We discussed Color Trends:

• ·         Color Trends Reveals are often talking points and a form of marketing for those companies revealing the color trends…they may be great and fun information, but at the end of the day what does your client need? It could be more color, it could be less color and it could be just an interior review with some tweaks.  I’m always careful about what they want before I try to sell them something they may not need.  
• ·         If you know the brain’s way of working, once you see something 13-16 times, your brain will believe it is safe and you will adopt it…that’s how something becomes a fad, and only if it has true power to shape a person’s reality (make them happy, make them look good or feel good) then it can become a trend. The RAS (reticular activation system) is your brain’s filter that will make you look for things in the environment that represent your beliefs and what you think about.  How convenient! It’s the SEO of your 2 lb. smooshy autopilot: your brain.
• ·         That all said, what we are seeing in the media and promotional material is showing more color, more saturated, some muted, many deeper, and not just on walls: bottom line, we are being shown more color in our environments.  This is where you will want to know how color influences behavior, unconsciously, because it does and experts know this. When designing UX and IRL experiences, they  know how to use color to speak to your body beneath your thinking mind,  how to inspire emotional responses and once you have experience those emotion chemicals, you are going with their flow.  If you want to do that, great!  If not, it’s time to check in to your awareness,  “Hey, what the heck is going on here?  I didn’t want to buy all that!”
• ·         Colors are personal, so when designing for a client, the best thing to do is understand what they love, what they hate, and what they want to accomplish in the spaces we are “colorizing.”  Sleep will not be accomplished in a bedroom painted red (neither will intimacy), Digestion will not be fostered in a dining room painted black. 
• ·         What’s the FEELING?  Colors inspire emotions, images inspire emotions, our environments are essentially IMAGES to our unconscious mind.  How to we use color and design to inspire the emotions we need to feel in that space to accomplish our goal (task, relationship, sleep, eat, connect, learn, dance, love?) (See AI below)

Most popular trends:

• ·         Still Wellbeing, Still Nature and Still Curves and Arches, More colorful Colors in Interiors (watch for the pendulum swing back to fresh, light neutrals coming soon as it usually does)
• ·         Social Learning Third Spaces, Connection, Community  (see the pdf)
• ·         AI – becoming friends with and not losing your proprietary info – use it but don’t lose it (your awareness).

o   IRL experiences to make us FEEL something – why? Too much screen time, too much gaslighting us out of our body knowing, but hey, whatever it takes to get back to center, right?

o   UX – Understanding the connection between the unconscious and behavior, designing with color, shape and placement to create autopilot (unconscious) behavior. 

o   Professional Photo Shoots – using AI to create a  professional set-looking photo shoot

o   AI/GPS Haptics to for vision impaired navigation

o   Augmented Reality in automobiles, makes journeys smoother for transporting people (dementia care, etc.) and bringing the comforts of the living room into the automobile (we often do this with kids in the back seat but the driver? What?)

o   And more in the Meetup Replay.

·         Plant based smoothies, No alcohol

Colors Trends:

·         It’s not just one color: all colors are invited to the party more saturated in some areas and color nuanced in neutrals. 

·         When we are feeling stronger, we go for more color.

·         When we are stressed, traumatized or uncertain, we stay neutral. 

·         Colors are indicators of our emotions, and colors also promote our emotions, but the human body seeks its OWN balance. 

·         Want to feel more uplifted?  Add just the right amount of color to your day, through wardrobe or a décor item, even just a few flowers in your spaces.  Don’t push it though, bright, saturated colors for a little while can be uplifting, but too much for too long will deplete and depress. 

Fun Color Game Challenge:  I use this with  my clients to start the conversation, especially when I’m designing for more than one person in the space. Here are two companies’ Color Games to help you determine the colors you might call you personality.  Which one is more helpful?

·         PPG has a color quiz based on the original Voice of Color Game, to help you discover which Volume of their Trends you fall in to:

o   https://app-ppgpaints11-stg-01.azurewebsites.net/trendsgame/   Let me know if it works for you!

·         Farrell Calhoun has a Color Inspiration as well:  Check it out:   https://colorpersona.chameleonpower.com/?brand=FarrellCalhoun 

Imposter Syndrome?  Pfffft, Nah, Delete it!

·         Just when you think you have the GREEN light to go ahead and succeed, have fun, be happy, healthy and wealthy, something comes in and BAM,, you are doubting yourself. 

·         That something is old Unconscious Patterns, and we all have been fed those since childhood and even before.  We inherit doubt and limitations through out DNA as a way to “keep us safe.”  Those limitations may not be in your best interest, they may be old triggers so that you don’t succeed too much out of the family, society or human race. 

·         The REAL Imposter is those unconscious patterns and other people’s stories.  

·         What to do? 

o   Notice the feeling in your body and breathe into it, allow it to expand.  Stay with it until you feel it release. 

o   Don’t dance with it, you’ll go down the rabbit hole. 

o   Is this “real” information or just the Imposter? Ask your Higher Self:  What’s the best thing for me to do right now? Listen then do it whether it’s get a shower, do a bit of research, drink water, re-read your email for errors, call so-and-so, walk outside, laugh, do a web search, clean a closet, jump, whatever.  You’ll have a fresh perspective and get back to the truth of you.

o   It’s NOT you, NOT your truth: ask the question that needs no answer:  “Who does this belong to” over and over again.

o   Clear the unconscious pattern – learn how to do that in the LifeSurfing™ Group Coaching Course starting January 22 – It’s fantastic way to remove (yes remove) those unconscious patterns and to reclaim YOU, the TRUTH of YOU, Your Knowing, Your Unique Approach, Gifts and Relationships that are your Heart’s Desires. Learn to Navigate and Master the Energy of Life Around You to BE YOUR Gentle, Powerful, Effective, Impactful YOU. Learn to reset your inner and outer world and make your heart’s desires your reality.

o   Join the Vision Board Class starting January 13 – Early Bird Savings until January 10

o   Take the Color Confidence / Human Centered Color Confidence Course to use color effectively.

There is a lot more in the 2-hour Meetup and here is your link to the replay and the pdf.

Come join The Gentle SHIFT, it’s the new way into the power of now and the new way forward for the world.