PLEASE NOTE:
We are starting Color of the Year, in earnest, on Monday, January 9th.
If you participated last year, I would love for you to go back to your color (just scroll down a bit, because I didn’t do much, site-wise this year), and reflect on your year, and see how it helped?
I hope you’ll participate this year.
As usual, the only cost for Color of the Year is whatever you choose to give to the charity of your choice.
My COLOR of the YEAR for 2016
is Rose Red, which means share your passion–
Last year, if you’ll remember, I gave myself a support color of Wood Violet and a YES color of Aspen Yellow.
Did I share my passion? YEP!
Did I share it with my readers? NOPE!
I married an awesome guy.
The living room of our guest house is bottle green. Green is the color of the heart chakra.
Our friends and family wore black (dynamic change) white (endlessness), cerulean blue (say what you mean), coral (keep healthy boundaries) and brick red (a strong foundation).
I would love to say Oh Yes, I planned these colors. I didn’t. It just sort of came together. I knew there’d be a lot of color at our wedding (because how could there NOT BE).
And it was an amazing day. We had a fantastic, passionate time.
Color Supports Us
Color supports us, even when we’re not thinking about it.
If you walk through a green woods, you are walking through love.
If you chop up a beet and get juice all over your hands, you’re getting a message of earthy acceptance. I believe this, wholeheartedly.
In years past, you’ve intuited your color, and I’ve told you about your year ahead. You’ve looked for a message about what happens next.
This year, as our world faces some turbulent times, it’s easy to turn outside myself for answers.
And yet, we are the architects of our fate. The answer is us.
COLOR OF THE YEAR 2017 is GOING TO BE DIFFERENT
So this year, for color of the year, I’m going to bring you through a different process, where you will choose your color of the year. You’re not going to ask to see your color. You’re going to pick your color, and thereby you’re going to pick your year. I have a sort of choose your own adventure color project that’s launching on Monday.
After you choose your color, I’m going to tell you about your year, and give you a support color and a YES color (the support color supports you, the YES color is a sign that things are going great).
My goal, this year, is to bring you color in new ways, year-round, divine-willing!
Today
Could you look back at your Color of the Year from last year? And leave me a comment about your experience.
And if you’re new this year, could you think about your experiences with color this year? And please share if you’d like.
And then come back Monday. Make a donation to the charity or person of your choice, go through the process of picking your color, and then tell me about it in the comments of Monday’s post.
In the past, I’ve limited it to the first 50. This year, I’m taking everybody who shows up in the first 24 hours.
I know that 2017 is going to be an amazing year. I know it.
And I can’t wait to share it with you.
much love-
Bridget
In 2016 I felt called to surround myself with colors, more than ever. I’m a always-wears-black kind of person, but in 2016, as I worked through releasing a series of childhood traumas, I saw myself choosing colorful – soft colors – clothes. I felt comforted and supported by the energy of all the colors that came into my path.
I will make the donation during the weekend and will be here on Monday with my heart filled with love and ready to create a wonderful, coloful year.
Thank you for this blissful opportunity, Bridget.
You are so very welcome! I so appreciate the soft colors. They are great teachers!
I was wondering – and you’ve answered!
Last year my color was a dark blue green.
Did my heart thaw and lots of feelings emerge? Oyyyyyye, vey yes!
Were there lots of opportunities for forthrightness, for being truthful and clear? Yes – and it with those opportunities came more than a few instances where I made decisions and reacted in ways I’m not all that proud to claim.
It was, as you said, a year “for feeling the feelings and dropping the stories” – and the people around me *really* helped me do that, as much as I loathed them to.
I was in the moment (not all that pretty!) and tried to be present to the love around me.
My hands WERE put work (thank goodness, with all those feelings nearly drowning me!).
And did I ever, savor the ever loving bejeezus out of the season’s sweetness. Phew!
Effective ain’t always pretty, right? Sounds like a whirlwind! I love your nimble nature and your willingness to commit, Rebecca!
Your color information is so, so valuable to me. When I do meditative dance, I often see colors or move them in the meditative space. Your weekly emails with colors (do you do those anymore?) were so helpful in understanding what I was ‘moving.’ I’m very grateful you’ll be sharing more of this work. Thank you!!
Thank you! The emails are coming back. I’m so glad you’re here!
My color last year was a turquoise which you described to me as meaning “Healing Words, experiencing and using language to heal yourself and those around you. I see your work this year deepening as you bring more language to your healing and supportive experiences.” I have definitely used language and words to help bring clarity to the healing work I have done, both within myself and with the clients I’ve worked with. It was a challenging year on many levels, but one that showed me the depths of courage and resilience and equanimity that are within me.
I’m excited to move forward into 2017 & will be back on Monday with my new color for this year! xoxox
I am so excited for you Mindy! I hope I can get out to Hawaii and meet you in person. It’s on my list!
2016 was a year of big change for me, going back to work full time, and in an entirely different industry. It’s good, but it took me months to adjust to the change. I ended up with several new articles of clothing in my colors, and not consciously!
http://intuitivebridge.com/2016/02/09/color-of-the-year-the-purples/
Unconscious color choices are so good, because then you can go back and notice and realize that you were being supported all along. Really happy that you’re doing so well at your job!
I’m glad you asked us to reflect. Sitting here with the year past, it all makes sense now.
I hated my color when it came to me (Limitless Blue). I gravitate toward intensity, extremes, vibrancy. I am not known for subtlety. And with my word of the year–limitless–I was anticipating lots of intensity and action…much more in-your-face.
So I was a little pouty.
Turns out, I found more power this year by letting go and expanding. That color is nothing if not expansive. Like the sky, like a cloud…it spreads and twirls about things like fog.
I ended up with a lot of clarity about things. Instead of asserting my energy and forcing things (because I am powerful as hell), I was able to present things clearly and set boundaries and allow others to make their choices without me pushing them in that direction. (Well…in most areas. The closer the relationship, the harder it is to stay in that space.)
Just yesterday I had a realization connected to this, about how I always took all the responsibility for everything, making a really easy scapegoat or victim. I agreed to take that on to the point where, when I stopped, I not only noticed, but where I was carrying it in my body flared up. It was during my session with my massage therapist who is a crazy-amazing healer and magician that all of these pieces came together. And then today, your question…it is no accident.
The sky and the sun (Sun Gold was my Yes color) do not have to assert themselves or explain themselves or make apologies for their functions. They simply are, and so I am becoming.
As much as I wanted next year to be a year of outward action, I feel like it’s another year of inward contemplation and development. You know the sound of the world when it’s snowing? Like that.
Looking forward to this round!
I just now realized my final knitting project of the year was a pair of socks with a yarn gently moving between my color of the year and my supporting color! My biggest act of self-acceptance involved moving out of a horror job which trapped me — or I trapped myself in — for four years and into a job which is more respectful and I serve the world better. And finally I feel like I’ve accepted myself and moved onto deeper internal realms. Very excited for the new color!
Veronica! YAY! FOR NEW AWESOME JOB!
I am so happy for you!
Well, there are two stories, I suppose. How I noticed the colors in my life as the year progressed . . . and how looking back at the initial descriptions from you they were even more true that I could have seen. Forest for the trees, and all that. My color was heather grey. And well, I wore little else. Not sure if it was a chicken or egg situation. I could have worn it every day. I’m in my heather hoodie right now. Reading the exact words about making my voice heard and understanding my worth make even more sense. The short version is that a job I loved was eliminated, but it was a great gift. The leadership did not align with my values. After that, I was very protective of my energy and doing with it only what represents my heart. It’s obviously a process. The support color was jay blue and I think I even responded at the time that it is a favorite image of mine from a movie that holds that color’s meaning for me. It was a pay attention call and that color will always be a comfort and attention getter for me. The persimmon was to show the support of divine energy. I am not sure how often I found or invited it, but there is a frequency to it, a vibrancy that I suspect will find its way into this year. The colors did weasel their way into two of my monthly collages, as well.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC5gIqvoj6q/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAvDdijIjzn/
As always, many thanks to you, Bridget. The color work is a lovely touchstone.
Felicidades por los premios guapetona, y de paso dejame felicitarte también por estas riquisimas galletas que has preparado. Media docena me zampaba ahora con un vaso de leche frÃa :)bicossssss
Så flott det er nede ved vannet! Idyll =) 06 er en tidlig start, rart ikke disse små skjønner at det er helg og at Mammaer og Pappaer godt kunne tenkt seg å sove til iallefall 09! Bare DET ville jo vært luksus!
My color was Dark Honey – pointing me, as you indicated, in the direction of body love – and leaning in with comfort and softness. You offered Deep Green Teal in support, for Embodying Truth, and Seal as my yes color, reminding me I was spiritually protected. Oh goodness, Bridget – what beautiful energies to steep in all year, and that’s truly what I felt like – that I was steeping in this gorgeous container, and coming more and more to embody it all. I’ve come away from 2015 with such a deeper connection with my body, such a clearer sense of how my life is my Truth, and certainly an always-present knowing I’m spiritually protected. I can look back and see how very different I am from the person who stepped through the doorway of 2016.
Hey Sugar – congratulations on your marriage and what sounds (and looks) like a fun wedding. I don’t know what the color of laughter is, but I know that starting out with laughter is a mighty fine base for a union.
Now about last year’s color . . . (note: I have to spill a few words to tell you about this) . . .
Though I tried to attract me some turquoise or aquamarine, it was Tangerine herself who came and settled right in last January. I read your good words about Tangerine and Blue Chalcedony as my support color and Clover as my Oh-Hell-Yes color . . . then I promptly forgot about it all. That was on January 17, 2016 . . . about, oh, maybe 22 hours before The Big Fat Crazy Idea came to call.
We were watching a documentary about WW 2, The Engineer, my daughter, and I, when I learned of Aktion T4. Between January 1940 and August 1941, Nazis murdered 70,273 physically and mentally disabled people. Assessing physicians never met the person, making their evaluations solely on words they read in medical records, and once two of the three assessing physicians placed a red X at the bottom of the form, the person was murdered.
“Pause it a minute,” I told The Engineer as I anchored the needle in the fabric on which I stitched Nancy’s latest drawings, and when the tv was quiet, I said, “You know what I”m gonna’ do? I’m gonna’ collect 70,273 quilt blocks from around the world to commemorate every single one of those people we just heard about.”
“70,273 quilt blocks?” he asked.
“Yes, 70,273.”
“I don’t think you know how big this is.”
“Oh, I know,” I assured him, “it’s just that your ‘big’ starts with a lower case b while my ‘Big’ starts with a capital letter.”
I launched The 70273 Project on February 14, 2016 – Valentine’s Day, Love Day, my birthday, and let me tell you, besides stitching Nancy’s drawings, it is the most worthwhile thing I’ve done in a long, long time.
Now that I gaze back to last January, I see why Tangerine refused to leave. The Blue Chalcedony that annoyed me at first, I now see wins a big ole’ trophy for Best Supportive Role because while this project is ginormous beyond description and while I am constantly behind and unable to keep up, I have never had one single frenzied moment, never had my shoulders wad up around my ears, never wished I’d never started.
And my YES color – Clover? Well, that proved to be spot-on, Shug, because when The Big Fat Crazy Idea came to call, she whispered The 70273 Project to me in great and complete detail, even showing me what the quilts would look like. All I’ve had to do is listen, transcribe, and follow directions, and even though I often feel overwhelmed, it’s the overwhelm of gratitude. Ms. B. F. C. Idea told me that the more I say Thank you for, the more I’ll get to say Thank you for, and man, was she ever right! I’m grateful to her, Miss Big Fat Crazy Idea, for choosing and trusting me as her person. I’m grateful to the Committee of Jeanne who decided to do things differently this time, and instead of giving this idea to some fictional character and letting it live through my ink, choosing to live this one into existence my own self, in real life. And last but not least, I am oh so grateful – like you wouldn’t believe grateful – to the tens of thousands of people who continue to show up, let this project seep deeply into the recesses and crevices of their hearts, and stitching blocks and piecing tops and making quilts, without ever losing sight of why we’re here: to commemorate the disabled people who died, to celebrate those with special needs who live among us today, and to educate all who will listen about this atrocity (in hopes it will never happen again) and raise awareness of the multi-faceted goodness the Nancys of the world shine on us and into the world when we don’t turn away from them.
So thank you, Sugar. Thank you big, for completing the trio of colors that supported me so magnificently. I can’t wait for my 2017 color to show up so I can tell you and have you grace me with its purpose.
Congratulations on your marriage!! I’ve been stalking your site for this year’s color, so I’m glad it’s here!
I picked Sun Gold and you told me it was an invitation to shine and setting up healthy boundaries. My word for the year was Thrive and I think they worked together very well. There was some hard stuff to deal with, but I feel like it all worked out well and I did try to shine. Pomegranate & Wild Green were excellent supports and guides. Thank you!
It’s the color of movement, you said. Grey shows up when you’ve outgrown your perception of self. Grey is a we can’t go back so we must go forward color. As I reflected last night on 2016 and Grey, while sitting on the (grey) couch in-between with my two-legged and four-legged loves in the (grey) living room, I chuckled–Grey was definitely my color of 2016.
It’s as if everything played itself out on point from Grey, to my Support color Violet down to my Yes color Green Ocean. Mid 2016, after 22 years, I was let go from my job. I was devastated, however, I was also pleasantly surprised and very grateful at how quickly the feeling of devastation moved through me. I relocated to California after living my whole life in Oregon to be with the love of my life–Actively Trusting my Violet and giving my voice to the deep yes of Green Ocean, I was finally allowing myself to get moving!
2016 was a very active year filled with so much change, and also filled with so much care and comfort. While I’m still floundering around trying to find a job that complements my refreshed heart and soul, and even though my mood dips here and there, I’m confident things will continue to unfold for the best on this amazing journey that finally begun for me in 2016.
Thank you Bridget for your continued support and all you do in support of others, all creatures <3
Magenta was my color of the year, “the ability to use your intuition to understand collective consciousness. It’s fun and exciting and exhausting and can be anxiety-provoking.” It was definitely all the above. Thinking back, I was much more tapped into the collective consciousness than I realized.
I found that everything was much easier to manage when I was grounded. My support color, wild green was definitely grounding, being in nature helped alleviate the anxiety.
Vibrant aqua, my yes color, that integration piece and the ability to communicate all the information in a coherent way was key. And I NEEDED that pip, charcoal to listen and integrate.
Thank you Bridget, 2016 was a big and complicated year and the color support definitely helped!