Don’t you love colour names? Those in paint stores – baby mauve, banana jellybean, fire brick red – and those colour names that people create, like the artist, James Ensor, when he made up ‘monkey bottom pink!’

When you give someone a gift, especially flowers, it’s a nice added touch to describe the symbolic meaning of the colour you have chosen for them.

Orange is the colour of communication. An optimistic colour representing the rejuvenation of spirit. Orange helps us look at the sunny side of life.
Green balances the heart and the emotions. A relaxing colour that signifies growth, renewal and rebirth. Green restores depleted energy and brings one back to health.
Blue is trust and loyalty. A sincere colour of quietness and reliability promoting physical and mental health.
Yellow relates to knowledge. A stimulating colour heightening our perception and illuminating new ideas, cheerfulness, and fun.
Purple embodies spirituality. A psychic enhancing colour, an emotional calming hue that both enlightens and grounds us.
Pink relates to compassion, nurturing, and love. A colour that softens red’s passion is intimate, thoughtful and gentle, as it calms and reassures us.
White purifies our thoughts and emotions. A cleansing colour that refreshes our energy system offering order, efficiency and comfort to a cluttered life.

And when someone grieves, understand that Black is the absorption of all colours, a powerful colour that protects emotions and feelings. Carrying something black absorbs negative energy. Black is an end but it implies a new beginning when light hits it.

Think about colours in your daily life for your own mood too, especially as summer draws near when the world explodes with a trillion smiles.