I’m working in my brother’s ski condo in Colorado. It’s snowing today, in April, and through the falling snowflakes, I can see a forest dotted with fir and birch. There’s so much brown in the natural world. The word we use for our planet is a name for brown, Earth.

Brown is home. It’s safety. Brown is where you find yourself.

The color brown primarily supports the root chakra (1st) , but we also see it helping the sacral chakra (2nd) and the belly chakra (3rd). When brown is part of your life, it is easier to be and feel safe. It’s easier to love your body, and treat it right. It’s easier to feel comforted. Brown is grounding. It’s gentle, but there’s a strength to it that we can count on.

This year we had six Color of the Year participants who chose a brown color.

If you chose brown, check your mailbox, because there you will find a sweet recipe!

alannah

Alannah chose a Caramel color, writing: chosing

I donated to the DNC/ official Democrats website.

New Soil is the color of cautious optimism, the potential for growth and exploration of whatever springs forth.

Cautious, accepting, curious, exploring and improving were my words, which equaled something in the orange family and then choosing  “warm” brought me to New Soil!

http://www.colourlovers.com/coloroftheyear/2017/5083/new_soil

Much love to you for doing this again and opening it up to so many people! It’s my favorite thing of the new year. <3

Alannah-

I read your key words and then looked at your color, and your color is almost an exact match to caramel. Caramel means “loving your body”, which is actually a good match for the experience you’re describing. Every fate we make in the world, it starts in the body.  You’re bringing yourself, your body to the experience you want to have. It’s part of the deal.

What happens within you can be mirrored outside of you. New Growth, a cautious optimism, where do you feel this in your body? What do you need to do to accomplish the radical act of loving your body in an environment that doesn’t revere women’s bodies the way it should? How do you nurture your body, in a society where women’s bodies are judged and governed by people who have no business judging, and certainly no business making rules.  Start with Love. Accept, be curious and explore what it means to live in your body. And if you need to improve it, do so, but do so in love and not in harsh judgment.

To support you, I give you Blue Chalcedony. Wear it when you want to feel calm and centered.

And your Yes color, it’s Olive green (one of my favorites, and one that I rarely give out). Olive green will show up to remind you that your good works in the world provide both the world and you with grace.

Much love on this journey around the sun!
ALEXA

Alexa chose Milk Chocolate, writing,

I donated to planned parenthood and my color is Milk Chocolate. Thanks!

Alexa-

I see a milk chocolate brown cloak settling on your shoulders to give you warmth and comfort. When you feel like it’s all on you, and you have to make things happen, it’s hard to relax. You seem to be managing some significant experiences right now. You’re not alone. It’s not all on you. And you can reach out, to the tangible world and the spiritual world for help, and ease and to be understood.

It’s funny, when I was picking your support color, I was surprised to be attracted to Bluebird, which means gentle, honest and persistent communication. But today, it makes perfect sense. Wear Bluebird when you want to speak with kindness and clear honesty and when you need to get your message through. Also wear it for receiving the necessary words of others.

And your yes color, it’s North Woods Dusk. This is the darkest blue. It’s almost black. You’ll see it to remind you that you need quiet observation to integrate everything that’s happening in your life.

I wish you the very best this year.

Joanna

Joanna chose Chestnut Brown, writing

I donated to Planned Parenthood. My color is ‘safe as houses’ (although ‘sunny’ was also a contender- hard to choose!). Thank you for offering this!

Joanna-

‘Safe as Houses’ is such an interesting phrase. In one way, it describes the safety and comfort of home, the surety that comes with being in a space that’s yours. It also means ‘a sure thing’. For you, it’s both these things, and also a feeling of relaxing in the now to be ready for the future, as the future takes shape around you. The future isn’t something to fear, at all. Be at peace. Be in safety. Be in a quiet grounded state, so that you have the wisdom and understanding of self to be ready for what’s to come (which, again, is nothing to be afraid of, and which seems to be exciting and enjoyable).

To support you, I give you- charcoal. Wear it when you want to be creative with your resources. Don’t run out to get something new. Make with what you have. Don’t seek outside yourself. Seek within. See what’s around. You have so much available to you, right in your vicinity.

And your Yes color, it’s Flow Pink- you’ll see it to remind you to be in flow with your intuition.

Have a great year!

karen

Karen chose Milk Chocolate, writing-

My color is “Milk Chocolate” – a warm, safe, color. My year has felt very un-safe lately…
So glad you’re doing this again 🙂

Hoping you are feeling very safe in your new life-space!

Karen J
~ A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle

BTW – I am donating to a local homeless shelter.

I hear what you are saying about feeling unsafe. I understand. And I feel for you, that you’re experiencing that feeling.

And also, I think it’s important to note, you only need to feel unsafe if your safety is being impacted in the here and now. Whatever haunts you from the past, it’s not relevant now. So be very clear about what you are experiencing in this time, and don’t dip into a state of fear from your past.

Everybody has things about their past and ways of being from before that they deal with, and sometimes we visit that on our present-day experience. We do this sometimes because old fears are as familiar as old shoes. And also sometimes because we feel we haven’t resolved what’s back there.

But- you are here today. And what’s here with you, good and bad, is what you are here to be with.

To support you- I give you pale ballet pink. Wear it when you want to have faith.

And your YES color- it’s Madrone- a beautiful orange-brown. You’ll see it to remind you that you’re standing on fertile ground.

Here’s to these new times!

 

Kristin

Kristin chose Rose Brown- writing

What a twist!

Interestingly, a color came to me (I usually can’t seem to get that to happen 🙂 ), and it was one I wouldn’t have expected. Then when I clicked on it…even more interesting, the meaning was exactly RIGHT for me right now.

http://intuitivebridge.com/rose-brown-taking-stock-of-your-life/

I donated to DoveLewis using their Amazon wishlist. (Sometimes you just want to donate five monkey toys for small dogs instead of money.)

Kristin-

I found this color on the beach, in the summer, on a cloudy, ruminating kind of day. It was mid-morning, and our boat was anchored off an island in the Puget Sound. I found it lining the edge of a sea shell.

People often stop to take stock of their life when things are wrong, when they feel like they are down the wrong path. It doesn’t feel like that’s the case for you. At all. It feels like doors are opening and opening and opening. It feels like you understand so much about how the world clicks into place, and all the places you can be in it.  I hope in your stock-taking, that you take time to warmly celebrate all that you are.

To support you, one of the quieter, but powerful players,  it’s pale grey rose. Wear it when you want a gentle, numinous intuitive experience.

And you YES color- dark blue green- You’ll see it to remind you to be present to the love around you. I suggest you visit the rose garden, because this color is everywhere there!

Much love to you!

Poppy

Poppy chose Bark, writing

My donation this winter went to the UU church in Eugene – uueugene.org. Among the usual things – heating the church and paying the minster – we also provide a small amount of housing for people without other homes and a small garden plot for them to grow food in.

My color is Bark – Feeling Protected

Poppy- I need to fix this color description because I’ve described it different times as ‘feeling safe’ and ‘feeling protected’. It should be ‘feeling safe and protected’.  To me, it’s the feeling I get when my back rests against a large tree, or when I’m down in the tiny cabin of my boat, hearing the water pool and purr around me.

Poppy- you care so much for so many. You have such a great understanding of the “we”.  Also, though, it’s time to fortify the ‘me’.  It’s time for you to meet your needs, in the whole. You need a whole meal, not a quick bite to hold you over. You need your needs met- physically spiritually, mentally, right now. You need to not ignore them.

Bark is here to change what drives you. Instead of being driven by the obvious needs of those around you (always around you, always in need), you are being directed towards new great possibilities. You have, in front of you, some significant work and great opportunity.

To support you- here’s Peony. Wear it when you want to see your visible progress.

And your yes color- it’s Cloud Grey. You’ll see it to remind you that this time is moving quickly.

And you get a pip, another supportive color- It’s Cinnamon.  Wear Cinnamon to help you direct your energies. Also look for it when you need to be reminded to get clear and focused.

I love what you do, and who you are. Really glad you’re here on this journey.