Is Your Favorite Color A No Brainer, What Is It?

December 11, 2014April 21, 2021 / Donna George / 2 Comments

It’s Christmastime and your family, friends and associates are running around hoping to pick out the perfect gift for you, hoping to choose a color you’ll love. Is your favorite color obvious, a no brainer or will they be left clueless to spend precious time deciding between 20 neatly stacked color options.

What is your favorite color? You might be interested in knowing what your favorite color could suggest about yourself. Color meaning definitions and comparisons to personalities are no secret to many organizations, furniture manufacturing, clothing industries and professional surveys. Lucky for you, I did some research.

Most people are unaware of how much color impacts their lives, but in fact, they do indeed. The experts have found that color greatly impacts decisions, emotions, memories and mood. Psychologists claim color also reveals our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, mental and physical states, and overall emotional well being.

What does your favorite color means:

Red – Aggressive, Passionate, Fire, Determination
Black – Sophisicated, Mysterious, Intimidation
White – Simple, Innocense, Safety, Purity, Positive
Blue – Calm, Content, Depth, Trust, Wisdom
Yellow – Happiness, Optimistic, Energy, Warming
Pink – Inspirational, Playful, Sweet, Feminine
Orange – Creativity, Fascination, Joy, Success
Brown – Gorgeous, Abundance, Perfection
Green – Fresh, Harmonious, Cautious, Renewal
Purple – Royal, Noble, Extravagant

So what was your favorite color, again? Maybe you feel safer choosing a “color palette” instead and feel uncomfortable picking just one. According to the professionals, the base color building your preferred color palette is your favorite color. Would you agree?

Another study reveals the attraction to favorite colors is associated with positive memories or experiences. The common denominator among the group studies of color attraction is that we will usually have three favorite colors in a lifetime, influenced by where we live, our health, and financial circumstances.

Nobody loses, everyone wins, there is no right or wrong color to love. Did the professionals get it right for you? If you are still struggling to decide on your favorite color, look around you and notice what color you have surrounding you. What color is your phone cover, the majority of your closet, or your ink pens?

Let your beloved color shine through, reveal your favorite color. My confession – I love the pinks, but I attracted to greens.

With positive intent,

Donna George

Pier Fishing Under A Blue Moon

November 19, 2013 / Donna George / Leave a comment

Kure fishing pier

Beach piers are very popular destinations on the Carolina coast. Growing up in a fishing port town, piers are a natural part of the scenery, a gathering place. They are typically built where one coastal town ends and another town begins adding revenues for that particular townships. I remember building sand castles under the pier as a kid while keeping a watchful eye on the fisherman’s above me.

Finally, I became a fisherman on the pier. The moon was full and in perfect place casting a blue velvet hue on the ocean, making it hard to keep my hands on the fishing pole and not on my camera. The view was spectacular, almost magical. The moon created a misty glow across the ocean and the mist hovered around the shoreline.

over the top

Pier

sunset

waves

misty

Fog & Mist

flocks

Flocks of birds circle the shore and then fly back and forth the length of the pier. I think they were showing off and playing with everyone, trying to divert all the attention to them. They stayed close by all evening, performing formations and dancing along the horizon. And then I would see them flocked together almost completely still in midair like an audience watching a show.

fish cleaning station

finally a fish

The one thing I know about fishing is that it brings out the quirkiness in people. The group fishing next to us sang songs to the fish the whole time (here fishy fishy fish). Another guy whistled the whole time, as if the fish understood he was calling them to their defeat. Some of the fisherman were dead silent while others enjoyed fellowship with friends and conversation. Many people were there just to people watch and stare at the ocean.

My take away on pier fishing, the fish have us figured out. They know how to run the length of the pier and grab the bait and run, kind of like fish (drive-bys). Every time I reeled my rod up, my bait was gone and there was no fish. All in all, we caught one fish each. Great fun, but patience is a must.

Bottom line, I am happy just to be near the sea, as I am a fish out of sea….

Curiosity

October 3, 2013 / Donna George / 3 Comments

“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein (Photo credit: QuotesEverlasting)

Most of us remember the phrase, “did curiosity kill the cat”? And what happened to Jack when he climbed the gigantic beanstalk? Do you think his courage to climb a mysterious gigantic tree and ultimately end up in a giant’s house, changed him? Absolutely!

Many of us abandon our curiosity when we become adults, leaving behind our childlike ways of adventure and explorations. As children we are always growing and learning new things, asking tons of questions, without fear of what others would think. Can you imagine how fun it would be to experience the world with the curiosity of a child, combined with adult wisdom? Why the hesitation?

There are many reasons why people stop asking questions and searching for new things to try. Often times we become comfortable in our routines and lose our vision to create something beyond our current circumstances. The passion simply fades away and we give in to our comfort zone.

The fear of what others think paralyze some people from experimenting with new ideas. Thoughts of embarrassment, shame, and judgement surface and these thoughts are scary. We’ve all experienced the sting of criticism and felt foolish, silly and out of our element, but we survived it and grew from the experience.

Ideas to Increase your curiosity

* Study others who excel at what you would like to learn to do.

* Read books out of your genre, but interest you a little.

* Hang out with groups of children occasionally and see their inquisitiveness nature and zest for life.

* Make a list of a new things to try each day and give it a valiant effort.

* Start a day journal and stay committed to living for more joy and excitement.

* Take a few risks, not life threatening kind, but safe risks that challenge you to be a better person.

Curiosity moves mankind to greatness. If no one ever took risks, or dared to chase their dreams, there would be no real heroes among us. We would have no role models to challenge us to greatness.

If you look through history, era after era – curiosity brought forth mighty discoveries. One of my historian favorites is Christopher Columbus. I can only imagine the greatness of his mind. The depth of his curiosity and the size of his determination to set out against all odds and discover America is astounding.

Thinking about historic figures such as Christopher Columbus can inspire us to look at patterns of behavior in our lives that have become routine and predictable. Joy is usually found when we are not in pursuit of it. I believe if we practice experiencing more curiosity, the odds are higher for finding inspiration to keep our spirit alive and our mind healthy.

The mind is a beautiful captivating gift from God, unique to every person on earth. I am intrigued by the many great minds I encounter everyday in life. Some are friends, some are acquaintances and others are just encounters, but they are all different. There is always a reflection or a glimmer of something extraordinary and a desire for more happiness and joy.

Action Point: What are some areas of your life where you can increase your curiosity in hopes to add more overall joy?

Consider The Possibilities

September 10, 2013September 10, 2013 / Donna George / 1 Comment

sea oats

Two little words… WHAT IF…Think of the possibilities.

I can do this!

I am doing that!

It’s true, you can make your dreams, if you are willing to reach out and work for them. Most people have heard the quote “shoot for the moon, if you don’t make it, you will fall among the stars”. For some people the stars are not the dream, so they press on… and keep trying, never considering giving up.

carolina beach sea oats

I believe that our dreams somehow keep us alive inside, inspire us to continue to hope and believe in ourselves. I love being around friends who are zealous for life, it’s contagious. It’s like a powerful energy that changes the atmosphere and makes me happier. I love the moments my imaginations jumps into full throttle and climbs to a peak and stops. It’s a magical place to travel, exclusively (only to you).

The key is to hold on to those dreams and impressions, get a plan together, and activate baby steps. Look for resources to help you and keep moving forward. you can look back, but don’t stare. Staring can cause you to stumble, procrastinate and doubt yourself.

Think big! Personally, I like achieving the possibilities that once seemed completely out of reach, like pie in the sky. I make myself little rewards for what I carry out along the way, The past is our road maps marked with boundaries that prepare us for what lies ahead. I like to think of the past as a warm up exercise that has me equipped for the future. I believe the best is yet to come.

Consider this, ” what if” I am right… Is there something you can imagine that you want to do? Have you exhausted all your possibilities? If you think you have – you probably have, but if you share my passion…we have just begun.

Tell me about the possibilities for you, I dream of being in a book store, as an author of a book, that bleeds my passion and changes the lives of the ones who read it. I have always imagined the scene like it was real, the place, the details in living color, even my outfit and red shoes. Sometimes speaking it out loud will confirm it in your mind. What if…

seagull

Let Your Light Shine

August 23, 2013 / Donna George / Leave a comment

Remember this old song “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine”.

Everybody has a light in them. It might be bright, dim, or turned off, but the great news is – it’s still present, don’t worry, the triggers in everyday life spark our light to expand or to fade away. It’s a healthy step in the right direction to understand the fullness and potential of how bright that light can actually shine. Ultimately, it is measured by our outward actions and attitudes towards life and other people.

There are practices we can move toward to begin illuminating ourselves to positively affect others who are around us daily. We can intentionally place ourselves in uplifting environments by being proactive and more sensitive to how we feel during the day. in the moment.

Here are some ideas to try which might offer some thought to seriously consider.

Are the people in your life adding to your peace or eating it up? Make a list of each person on paper and decide if the relationships are healthy, necessary, and productive to your life in some way. Realize who are your friends and what defines the friendship. Many friendships are often one-sided, one person is contributing to the relationship resulting in the other friend to experience nothing valuable or satisfying from the relationship. There are seasons in healthy friendships where this will be a natural pattern as people experience life changing events and occurrences.

Is there a place in your life to explore and experience the creative side of yourself? It has now been scientifically proven by multiple studies of various groups of senior citizens, who are cognitively functionally strong as compared to other similar groups, who are not mentally or physically healthy, that finds the dramatic brain differences in the two different groups. The significant difference between the two groups is interesting. The group of older people who were artists, musicians, writers, painters all of whom worked in the creative field were much more cognitive than the group studied who experienced small amounts of time applied to creativity in their lives. The group who spent their life working in the field they enjoyed, utilizing the creative side of their brain, actually displayed healthier brain cortex on the MRI, while the other groups MRI displayed a much less healthy cortex brain.

This is perhaps a motivating reason to wake up the exploratory side of the brain to a world that imagines, wonders, and deviates from what has always been normal or routine to ordinary life.

Experiencing a big life evolves around big love, big thoughts, and increased sensitivity to the little things occurring in your daily life. It may seem illogical to open your life and expose your heart to people who are different from you. It will probably seem boring and worthless, but give it a chance to develop a rhythm. Usually, when we discover happiness, we were not in pursuit of it at the time, it just happens through our natural journey, but what if we could embrace more of these happy encounters. Be open to all kinds of people, look for a common ground and build from there.

Focus your mind on positive outcomes and remove negative thoughts that come out of nowhere in your head. Capture the thought, think over it with something good and watch it leave. It gets easier to do this with practice and it does work! Try it the next time you feel uncomfortable in a situation.

A huge part of this process is to be sensitive to what is present in your environment and what your head is attempting to tell you. Look beyond the things in front of you. Why are they there and how did it come about? Start to practice asking yourself about the purpose and the timing of everything going on in your life. All big things start with something small that often evolves into something bigger.

In a perfect world, most of us would prefer day over night, light over dark, good over bad and life over death. We all have the desire to be liked and have friends and influence with others. The good news is, we all have the ability inside of us to make it happen, it was placed there in our design. Our job is to navigate our journey well by fueling it with the right ingredients, select friends, jobs, churches that will bring out the best in us and inspire healthy goals to meet.

What you say you are you possibly can become; just as what you say you aren’t, you will never be. Who you were yesterday does not determine who you can become in the future.

Be a light for someone everyday. The world is bursting with negative all arounds us and your light is needed now. Someone out there needs you to stand out and believe in them. Have hope in humanity, extend a hand, an ear, or simply just show up. Bright lights resonate for long distances and many others can see the ray, some never forget the glow they experienced from them and others are taught how to ignite their own.

Shine on!

This little light of mine (Photo credit: W.D. Vanlue)

12 Reasons Why I Have Nothing To Wear

August 3, 2013December 2, 2015 / Donna George / 1 Comment

If you touch one thing in my closet, whoops, another thing falls. I am one who knows how to pack a space. All of us are guilty of double hanging clothing on hangers simply because we accumulate so much stuff. Or either, we like to hold on to things – for all kinds of crazy reasons.

But as I stand here and scan my own closet, admitting so, there is nothing I want to wear. Hmm… Sound all too familiar. The good news – I can help you. I finally overcame this insane phenomena. Being a woman on the go, always busy, there is no time for “closet ponder” at 6:00 am. This might help…

1. Create a pile to give away, that no longer flatters your body. A good rule of thumb, if you didn’t wear it in the past 12 months, you won’t ever.

2. Separate by category. Ex. Tops together, bottoms together etc. For some of you, who work in the fashion biz, you must go deeper. Separate tops by sleeve type or bottoms will need categories of separations like skirts, then Capris, followed by crops and finally pants.

3. Flow your closet from white to black. Group all white pieces together and then beige, and then tan etc., etc. It’s much easier to grab a black top by color. Now finding colors will be a no brainer and a time saver.

4. Keep your patterns and prints worked in the dominant color category. A stripped top with mostly red would be placed at the back of the red section of the tops. And another tip, organize from light to dark within the color. The red section will start with soft reds and gradually move into wines and burgundy shades.

5. Turn everything in the same direction. It looks way better and helps cut down on wrinkles.

6. Invest in fabric covered hangers with a nice grip. I use pretty red ones. These work fabulous for skinny straps and unusual necklines.

7. Zip all zippers and tie up all loose strings. I refer to this as “closet recovery” work. Hang up your clothes when you finish trying them on so closet recovery isn’t the “all dreaded task”.

8. Discipline yourself to only buy pieces you need, like missing colors. If you’re a Shopaholic, and you can’t help yourself, start shopping smart and diverse.

9. Assimilate your outfitting with great accessory pieces to add spice. Switch up your usual matched pieces with a more eclectic feel. Try pairing plaids with small stripes, tiny floral with bold floral and express yourself in your clothes with a different flare.

10. Purchase a full length mirror so you can check out your new looks. Try to place it near your closet. Keep your mess contained.

11. Everyone experiences “body evolution” with age, so don’t worry, just remember to keep the pieces that flatter your body and give up the ones that don’t. Holding onto the idea, that we might magically fit into a size 3 jean again, is hmm… Well… I will just leave it at that. I do believe in miracles….

12. Think of the stuff in your closet as collections, and the items that don’t fit into a collection, as novelty pieces. This is the “opportunity area” of your clothing pieces to expand more collections. Shopaholics. The novelty pieces and their opportunity might especially interest you.

The more organized you keep the things you wear, the less frustrating it is to find outfits. Now, you can save time, sleep longer and still looked pulled together quickly. Have fun and let me know how it works out for you. Don’t be afraid to try new things.

I will get to shoes and handbags in my brand new fashion blog coming soon….