April 5The Tinge of Red
You don't know, perhaps, but I will tell you; the brain is the palest of all the internal organs, and the heart the reddest. Whatever comes from the brain carries the hue of the place it came from, and whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birthplace.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.—The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860)
Red is an emotional color; it's a color of extremes—love and hate, anger and lust, danger and adventure. It is the color of stop signs and of the rising sun.
Red is also the color associated with the first, or root, chakra. The chakra system originated in India thousands of years ago in the Hindu text called The Vedas. According to healers, each of the seven chakras corresponds to specific organs as well as physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of being, and they influence all areas of life.
There's not much scientific research that definitively links this life force, prana, or spiritual energy, to physical well-being, but the idea is that when your chakras are open, energy flows in ways that lead to a healthy mind and body.
So in this sense red is not simply the color of the heart and of love. It is attached to your base, foundation, or root physically and mentally. It is home base for letting go of fear and feeling grounded.
Today, consider the extremes of your journey and the role of red in that.
Challenge Question
- How will you see the color red today?
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