Chapter 3 The Powers of Flowers and Colours.
There is a poem I learned in my childhood days, which I remember clearly till this day. No other poem has such an impression on me; and true enough, a poetry book I looked into yesterday confirmed that „The Daffodils’ is one of the best ever written. Here is a part of it:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze ...
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. - Wordsworth.
Wordsworth was writing about an English lakeside scenery, which he and his sister had cherished. Oh, if we could constantly see and feel, as Wordsworth did, we would always be filled with enchantment, we would be nearer the path to a world of happiness.
Imagine a world without colours, only black and grey! Visualise an earth without flowers, only iron and concrete. Colours and flowers are therefore, Gods special gifts to humankind. The prettiest and sweetest things are God-given and free, or rather, are things we cannot buy. The fresh air, the soothing breeze, the enlivening shower and sunshine, the clouds silver lining, the rainbow, the gorgeous trees and flowers and their fragrance, the music of the birds, the romantic sunset, the diamonds in the sky, the moonlight on the bay, and above all, life itself.
How much have you been missing? There are more: The swaying field of brilliant yellow flowers, the innocent, green sprouting leaves in spring, the rich chlorophyll of summer, the blazing orange of autumn, the whiteness of the winter wonderland. These things can bring awakening and magic to our well-being, to our soul!
The garden and the landscape abound in floras and colours. There must be a thousand different shades and tones of blue, red, yellow, pink and green. Look at the red tulips and poppies, the stately dahlias, the yellow and joyous marigolds, buttercups, daffodils and sunflowers; the amber, bronze, copper, maroon and mauve of chrysanthemums, the bright faces of pansies, the blue lobelias and bluebells, the pink geraniums, the purple heathers and lilacs. Admire the peach blossom, the delicious blush of apples and cherries, all the crops, vegetables and spices; the endless, paradise displays of cactuses, impatiens, daisies, lilies, carnations, petunias, and so on.
When I was young I used to read about orchids and grow them. Have you ever flipped through a large book on orchids? Please do that on your next visit to the library! They are the biggest family of flowering plants, of almost 25,000 types, including many man-made, crossbred ones. They are found as far north as Alaska, and as high up as the Alps. Their long-lasting blossom, hues, shimmering contrasts and infinite range of tones thrills me. The vivid violet of the popular Dendrobiums, the jubilant Vandas, with angel-painted textures and patterns, the blissful spray of the Phalaenopsis, and probably the fairest of all is the fairy-like Cattleya, gentle and beautiful beyond description.
Then there are the queens of flowers, the roses. These blossoms of romance, friendship and dreams come in 2,000 species, with 20,000 ecstatic, cultivated varieties. Even the colours of roses have such meanings and feelings in our lives. For example, red roses convey love and respect, deep pink: appreciation, light pink: admiration or sympathy, orange: enthusiasm, yellow: joy, pale blended tones: friendship. You can do many things with roses, you can grow and cut them for bouquets and self-arrangement, or you can join an exhibition. You can dry roses, and also make pot-pourri mixture with spices, for fragrance. Rose petals and hips are also edible and used as medicine! Roses and other flowers obviously appeal to our 5 senses! You see, touch, and smell them, you taste them, then you sigh at their fragrance and beauty - that is sound, the last of the senses!
It is little wonder that flowers and colours have such an impact on our minds and behaviour. They can uplift our state of happiness to a degree few of us can fully evaluate. Take the common gesture of giving flowers, it brings a noble feeling to both the giver and receiver. If we can appreciate the power, blessing and magic in flowers, we are closer to the road to happiness. If people had more „flowers in their hearts, there would be fewer conflicts and less bloodshed in the world. Natures bloom takes away the gloom and disharmony in our environment. They calm, delight, and exude peace and gentleness, all the time. That is why important people and occasions make unfailing use of flowers. Many European cities, especially the German and Swiss ones, have flower-beds at the windows, and baskets of flowers on the lamp-posts. Most countries have their national flowers too.
Some surgeons operating on the hearts of patients had a ritual of pinning a „Rose of Life on the operation machine. The roses were later given to the waking patients. Over the years, the reputed medicinal properties of substances from flowers have even been contested in the courts and proven true! Away from the hospitals and in our everyday lives, flowers in the house and gardens assume great importance. Why dont you do something extra today, get several vases of fresh flowers and display them around the house, and admire them, a Garden of Eden! Then you can skim from petal to petal like an enchanted butterfly. You will feel good, I can assure you.
Besides flowers and plant life, everything in the world has some form of coloration. Everything in our daily lives has colours and they affect us, often without our knowing it. We must have this awareness, of the power of colours. The colours of buildings, houses, signboards, shops, walls, furniture and anything you buy or give away, they all carry a strong message. In some situations, it can even determine success or failure, because certain colours just do not suit a certain place, person or business. The colours we wear can match or mismatch our complexion, personality and position; they affect everyone and can even bring luck, as some people believe. Occasionally, we hear someone say: „This is my lucky colour. or „This is my good-luck gem.
Colours are now well known for their swaying and healing powers. Modern hospitals are very mindful of this, so are psychiatrists, artists, schools, hotels, commercial airlines, fashion, pop and theatrical shows, and even shopping windows. See how the jewellers display their gold and diamonds in a back-drop of deep red or dark blue? Magicians, movie-stars, models, marketing experts, politicians, kings and queens, toy-makers and sign-writers, and Santa Claus, you name it, they all worship colours.
Works of art have fetched large sums of money through the use of alluring colours. Red is powerful, exciting and motivating; orange, loud and flamboyant; yellow, cheerful and lively. Peach is affluence and comfort; pink is romance. Green is soothing to the eyes, a Mecca for golfers and jungle-trekkers. Blue is said to be restoring and neutralising, good for headaches and sleeplessness. Violet is strong and vibrant, but light violet, amethyst, and mauve are calming and settling. Goethe commented aptly, „Every individual colour makes on men an impression of its own, and thereby reveals its nature to the eye as well as to the mind.
Please cultivate a constant awareness of the powers of flowers and colours, and remember, all through your life, that they are all the Ss, they support, soothe, sedate, sway, seduce, spellbind, and they sell!
"All things bright and beautiful ... All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all." - C. F. Alexander.
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness." - J. Keats.
"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them." - D. Hume.
"Colours can calm, pacify and relax; they can energise, activate and invigorate. Colours are comforting, consoling and pleasing. They can heal, uplift, restore and balance. Colours speak, to those who are ready to listen." - Robert Holden.