"In every room, there should be a touch of red," my mother said years ago. A bowl, a picture frame, a chair. Just something that will add a touch of interest and color. I can't say that I dutifully heed to my mother's advice, but I certainly think about it often.
Today, I propose a variation on my mother's decorating tip.
Every day, we should wear a touch of yellow.
After 29 days of noticing, studying, and celebrating the color yellow, I have made some observations about this color that we have all grown to know and love.
First. Yellow is the color of standing out. Sure, you can buy a pink, orange, green or blue highlighter, but you know like I know that highlighters (like pencils) started out yellow. When we want to distill down thousands of words into a single important paragraph or line, it's a yellow highlighter that most of us count on. And what about taxi cabs, caution signs, tennis balls, the yellow pages and yellow envelopes? Again, when we want something to stand out, more times than not, we call on the color yellow.
Second. Yellow is the color of cheer. Nothing makes people feel cheery faster than the color yellow. Sun up and sun down, in addition to my pictures photographing Mother Nature's bias towards yellow fruits and vegetables, should be enough proof. But, if not, what about smiley faces, rubber ducks, rain boots, rain slickers, and of course our beloved Ray Wattson?
Third. Yellow is the color of raising awareness. Lance Armstrong leads the way with his Livestrong bracelets, but there are plenty of other examples where that came from. Yellow lines in the road make us aware of oncoming traffic. Caution tape announces our arrival at a dangerous scene. Yellow street lights mean pay attention and slow down, and of course, at the House of Shine, the color yellow is synonymous with what it means to be excellent and to Shine!
Wearing a touch of yellow daily is the perfect way to quietly, but confidently assert your commitment to, everyday:
Stand out
Spread Cheer, and
Raise Awareness about how fulfilling it is to live a life of Shine!
Join me, not just in wearing a touch of yellow each day, but also in the Comment Section where you can share ideas about ways to weave yellow into our wardrobes.
And speaking of yellow...
One whole month later, click on the video posted below to find out who won our yellow summer bag from Banana Republic.
Shining off until Monday...
The commitment to use the color yellow as inspiration for each post in July reminds me of a fond college memory. It is such a nice story about what it means to Shine, that I can't help want to share it with you.
During my college tenure, I lived in a residence hall called Manzanita; first as a resident and then as a Resident Assistant. It held 1,000 male and female first-year students and, for that reason, was affectionately nicknamed, Manzoonita Hall. One of the nice things about this building was that the dining hall was located in the hall, as opposed to traipsing across campus and eating in a centralized dining facility.
My story is set in the Manzanita dining hall.
Within days of moving into Manzanita you learned the dining hall drill: Walk in with friends, have your meal card swiped, get a tray, make your food selections, and wedge your way into available seats.
My story is about the trays.
The trays were stacked in large racks, located immediately after you entered the dining hall and directly across from the dish room. Mostly the trays came in shades of beige and taupe, with occasional pale blue and yellow trays peppered throughout the stack. Most rare, however, were the vibrant yellow trays that were similar in color to the House of Shine's border. There were only eight or ten of those trays all together.
My story is about the 8-10 bright yellow trays in the stack.
Maybe it was foreshadowing into my obsession with Shine, but I ALWAYS wanted one of the bright yellow trays. Even if the only available bright yellow tray was deep in the stack, I would find a way to call one to the top. Even then, I think, I knew that surrounding yourself with Shine was paramount to Shining.
My story is about Michael, the dishwasher who - from a distance - watched and appreciated my pursuit for the yellow tray.
After about the second month of observing my lunchtime behavior, something started happening. Every afternoon I would walk in the dining hall, swipe my card, round the corner to get my tray, and there it would be. A bright yellow tray, sitting off to the side, and already set up with a fork, knife, and spoon. Michael carried out his simple, but thoughtful gesture - not once, not twice, but for FOUR years until I finally graduated.
Every once in a while Michael would leave a bud vase borrowed from one of the tables on the corner of my tray and every once in a while I would return my tray to the dish room with a thank you note addressed to him.
My story would never make it to the big screen, though.
The reason is, there was no climax. The thoughtful gestures didn't get bigger and more frequent, and it didn't end with me finding an engagement ring sitting on my tray. We never started dating and no one rode off into the sunset on a white horse with knight in shining armor. In fact, Michael and I never really, became more than acquaintances. I suspect he was under clear direction from his supervisor never to socialize with any co-ed and I was too young to fully appreciate the beauty of his daily act.
My story is a simple and unassuming story about how small acts can create ripples of Shine that are still talked about years later. It's meant for the small screen - this small screen, not the big silver screen.
Still, I give it two thumbs up. How about you?
I think it is reassuring to know that...
even Mother Nature agrees,
our mornings
should start with a hearty serving of
SHINE!
Bon Appetite.
Shining off until tomorrow...