Embracing all the Rainbow Colors

Blue looks good on the sky,
looks good on that neon buzzin’ on the wall,
but darling, it don’t match your eyes.
I’m tellin’ you
you don’t need that guy.
It’s so black and white.
He’s stealin’ your thunder.
Baby, blue ain’t your color.
(Blue ain't your color, Keith Urban)

I have green eyes and used to wear as much green in my formal business attire as possible because my astrologer told me that it brings good luck for me personally. Blue is my true color though, just as the Blue Lord, Lord Krishna. Blue is the color of serenity, and that's me, mostly. In this spirit I wear blue suits, blue ties, and write all my notes with my blue fountain pen.

Several of my more elegantly dressed colleagues wear purple ties. I don't. A colleague once told me about a wise investor from a different firm who told her that he never buys the stocks of a firm when the CEO wears a purple tie because purple stands in his book for hope. I checked what purple stands for in "The Book of Symbols" and it says that - among many other attributes - it stands for being depressed. That only furthered my dislike given that my father spent decades in depression. But then, our assistant wears purple all the time so I asked her what the color purple represents to her and she said "spirituality". How beautiful, just as the color purple is.

I had to face the color purple the other day when my career was on the line. Depressed I went home early and to distract my mind I went to the cobbler. A colleague drove by and claimed that I wore a purple tie that day when I went into the store. That's impossible but I only smiled when he said it. That may have been one of my lowest moments in my life and depression, hope and divine intervention was indeed the theme of the day. My friend gently corrected my poor tie choice.

Red stands for aggression in my book and I tend to avoid it, though I gladly wear a red tie for our annual holiday gathering. Truth be told, red is the color of passion for me personally, and I melt when I see a woman in a tight red outfit. My wife doesn't care for red much as she hates aggression and confrontation. Do you know that a psychological study showed that soccer teams with red jerseys beat soccer teams with blue jerseys over the long haul? Apparently aggression beats serenity any time, at least when it comes to soccer.

I did wear a red tie to an investor meeting the other day. It was an instinctive choice in the morning and when the observer in me took notice I simply let it be. It felt right to wear red that day and I was ready to fight. That day I stood up for my career and gave all that I had in me. Win or lose, from that day on this red tie will always have a special meaning in my tie collection.

Yet, just like with the color purple and all other colors, it has to be remembered that all colors have many meanings. One day our bloody human history will be rewritten. Poinsettias are Christmas flowers for a reason. The dark red in our Christmas spirit stands for love, tradition and warmth. Maybe we can rewire our brains when it comes to the color red. Red wine stands for joy and friendship, and passion can always join hands with purpose. Like I did with the color purple before, I now have added red to my active colors of choice.

Note to self: please buy a purple tie on the next shopping trip. There are times when hope for divine intervention is all that remains left. Next time around I want to have the right tie for the occasion.