When I think about several of the nice, personal experiences that I've had, a few colors come to mind. Yellow is the most prominent one. Yellow is not my favorite color. Yet, I adore it. Memories of the sunflowers that grew in the field near my home about 40 years ago, the pretty sundress I loved and wore about 40 years ago, and my mom's delicious cakes of which I haven't had in over 30 years often pop up in my mind as I go through my life. A yellow cake with chocolate frosting is something we often had for birthdays when I was growing up. To this day, every time I have a slice, I compare it to my mom's. These memories are not that vivid, yet there is a strong, strong longing to go back in time to meet them. Does the color yellow have anything to do with this?
Writer and executive Roopashree Sharma wrote the following: "Yellow color is associated with sunshine, hope, laughter, warmth, happiness, and energy" (Jagran Josh, 2002). In her article, Braam writes that "cheerful yellow tones uplift moods and self esteem" (Color Psychology, 2024).
Can bringing more yellow into your life improve it? That's for each person to decide. As with other colors, yellow is associated with both positive and negative things (i.e., Cherry, 2022; Cherry 2023; Cherry 2024). Even if the use of yellow brings about positive feelings within a person, one can go too far when it comes to the use of yellow. According to educator Kendra Cherry (2023), negative feelings can arise if one goes overboard using the color yellow. Therefore, if you are going to bring yellow into your life, be careful not to over do it. I imagine the same can be said for any color, or anything good, since too much of a good thing can yield negative results.
Currently, I have no yellow clothes. There's no field of sunflowers in my life, except for in my dreams and pics on the Internet. I have very, very little yellow in my life. But I want to change that, and I will. Until then, at night, when things are quiet and calm and I'm alone, I'll go back to the days of sunflowers and yellow cake...and smile.
Note: This writing was original published as an article on 4/7/2024, under the old blog. Today, I republished it as an entry. Other articles close to this one have been written by me about the color yellow. Those articles no longer exist on the Internet, so I recreated one. Yellow continues to be an important color in my life as I continue to tap into my feel-good memories as I go through life.
Photo by Todd Kent; courtesy of Unsplash.
Sources:
. Braam, H. V. (Feb 15, 2024). Yellow Color Psychology, Symbolism and Meaning. Color Psychology. https://www.colorpsychology.org/yellow/
. Cherry, K., (Feb. 20, 2024). The Color Blue: Meaning and Color Psychology: Feeling Blue Might not be Such a Bad Thing. VeryWell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-blue-2795815
. Cherry, K., (April 22, 2024). The Meaning of the Color White: Color Psychology of White. VeryWell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-white-2795822
. Cherry, K., ( Nov. 27, 2023). The Psychology of the Color Yellow: What Emotion Does Yellow Represent." VeryWill Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-yellow-2795823
. Sharma, R. ( Aug. 3, 2022 ). Color Psychology: How Yellow Color Effects Your Mood? Jagran Josh. https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/color-psychology-how-yellow-color-affects-your-mood-1659179769-11
. VeryWell Mind (n.d.). Kendra Cherry, MsEd: Author, Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist, Edcuator. https://www.verywellmind.com/kendra-cherry-2794702
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