Part one of this article looked at the impact of colour on your psyche and physical wellbeing. How your colour choices reveal your inner state was also analysed with specific reference to the colours white, black and blue. Part two discovered what your attitude to yellow, brown, grey and red reveals about you. On to the rest of the spectrum...

Green

Green represents consistency, perseverance and tenacity. Green is idealistic and faithful. It’s easy on the eye. Green is the colour of balance and stability. When we crave or are attracted to green, we want more stability in some part of our life, be that finances, relationships, work, health or spirituality. Green indicates the need for security, respect and recognition. A liking for deeper/darker greens (ie green plus black) indicates a desire for power or more control.

People favouring green tend to be over-analytical of self and situations and are rarely spontaneous. They take up causes and doggedly pursue them, even if on behalf of someone else, usually without fanfare. They do, however, like to be respected and quietly acknowledged. They are benevolent, humanistic, good citizens.

Symbolically, green is associated with a good water supply and healthy crops — fertility of the crop means no famine and good security. Fertility means the continuity of life and the life we know. Brides in the Middle Ages wed in green to symbolise their hope of fertility and the continuity of life.

In the centre of the colour spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), green represents balance. Green is tidy, efficient and organised. What the person drawn to green has in abundance is the desire to control: everything in their life and even in others’ lives.

Green is the traffic light that says it’s OK to move forward now. Spring announces it’s OK to grow now and all the green shoots come forth. Green has a peaceful edge — grassy plains and crops, forests and ferns — so it’s also calming and orderly. Balance is important to maintain this. Green nurtures growth steadfastly, with patience and care.

Lime green (green + yellow) is a mix of mental (yellow) and physical (green). It’s more lively than green because it contains some “alert” factors. It’s more experimental and inquisitive than dark green (green + black), which indicates more desire for control and less flexibility. Lime green may want to start a new business, but as money and staff become more important, they will require more control — dark green.

Green is the colour of security, success and achievement. To many, green is the colour of money: the greenback and the colour of the largest Australian dollar denomination. Time slows and you feel relaxed around green. The green room calms people before TV appearances. Green acts on the sympathetic nervous system to lower blood pressure and relax you. Through this relaxing effect, green sleeping pills encouraged patients to fall asleep significantly faster than patients taking sleeping pills coloured orange (British Medical Journal 1996 Dec 21-28;313 (7072):1624-6).

The green person

If you like green and find yourself seeking green, you have a need for security, respect and recognition. You need to know the “I” is valued and your need for self-esteem is recognised. You are seeking self-determination and require control and balance. You are looking for certainty of your own values and superiority over others. You’ll be checking details often to be sure you are “right”, that you are still on track and on target. Seeking darker greens indicates your wish to acquire power or you are on a quest for “better”.

If you find green an unattractive colour and you are rejecting it at this time of your life, you may have lost your way, dropped your confidence and therefore be in a place of self doubt and low personal esteem. You may feel you are being controlled and are trapped or caged. The insecurity will create anxiety. Your reaction may be stubborn attitudes or selfish behaviour, as these are means to exert some control in your situation. No longer critical of yourself because you believe you are not in control, you will become critical of others and see problems as out there rather than within you.

Compensate with blue, which calms you, and some yellow for the intellect to find solutions to facilitate change. If you’re feeling lazy or suffering from inertia you may need to take some action to move the situation forward. Red could help you in this.