A tool for healing from trauma and narcissistic abuse.
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The Effect of Color on the Brain
I was speaking to my oldest daughter a few months ago about my business brand colors. She had just started her own marketing company, and we were discussing what she could do to help me freshen up my website. I work with mostly women, who’ve been affected by trauma and narcissistic relationships. I wanted a color for my website that emotes peace and safety. That got us discussing the different colors and what they mean.
For example, in my case, of wanting to evoke peace and calm, the colors blue and pink are a good option. Blue gives a sense of calm, security and serenity. Pink is peaceful and gentle. I would want to be careful with colors like orange, which promotes high energy and intensity, or red, which can remind people of blood and danger. Each color means something different to different people, so the hue can make a big difference, too. If my brand had a bright bubblegum pink, that might turn off my clients, or if I used a dark moody blue, that can feel depressing.
Trauma, whether big T trauma, or small t trauma, gets stored in our subconscious mind. It rears it’s ugly head at unsuspecting times. We can be standing in line at a grocery store, having a meeting with our boss, or watching a sporting event, and some small thing that someone says or does, puts our nervous system right back to that place of original traumatizing experience. Color can sometimes help soothe that response.
If you think about the fact that blue light disrupts our sleep patterns by signaling our brain to stop producing the sleep hormone, melatonin, enough that blue light blocker glasses have been invented for using technology before bed, it makes sense that color could affect our brains in other ways.
There are many studies on color and its effects on the brain. Here are a few ways color affects your brain.
- Sleep – In a study by Travelodge, when participants slept in a blue room, they got an average of seven hours and 52 minutes of sleep a night. Contrast that with participants who had a purple room, and slept seven hours or less each night. Choose a color for your bedroom that makes you feel peaceful and relaxed. Sleep was one of the most important things I improved when healing from trauma. It’s hard to regulate your emotions when you are constantly exhausted.
- Mood – Have you ever walked into a dimly, fluorescent lit gray dressing room, and felt instantly depressed? Or, noticed colorful flowers blooming in the spring, and felt joyful? Then, you know what color can do to your mood. This study in The American Psychological Association, showed that when students were shown the color red before a test, their performance was negatively affected, and participants were not consciously aware of red being the cause. Marketing companies have spent billions of dollars studying how color affects consumers and their willingness to buy certain products. You can use color in your own life to affect your mood. Choose a spa-like blue for peaceful sleep in your bedroom. Yellow helps your kitchen feel cheerful, and give you energy to start your day. If you hate green because of a traumatic event in childhood, where everyone at school called you “froggy”, don’t use that color in a space where you want to relax. If bright pink reminds you of a disgusting medication your mom gave you during a particularly embarrassing bout with illness, don’t wear that color. If red makes you feel powerful for that final job interview, find a way to incorporate it into your outfit.
Before you purchase any new item, ask yourself if that color makes you feel good or bad. Then listen to your body. It will let you know if a color is right for you or not. Surround yourself with colors that improve your mood while you are healing from trauma. You’ve been feeling down for far too long. You probably were not given much choice, colorwise, if you grew up in a dysfunctional family, or have been in a narcissistic relationship. Controlling people like to take over every decision, no matter how mundane. As an adult, you can make choices about the colors that please you.
- Focus – You wouldn’t want a color that makes you feel sleepy, or relaxed in a room where you were supposed to be focused and on task. Instead, you would need a color that energized you, but not too bright that it caused a distraction. One study found that length of time exposed to certain colors matters too. This study found that college students struggled to focus more in rooms that were painted red and orange because they were too stimulating. If you have trauma in your background, overstimulating colors can make it harder for you to focus on day-to-day life. You need an environment that feels safe and calm. You can choose neutral rooms with pops of cheery color, or choose soothing cool colors.
- Energy – There haven’t been a lot of studies done on this, but some small studies have found that red light can raise blood pressure slightly, and blue light can lower it slightly. Trauma can dull your energy and your senses. Again, listen to your body when choosing colors for clothing and room decor. When you want to go out for exercise, choose a color that makes you feel cheerful and motivated. If you have a work meeting that you fear will be boring, take your notes in a bright notebook that brings you joy. Is there a color with a happy association, like the colors of a favorite sports team, or the color of the roses in your loving grandmother’s garden? Choose those colors to feel more energetic.
- Memory – I struggled my first year of college. We were never taught study skills in my high school (or maybe I was too distracted by my social life). One particular professor took the time to teach us how to study. He said the brain can remember seven pieces of information at a time. He gave us all of our notes in groups of seven topics. He also advised us to use one color of pen for every different topic. Maybe because I’m visual, that really helped me recall the information when it was time for exams. I could picture the words on my notebook paper, in the proper color. I was very thankful to have someone that took the time to teach us how to study.
A few years ago, I learned that your mind is much more likely to remember things that are written in blue ink. I bought a box of blue pens, and that is what I use when I take notes for webinars, or coaching modules. There are contradictory studies about whether or not color makes a difference in memory retention, but I’ve found it to be helpful to me. If using colored pens, brightly colored notebooks, or colored post-it notes makes you happy, then by all means, use them.
One way you can use your memory and color to process trauma, is to write in a journal, or a notepad, and write out a timeline of events that happened to you. You will be validating the things that actually happened. Any time you begin to think that maybe your situation wasn’t that bad, or other people have it worse, you can reflect on the memories you wrote down in your notebook. Most empathic people try to downplay trauma, not exaggerate it. Looking at this list of events will help you show yourself love and compassion. Color can help soothe the burden.
Ask Yourself What Color You Need to Heal
Color Therapy is considered a pseudoscience by some, but many people find it helpful. In Color Therapy, patients are exposed to certain colors as a way to calm the nervous system. Another way color could be used during Color Therapy, is by shining a certain color of light onto the body where the patient is experiencing pain. Each color is considered to have its own wavelength and frequency.
If you find yourself not knowing the colors that you like, there are some things you can try. As I mentioned before, we might have had many years of not being able to choose for ourselves. You can browse your closet to see what colors you are drawn to, or scroll through Pinterest to find pictures that draw your eye.
One of the best ways to choose a color that will help heal you, is to just get quiet and ask yourself, “What color do I need to heal?”
For me, the green of grass comes up, along with the soft pink of roses, and the blue of a clear blue sky. Nature colors. Everyone will be slightly different here, although from my research, blue seems to be a common choice. However, if blue reminds you of someone who traumatized you, it would be your last choice for a healing color.
Find a few objects in your home that are the color that comes to mind, and put them prominently in your main living space. You can also purchase something from your favorite store, or from a thrift store if you find you don’t have much of that color in your home. Wear clothing or jewelry with that color. Find your color outdoors, or even in any place you feel anxious. This can be a new symbol for your brain that you are safe and secure. In fact, it may help if you say the words out loud or in your head, every time you see your color. “I am safe.”
Trauma triggers can come up for as at any time. Having many tools in our trauma healing toolbox, can help us feel better quicker.
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What color makes you feel safe? What color can help you heal? Share in the comments.
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