What Does Your Favorite Color Say About You?

Guest User March 16, 2022

Bundle of colored pencils in many colors — Photo by Salvatore Ventura on Pexels

Chances are, there are certain colors that you love, and others that you can’t stand. Did you know that the colors that you’re drawn to can give you clues about what kind of energy you might be craving more of? In feng shui, color is not only a way to change how your home looks, but also a tool to help shift the energy of a space.

There are several different ways to approach color and feng shui. One of these ways is to look at the five elements, also known as the five phases. Each of the five elements is a different type of energy that occurs in nature, and there are different colors associated with each of these elements.

Think about what color you’re most attracted to right now. If I asked you what your favorite color is, what pops into your head? Trust what comes up for you, and read on to learn what your color preferences might be saying about you.

Red or bright orange

If you picked a fiery color such as red or a bright, vibrant orange, you may need a little more warmth and inspiration in your life. To bring more of these fire element qualities into your home, painting your walls red is certainly an option, but usually that’s a little too much fire for most people. Fire in small doses does a lot and it can be very impactful. You can also introduce red in smaller ways through artwork, throw pillows, or fresh flowers, or you can even explore this energy by wearing red clothes or jewelry.

Brown, yellow, rusty orange, or earth tones

If you love yellow or neutral, earthy tones, you might need a little more nourishment, self care, or grounding. These colors are all expressions of the earth element. To connect to the energy of the earth, you can spend time laying on the ground, going for walks, working with ceramics, or doing any other activity that makes you feel really grounded. You can also bring these earth element colors into your home. I love fancy jasper or even a textured rug with earth tones to really embody the earth element qualities of support and stability.

White, light gray, or metallics

If you prefer these colors, you may be wanting more precision, clarity, joy, or elegance in your life. These are all metal element qualities. You can connect to metal energy by being careful and precise in what you say and speaking more clearly. The metal element can also be a reminder to connect to your inner child, so think about ways that you can bring a little more joy and play into your life. You can also incorporate more whites and metallics into your decor, like a white vase or brass fixtures.

Black, dark midnight blue, or charcoal gray

If you’re drawn to these water element colors, it could be a good time to look at things that are hidden, including your shadow side and any areas of your life that you have some fear of exploring. Water energy is also about diving deeper and cultivating wisdom. This doesn’t mean collecting information on the internet; instead, it’s about taking the time to connect with your ancestors, teachers, and lineage. All of us are connected by oceans, the great waters of the earth, and water encourages you to connect with all of the people who have walked this path before you. You can also bring more water energy into your home by adding these colors into your decor.

Green, teal, or blue

You may be attracted to growth, healing, and flexibility if you love these wood element colors. Imagine a blade of grass or the leaves of a tree having the flexibility to bend with the wind. The wood element also teaches us to have kindness and compassion for yourself and others, and to cultivate growth. You can connect to wood energy by incorporating these colors into your space, or adding a new green plant somewhere in your home.

I hope this gives you some insight into why you might be drawn to certain colors, and some inspiration for working with the energy of those colors!

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui, Color, and the Bagua Map

Guest User October 17, 2021

I’d love to learn more about using color in feng shui.

This is a popular topic! Laura and I actually just recorded a whole podcast episode about feng shui and color. I’ll share a few ideas about this here, and if you want to dive deeper, I would encourage you to check out the episode.

One way to approach feng shui and color is to look at how colors relate to the bagua map. The bagua map, in case you aren’t familiar, is a kind of energetic map that feng shui practitioners lay over a space. It has eight areas around a center.

Something that I noticed recently is the connection between the center of a flower and the center of the bagua. The bagua is a mandala, just like a flower can be. The center of the bagua, called the Tai qi, is yellow, which is often true for the center of flowers as well. In feng shui, yellow represents the earth element. Earth is connected to stability and feeling grounded, and the center of the bagua affects all of the areas that surround it.

One of the most popular areas of the bagua is the purple area, or the abundance area. It’s called Xun position in Chinese. In addition to abundance, it’s related to the eldest daughter and your feelings of wealth and prosperity, which go beyond financial wealth. It’s also about having a feeling of abundance, a feeling of enough. It’s the opposite of a poverty mentality. Xun is also deeply related to self-esteem and self-worth.

Purple is also the combination of red, which is the fire element, and blue, which is the wood element. (There’s a misconception that blue is the water element, but it actually represents wood in BTB feng shui.) Purple brings together the kindness, flexibility and growth of wood with the inspiration, passion, and protection of fire. This makes purple a wonderful color to work with in your home, if these ideas resonate with you. Some easy ways to incorporate purple into your home are through small decor accents, like a throw pillow or blanket.

Sometimes people think that you need to paint a whole room the color that corresponds to the feng shui bagua map. The way that I teach my students at Mindful Design Feng Shui School is to realize that you don’t want to activate every single area of the bagua map. Not only is it unnecessary, but the I Ching, which is one of the foundations of feng shui, teaches that there’s no such thing as perfection. Everything is always in transition and always moving. If you try to make everything perfect, the only place to go from there is down, so aiming for perfection will actually work against you. Painting your walls according to the bagua map is also not the most skillful way to work with this tool, and it probably won’t work very well from a design perspective.

Another way to work with feng shui and color is to make your own art and explore different shades of a color. If you want to work with purple, for example, it’s really fun to get a watercolor palette and create purple with red (fire) and blue (wood), and see how these work together. Make it a fun, exploratory activity, and see how that correlates with your feelings of abundance. Once you’ve made some purple art, you might want to place it in the abundance area of your bedroom.

I hope that helps you as you’re thinking about feng shui and color, and if you want to learn more, be sure to listen to the podcast!

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Rearrange Your Daily Patterns with Feng Shui

Guest User November 11, 2020

I had a session with one of my healers recently, and she challenged me to start rearranging my day-in, day-out patterns. This inspired me to share some ways you can start to do this in your home. If you reinvent your patterns and how you live in your space, that translates into reinventing the patterns in your life. You can start to loosen your grip on those patterns, as well as open up opportunities to invite in new energies.

One really simple way to reinvent your daily patterns in your home is to rotate the use of your stove burners. Take a moment and think about which of your stove burners is your favorite. Which is the one you always go to? Almost everyone can answer this pretty easily (mine is my front right one!)

From a feng shui perspective, your stove represents your nourishment as well as your career, fame, wealth, and resources. Because of this, it’s important to use your stove every day, even if it’s just to boil water. On top of that, you want to approach how you use your stove with mindfulness. Keep it clean and in working order. Take time to wipe it down daily and check to make sure all the burners are working properly.

What does this all have to do with your favorite burner? If you mindlessly go to the same one all the time, you’re continuing your day-in, day-out patterns. Instead, being a bit more mindful and using a different burner means you’re living from a more intentional place rather than an automatic response. When it comes to your stove, trying different burners can help open up new opportunities for success in your career, fame, and wealth.

I challenge you to go to the stove at least once each day, and try a different burner than you normally would. This way, you’re intentionally making an effort towards something new every day.

by Anjie Cho