and imagine how you want to be in this world.

How many people do you want to serve?

How much money do you want to make?

Would you love to be free of past transgressions?

You must believe in your service. Is it not the best idea ever?

Let’s Go. You built it. You love it. Let it rip!

Step #3: IDEAS, IDEAS, IDEAS

Expand your Business. We are always in creation mode. The world will never have too many innovative ideas. The more our mind focuses on designs and processes, the more will come to fruition. I, like other successful entrepreneurs, threw myself into my business and did not stop until I realized that I needed another “me.”

Stop at nothing

Have ideas flowing, customers flowing, money flowing

Develop the mantra, “IN THE FLOW.” This is what will take us to the next step.

Step #4: LEVERAGE

– Once realizing I needed another “me,” it was time to leverage.

Attract a team, even short contract workers. When business is flowing, here is the time to leverage. This is the time to ask for help, hire one person at a time- even if it is contract work to start but build on this momentum. Keep pushing and expanding.

Step #5: THINK MASSIVE WEALTH

-We bring about what we think about. Put 20% of your sales away into a secret nest egg. No 20%? Increase your price.

Creativity is not a commodity, it is not traded at a discount or sold to the lowest bidder.

The best clients will pay the highest price.

Remember to think, “MONEY IN FLOW

Step #6: RECIPROCITY

The more we give, the more we receive. Whether we give love, or give service, or give money to charity, it will come back to us in spades.

Surround yourself with orange. It is the perfect colour to bring you the ingredients to:

• Attract awesome people
• Break down the barriers that kept you stuck
• Make the powerful statements needed to speak your truth
• Bring your dream project to market
• Surround yourselves socially to unveil your brand
• Encourage community and team work to bring your creation to market
• Speak freely to encourage financial allure
• Save your money! Seek financial independence. Money attracts more money.
• Attract a great love partner!

As a woman, I learned to really to dig my heals into the ground to Step into my power, rip away the chains of codependency and stand my ground. As creatives, not everyone sees it our way, BUT, when we walk the walk, hold unconditional acceptance, and believe in the models of expansion, NOTHING will hold us back!! Imagine unlimited creativity when stepping into 6 our zone of genius.

Take your life to the next level! I’ve done this. It started with making healthy decisions, focusing on growth, not taking no for an answeranywhere in my life, and socking money away, one dollar at a time. Financial independence allows for opportunity and opportunity fills us with anticipation. And anticipation is one of the highest levels of positivity to live in which lets the universe know, WE ARE READY TO RECEIVE change your mindset, enjoy your life, come alive, hang out with creative successful business owners. Pinch yourself, you are alive.

Looking forward into the first quarter of 2022, one might wonder: what do the stars have in store for us now? Over the past two years, we’ve already lived through a pandemic, widespread lockdowns, political unrest, refugee crises, fires, flooding, a global vaccination effort, supply chain disruptions, and a parade of billionaires—some in phallus-shaped rockets— giddily blasting themselves into space. What could possibly be next? And more importantly, how can you best work with the astrology of the new year?

Before I answer that, let me paint a picture for you. Imagine, if you will, an enjoyable, well- attended party with everyone congregating in the kitchen. Further, imagine that, alone in the living room, there is an errant guest—an unknown entity—peering at the party-goers but refusing to join them. Awkward. What’s more, this stranger’s behavior is inconsistent and bizarre. Sometimes he winks at the cute girl near the veggie tray; other times, he aggressively hurls rocks at the men conversing near the door. Who is this winking, rock-chucking weirdo, and what does he want?

That, dear readers, is the astrology of early 2022. All of the planets, except one, are grouped together in the sky, more or less getting along. Those planets are in the kitchen enjoying a party. The one that stands apart from the group is Uranus, a planet symbolizing intelligence, forward -thinking, flashes of insight, idealism, dissension, and counter-culture behavior.

Uranus, the brilliant rebel, is in the living room. From its position in the sky for the next three months, Uranus will be in harmonious relationship to some of the metaphorical kitchen planets but in discord with others. Hence, the winking, but also the rock hurling.

This sky setup is unsettling, yet also intriguing. There’s a nonconforming, disruptive, but perhaps innovative energy at a distance from the majority. It stands for advancement but also pushback. This energy, to use a phrase from the eighties, is not going to “take any guff.” It is best used for advancement of ideas, creativity, strategic movement forward, and idealistic but liberating actions. It represents a challenge to tired, outdated practices and promises something fresh and new.

In real life over the next three months, you’ll see this symbolism play out in a number of ways. People might creatively harness technology in an effort to improve things, similar to the way online creators, via #TeamSeas, came together at the end of last year in a massive $30 million effort to clean up the oceans. First quarter, 2022 is a time for innovation and ideas, both globally and personally.

URANUS the brilliant rebel. This energy, to use a phrase from the eighties, is not going to “take any guff.” It is best used for advancement of ideas, creativity, strategic movement forward, and idealistic but liberating actions.

In addition to that, the social and freedom drives will be high as the year gets underway. This means that people will be ready to fully immerse themselves in what used to be normal social activities. As you can imagine, this spells trouble for any nation attempting to reinstate strict pandemic measures. There will be little appetite for it, and, in some cases, it could spark violent backlash. On the upside, social events could be fervently attended, which can make for a heightened experience as long as the enthusiasm doesn’t get wildly out of control.

An easy way to work with this energy in your personal life is to overlay the kitchen party metaphor onto your own experience. Think of your life, for example, as containing two facets: the part of you that is conforming and perhaps more restrained in some area of your expression (that’s the part of you jammed in the kitchen with everyone else), and the part of you that has already broken free and is yearning for something exciting and different (that’s the part of you in the living room).

This symbolism suggests that it is time to grow past your previous restrictions and that this can be exhilarating while at the same time intimidating. Have you always told yourself that certain goals or dreams were beyond your reach? Throw a rock at that notion. Have you always wanted to express yourself more creatively, by perhaps starting a podcast, learning to sing, sew, dance, or paint?

Wink at that idea and any other that feels exciting and invigorating. Throw a rock at fear. Be a disrupter in your own life, and, when you do, challenge the restrictions that you blindly accepted when you were younger.

This time is about moving beyond constraints and away from outdated versions of your life and your abilities. As you do so, it’s important to be kind with yourself, remembering that the limits we previously accepted kept us safe before they kept us small.

As we approach the two-year mark of the pandemic, it is wise to take stock of how and where your priorities have changed. Perhaps the routines and goals of your pre-pandemic self no longer fit who you are and what you have grown to realize is important to you. The message of the mysterious stranger in the living room is that it’s okay to do things differently— differently from others and differently from who you were before. In fact, doing so might make you the most interesting person at the party. Happy New Year!

Embers to Flames Releasing the Shame

The essence of the colour orange is creativity, bliss, and connecting to our sexuality and our sexual energy. Our sexual energy, our life force energy, takes us full circle right back to our creativity. They are one and the same. As humans, our most natural truest state is when we can be who we are on the inside and outside with a full and open expression.

This column was hard for me to write. I stopped and started many times, not able to find the rhythm of orange or how to articulate orange in relation to embodiment. Sometimes the gold (or orange in this case) comes from the experience. I tapped into what was contributing to my writer’s block or the inability to express myself. What was stopping the words from flowing? When I dove deeper into this question, I realized that the words were not coming to me because I was not connecting to myself in an authentic way. I was attempting to write when I was tired and feeling energetically depleted and drained.

Embodiment is about expressing yourself in words, actions, and movements through the body and beyond. I realized I wasn’t taking care of myself fully—mind, body, and spirit; and that was contributing to my loss for words. So, I took the pressure off myself and connected to what makes me happy—nature, fresh air, and movement. I am a co-teacher and co-creator at a farm school in Dundas, Ontario four days a week, and it has been so good for my soul to return and to reconnect to the land I spend most of my time on. Today I took time to explore my energy when I am on the farmland and how I feel with the changing season, the cooler temperatures, the naked trees, the soft muddy ground, and this same ground covered with a light blanket of snow on other days. It all made me feel more connected to myself and more open to accepting the ebb and flow of my own body, mind, and mood. Recognizing that change is inevitable and that going inward to explore the shifts and changes in our bodies and environments is integral to our mental and emotional health.

Today I connected to orange and how it represents our sacral chakra, located at the sacrum/pelvis area of our bodies. I allowed my body to flow and move and jump as it was called to. The result of this natural dance my body called for—and with which I wholeheartedly succumbed to—were these words that you are reading right now. I needed to shake myself up, both literally and figuratively. I was reminded that creativity needs the space to exist. We must declutter and let go of stagnant emotions holding us back to create space for newness in all forms.

If I dig a little deeper, I probably cling to an idea about how I am not enough; how this column and these words are not “enough.” I think this is part of the human condition— self-doubt. For some it runs deeper based on our personal trauma, but within the collective there is baseline trauma. On some level we all have felt “not good enough.” Today I realized I needed to stir up these words from my mind, and I knew I had to move my body so I could release thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about my “not enoughness.”

“ Embodiment is about expressing yourself in words, movements and actions through the body & beyond. “

I go to my body and into my body to work on and move any stagnant emotions, thoughts, ideas, or beliefs that are not serving me. Physical movement allows for the release of mental and emotional blocks. I jumped and danced and tapped into my physical body. Understanding the mind–body connection allows me to feel into how the tightness in my hips and pelvis is connected to insecurity and shame. When I allow my hips to open naturally and my pelvis to move how it needs, there is shame. I can feel shame around my physical desire to move in this way, and then there is shame about what it might look like to others. Layers of shame and judgment locked into my body that I may be aware of or that I may not even be aware of. Layers of my own beliefs compounded by layers of collective shame or familial shame. So, I chose on this day to shake it out and off. To let go of that which was ready to go, sifting and shifting through layers of trauma no longer needing a home in my body.

This simple story of “not feeling enough” had me immobile in my thoughts and caused me to be disconnected from my body and then unable to find the words for this orange edition. This is not just my unique story. I had to move and go inside of myself to move these emotions to the surface and outward. Anyone can do this. We have the key to so much of our individual and personal healing inside of us. It is already there. I needed to move, dance, jump, and do dancer pose all while being outside in the crisp evening air. Make the time to go inward and find stillness and presence to feel into what your body is telling you. Deep breaths allow for a deep connection. Listen. What is your body telling you? What does it need? How does it want to be nourished? How does it want to move, express, and flow? Explore it, move it, and let it go.

I had it all done—late, but it was done. And then something happened, and I lost my entire article! No matter what I did, no matter where I looked, it was gone. The most maddening part was that my computer is set to back up a copy of my documents automatically; it didn’t. So, here I am again. What is it about this colour’s vibration that is trying to stop me from writing this article? Why?

The energy of the colour orange is about our sexuality; about our creativity and independence. It’s the optimistic colour and the colour of bliss! On the flip side, orange is all about healing shock, trauma, abuse, and self-value. What in me has this stirred up?

This article is going to be different from my others because I am working with the colour orange, orange essential oil, and orange breath to help with my creativity flow, which flew out the window. You would think that writing about orange which is your sacral chakra and second energy center—located about two inches below your navel—would be easy? It should be. It is a fire element. So, if it goes out of whack, and you are working in a creative zone, things can explode! Thus the struggle I had writing this article.

Orange—it can be your friend, or it can be your foe. You either love it or hate it. Right now, I hate it!!

Orange is one of the strongest colours that can actually be measured because of what it does to the physical body. It increases your energy level and boosts your metabolism because it helps your thyroid function. In doing so, it helps to stimulate your appetite. Now, this may not work if you are wanting to lose weight. Or can it?

When we are not feeling good about ourselves, our metabolism begins to slow. We lose energy because we are losing the focus on what we look like and how we feel about ourselves. Definitely sacral chakra work. If you feel undesirable, then you won’t feel sexy or even like yourself, and thus we may turn to food or sweets.

The main function of the sacral chakra is desire, and it is the chakra or energy center that is mostly associated with our emotions. It is about movement and pleasure. It is about changing and nurturing. It is also the main chakra or energy center for our sexuality. It is the center of our feelings. So, if we do not feel good about ourselves for whatever reason, sacral chaka work needs to be done. It is the “I feel energy” center: “I feel beautiful, I feel ugly, I feel undesirable.” I think we’ve all been there.

How can you tell what an out-of-balance or underactive sacral chakra feels like?

Here are a few examples:

• lack of energy flow throughout the entire body
• feeling unmotivated for life, particularly exercise and sex, which can lead to sadness, loneliness, and mild depression
• eating disorders
• anxiety
• lack of creativity
• repetitive dysfunctional relationships; you may have the same unpleasant experience over and over again
• lack of motivation
• lack of sexual appetite or unpleasant sexual intercourse Emotional or psychological struggles you may feel:
• dependency, co-dependency with other people
• feeling numb, out-of-touch with yourself and how you feel
• being stuck in a certain feeling or mood
• low self-esteem; you feel unimportant
• insecurity; you think nobody loves you

Some signs of a blocked sacral chakra

When your sacral chakra is blocked, you may experience a range of signs that are generally in the lower abdomen, back, and digestive organs. It can be in the form of constipation, back pain, urinary or kidney infections, among others. Remember to always listen to your body and pay attention to what is happening. If you are continually having pain—for instance, in your kidneys—it may be a good indication that your sacral chakra is blocked. However, never self-diagnose. If you are feeling unwell and are not sure why, always seek medical advice to ensure you are physically healthy. It’s another way of listening and understanding your body. Confirmation is always good!

Can your sacral chakra be overactive?

You betcha! Can you relate to any of these or know of someone who is?

• workaholic?
• dominant in relationships?
• greedy?
• obsessed with pleasure?
• addicted to all kinds of activities that you use as a substitute for love?

What does it feel like when your chakra is in balance?

• you have a capability to take risks
• you are creative
• you are committed
• you are passionate and outgoing
• you are a radiant, lively, and uninhibited individual
• you are full of creative energy and are spontaneous, free, and happy

Healing the Sacral Chakra:

• straighten your shoulders and open your chest
• be near water
• drink plenty of liquids
• focus on your hobbies
• heal or give up on toxic relationships
• spontaneous dance

Remember that a change starts from within. If you wish to improve the quality of your life, you must identify what causes imbalances in your sacral chakra. Then, you need to patiently remove any obstacle.

Crystals that help with the sacral chakra

Orange Fire Opal: Fire opal is said to be able to help those who have just suffered from abusive relationships. It is a stone that may be able to heal and relieve memories of sexual abuse. It also encourages positive and healthy sexuality and relationships. Fire opal symbolizes joy of the heart. It is also said that the Mexican fire opal can help with lower back and the sex organs.

Spessartine Garnet: Don’t let the name fool you. Spessartine comes in orange, and I’m going to get me a truckload!! This beauty stimulates all aspects of creativity in both energy and skill. It inspires us to take actions toward our dreams, visions, and goals. It encourages confidence, faith, and to take action.

An affirmation to help you on your sacral chakra healing path:

• I am connected, completely aware, and alive.
• I embrace pleasure and abundance.
• I give myself permission to enjoy me fully.
• The purity of life flows through me and I exude its joy.

Honestly, 2020 was a tough year for families. My oldest daughter stated that my grandsons have missed out a lot so the family was going to focus on experiences they could do together.

That got me thinking about my own childhood. Many happy memories involved enjoying someone’s company. When I was about seven and trying to master the basics of skiing, my dad and I would explore Mount Royal. He walked the trail in front of me as I skied along. At some random point during every trek, he would turn, pull an Oh Henry chocolate bar from his coat pocket, and toss it to me. One time I fell and banged my nose, making it bleed. Dad cleaned me up; we kept on going and Dad threw me my treat like usual. Later he told my mom that we kept going on because, when he asked, I said: “Yes! We’re having fun!”

Spend Time with Play Time                                                                     

My mother has always shared her artistic eye, love of colour, and passion for painting—one she shares with my father. She asked our opinions in conversations about her latest piece. We went to art galleries and local exhibits and craft shows. She enrolled in college as an adult to get a diploma in Fine Arts, proving it’s never too late to learn and do what you love.

Both sets of my grandparents moved to our small town after retirement so my sisters and I visited regularly. They told stories, shared memories and family traditions. My grandmother Bain taught me how to make the secret family Scottish shortbread recipe. That day I found out that Granddad taught her to make it as a new bride. I was informed that the only way to get the recipe is to be born or marry into the family. This tradition carries on!

My granddad Murdoch shared his love of reading and was always partway through an adventure novel. We learned his gardening tips, about our Scottish ancestral history, and his pride that all three granddaughters graduated high school and then college or university. He never went because he ran away to sea at thirteen and joined the Canadian Navy.

My grandmother Murdoch was quietly courageous. She talked about graduating from a pharmacology course in an era when men dominated the field. Later she moved far away from family and friends to Halifax to marry my grandfather. When my grandfather was away at sea for months at a time, she cared for their family on her own.

Sometimes events just turn into vivid memories. It was a hot summer afternoon when a routine chore, watering the flowers, turned into an epic water fight! My three children and I were wet, laughing, yelling, and teasing as we raced around the front lawn of our house tossing water at each other. My husband arrived home from work in the middle of it and parked in the driveway, still dressed in his police uniform. When the kids attempted to soak him, he took off like a shot down the driveway and stood safely out of range. We all teased him about being “afraid of water,” declared a cease-fire, and let him pass.

These days I play with my grandsons. We invented a game using spoons to catapult plastic bottle caps into a container. We chat about things they are interested in as we water the garden at their house and mine. The big box from our new dishwasher got recycled into their “boxhouse,” as they call it. It’s decorated with their names and artwork. Logan and Landon grab a sofa cushion and their devices and hang out inside. Leo, the baby, likes to stick his head out the door, window, or ceiling and yell “Hi!”

What do you love to do that makes time fly? Is it a hobby, interest, or sport? Can you encourage someone in your life to join you having fun doing your favorite pastime? What about joining them in theirs? Ask a child about interests and invite them to choose something they would like to do with you. Make play a regular part of family life.

Negotiating what to do/play, learning how, asking questions, actively listening, following instructions and rules, taking turns, encouraging others, and being positive participants while having fun integrates learning and using social skills effortlessly. Practicing the game rules, skills, and techniques acquired through hands-on learning cements the skills and enhances self- confidence.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. I play simple games like Uno, Go Fish, or Memory with my grandsons and my students. Children love when an adult joins in! I get and accept frequent invitations to play. During character education lessons about honesty, entire classes played Cheat—a card game I learned at Girl Guide Camp—with me. The absolute best part is seeing someone that I taught to play a game have fun teaching and playing it with someone else. It puts a smile on my face!

Caring adults nurtured interests of mine while we spent time together: a lasting love of play, the joy found in family and social gatherings, history, reading and writing, gardening, art, enjoying the outdoors, and hot sunny days spent at the beach.

What can you do that inspires a smile and a lasting memory?

Bliss and enlightenment are two beautiful words and are both aspects of the colour orange. I love the word bliss—for such a small word, it carries so much weight and meaning. It makes me feel fantastic just hearing the word.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could feel bliss daily? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could feel enlightened? I am sure there are many ways of getting there, and it is achievable. One way to clear the way is to forgive.

Over the past month, I have been asking myself and others whom they need to forgive that they do not want to forgive. Many people whom I questioned had someone in their past or their present that they felt had wronged them in some way. Some stated: “There is no way I am forgiving that person!” Others stated: “They don’t deserve to be forgiven, and if I forgive them, they will get away with it; they win if I forgive.” Some people stated: “I just can’t forgive myself for the things I have done; I am a terrible person; and I wish I could have been a better parent.” If any of these statements sound familiar, then you are in the right place to find out why, whom, and how to forgive.

Why should we forgive?

Judgment, anger, and resentment are taking up valuable energy in you and can be self-destructive. This can lead to self-sabotaging your success and your emotions of bliss and enlightenment. Often the negative self-talk in our head is berating ourselves for the mistakes we believe we have made or rethinking the negative things people have done to us. This constant negative self-talk has been scientifically proven as a potential for ill health. Once you forgive yourself and others you can begin to heal and find yourself on the road to finding bliss and enlightenment.

Whom should you forgive first?

It is best to start with you. We need forgive ourselves first and foremost. You might be angry or feel guilty at the younger you for decisions you made, actions you took, things you said or didn’t say.

Why forgive others?

As you recall, at the beginning of this article, there were many reasons why people did not want to forgive others.

There is a Buddhist saying: “Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at another person.”

Forgiving others is healing yourself and not necessarily healing the person who harmed you. If you are carrying around resentment and anger, you will not feel bliss or be enlightened. These feelings of resentment and anger will be difficult for you to remove if you keep telling your conscious mind to forgive. You can access your unconscious mind through hypnosis, and you can reprogram your mind to forgive. These negative emotions are using up your energy that you could be putting toward finding bliss and happiness.

“Let the past go. You did the best you could at the time with the understanding, awareness, and knowledge that you had. Now you are growing and changing, and you will live life differently.” -Louise Hay

How can hypnosis help you to forgive yourself?

When you go into hypnosis you allow access to your unconscious mind. When in hypnosis you are relaxed and calm, and you can learn how to calm your emotions so that your brain can think clearly.

Carrying the blame is very stressful and taking the time to learn how to deeply relax your mind and body will decrease stress. Hypnosis will allow you to reconsider the actions you regret and to gently forgive yourself.

This will allow you to learn from the past without feeling the pain of guilt or blame. Self-hypnosis is a wonderful tool to assist you in forgiving yourself. You can learn how to use self-hypnosis effectively through a quick hypnosis course or working one-to-one with a hypnotherapist. To begin the process of healing, download your free Forgive Yourself Hypnosis by clicking the play button on the image.

How to forgive others

How do you forgive someone who has hurt you, betrayed you, violated your trust, disrespected you? If you have tried to do this consciously, you will often be caught up in the cycle of negativity and find it difficult to get out of it.

I held onto anger and resentment for years and this showed up in my relationships, my ability to embrace success, and projecting my resentment onto others. This even tainted any future relationships I thought about having. So, this resentment and anger was not only keeping me from feeling bliss and enlightenment; it was keeping me prisoner and was leaking into my future relationships that I did not even have yet. That was powerful! Once I began my journey of hypnosis, I was able to forgive myself and the people in my life who had caused me harm. I was able to do this without the person present, and without reconnecting to that person. This was not about them; it was about me. Once you drop the “hot coal,” you are free. I now often feel bliss!

How can hypnosis help you forgive and lead to bliss?

The highly relaxed state of hypnosis allows you to get out of the negative destructive cycle and look at the events detached from the emotion. Hypnosis can be focused on forgiveness and can release anger and hurt related to the events. Hypnosis has been used for centuries to assist people in moving toward bliss and enlightenment and continues to grow in our modern times as science welcomes its transforming effects.

Forgiveness of yourself and others requires repetition; you are rewiring your brain and creating new neural pathways to reprogram your mind. Hypnosis opens the door to numerous benefits and can assist in the healing and foster forgiveness for you.

If you would like to move toward bliss and enlightenment quickly and effectively and be ready for 2022— with very powerful and effective techniques including Quantum Hypnosis—visit me at Simple Wellness (simple-wellness. ca) and book a free call to gain some clarity. Hypnosis is an extremely powerful and helpful tool to use to assist in redesigning your life to find bliss. If you are interested in learning self-hypnosis, I do offer a one-day course. Connect with me through my website for more details.

Unresolved shock and trauma held in the body-mind

When Amy first told me about this magazine, I was so excited for her and couldn’t wait to be a part of this project. I wasn’t exactly sure how to position my articles as I am an intimacy coach and not a “creative.” After a few brainstorming sessions, Amy and I had a light-bulb moment and the words “of course!” flew out my mouth. Both creativity and intimacy are deeply connected and live in our sacral chakra. I have now been waiting five editions to write this orange article; and, at the same time, this is the article that almost took me out of the game.

It is now a week past the deadline for submissions as I write this. I even told Amy that I had to sit this one out. Every time I have sat down to write, nothing flows— absolutely NOTHING! I had a complete creative block to writing this article and like I said, THIS was the colour I had waited for!

Orange is connected to our sacral chakra, the seat of our creativity and sexual intimacy. The whole premise for the Colours of Intimacy column was to teach you how to keep your creative energy flowing by connecting to your sensuality and removing your blocks to intimacy. The orange article was supposed to be full of sexiness, vibrant energy, fun, and creative juiciness. Instead, it has been a mirror of a deeper truth behind the orange that I wish to share with you.

In my coaching, I help couples remove their blocks to intimacy. We dive deep into the subconscious mind to figure out what beliefs, thought patterns, past programming, childhood and emotional wounds, as well as shock and trauma, are creating the friction in their relationship. It is these unconscious ways of being that wreak havoc until brought to the surface to be healed.

In my own life, I have been dealing with a situation for the past five months that has caused me both emotional and financial trauma. It came as a complete shock which still haunts me in my sleep. It has taken every ounce of my strength and compassion to see the truth in this situation, release it, and move on with my life. But it hasn’t been easy and is still something I am working through.

Orange is a CHEEKY B*TCH

At first, I did not connect the dots. I did not equate this experience to be connected with my blocks to writing and allowing my creativity to flow. But as I sat with the idea of not submitting my article, it quickly became apparent, and I knew what I had to do. I had to release the shock and trauma from my body, exactly the same way as I teach couples to do.

Rather than getting frustrated that I couldn’t write, I sat in stillness as the witness of what was happening beneath the surface. I allowed the thoughts and sensations to arise and gently followed where they led. My consciousness came to rest in my lower belly, my sacral chakra, where all I could see were images of war and fighting. This image made a lot of sense to me because I had literally been feeling at war for the past five months. Tears streamed down my face and I gave myself permission to cry. (Even as I write this now tears are flowing, which makes a lot of sense given our sacral chakra is also the home of our emotions.)

After releasing the tears and deeply feeling the sadness I was still holding from the past five months, I felt lighter but stayed with the energy. Below the sadness and even deeper within my core I felt an explosive anger. It was an anger that I believed was not “appropriate” and that I should not be feeling this way and so I shoved it deep within my body and tried to suppress it. All of my creative energy of my sacral chakra was keeping this anger in its place which was stopping the flow of the energy. No wonder I couldn’t write!

I gave myself permission to feel the anger. I let out a primal scream, threw a tantrum, hit my pillows, and let it all out. I felt the energy subside and laid down to rest. Looking up at my ceiling, I felt my heart open and heard a whisper to go sit at my computer. I opened a blank document and, just a few minutes later, my article was written.

What I learned from this experience is that trauma and shock held in our body doesn’t only create blocks to intimacy. It blocks EVERYTHING! Our creativity, our relationships, our life force, our daily experiences, our energy levels, our work is all affected—nothing is spared.

It is not easy to sit with the sensations, thoughts, and emotions that come to the surface, but it is necessary. The way out is to go in. To feel it deeply and to give yourself permission to have your experience, whatever that looks like. Once the energy is released from that subconscious block, it can flow elsewhere.

“What I learned from this experience is that trauma and shock held in our body doesn’t only create blocks to inimacy. It blocks EVERYTHING!”

HOW TO RELEASE SHOCK & TRAUMA

1. Sit With It—When a sensation, thought, or emotion presents itself, don’t ignore it. Give it space and permission to be there. You do not need to change it in any way, just sit with your awareness and breathe.
2. Get Curious—As you allow these sensations, thoughts, and emotions to come to the surface, get curious. Follow and track them as they move through your body. See where they lead you and if they have a message for you. Why are they there and what are they trying to tell you?
3. Feel It—If you feel safe and grounded to do so, allow yourself to FEEL the sensations and emotions. What does anger feel like, what does sadness feel like, what does shame feel like? Give life to your emotions rather than stuffing them down and pretending they don’t exist.
4. Express It to Release It—Find a way to express your emotions and release them from your body–mind. Keeping them stuck in your energy field stops the flow of your creative life force energy. Allowing them a safe way to be released will free up that energy within you.

EXAMPLES:

ANGER—punch your pillows
FRUSTRATION—let out a loud primal scream
DEPRESSION—kick your legs as you say out loud “WHY?”
GRIEF—curl up in the fetal position and bawl your eyes out
SADNESS—cry and release
ANXIETY/FEAR—shake your entire body

Releasing the unconscious blocks and trauma held deep within is a potent key to allowing your creativity to be expressed freely. If your creative energy is being stifled and held stuck in place by suppressed emotions, you will have nothing flowing. It is this creative flow that gives life to our creations in the world.

If ever you feel stuck, stagnant, or blocked on a creative project, I encourage you to try the above exercise. Get curious and follow the sensations, thoughts, and emotions as they arise. What message do they have for you?