Meaningful Reflections: Yelling Yellow
Meaningful Reflections with Chaplain Kim Crawford Meeks is a monthly column that provides words of encouragement for associates at USA Health.
By Kim Crawford Meeks
Spiritual Care Manager
Yellow curtains blow in a breeze in a sleepy yawn of good morning!
Yellow butter flows on my hot pancakes made just for me by my Granny’s soft hands.
Yellow bird sings a melody beckoning me to skip to the park.
Yellow sunshine squeezes through the branches while swinging higher to touch the shine of the sun.
Yellow bumble bee buzzes and hums as he laps up yummy yellow treats that dust the blooms.
Yellow lemon Icee is sour, sweet, cold and sticky.
Yellow butterfly friend, delicate and small, sits on a tiny yellow rosebud.
Yellow caterpillar nibbles a yellow petal as he hopes to have wings, someday.
Yellow sweater so soft, yet too warm and makes me scream, “Spring is here!”
Yellow shoelace trips my hurried steps to make it to my lesson on my yellow ukelele.
Yellow dog sits at my feet begging for a morsel from my dinner plate.
Yellow sheets are my cocoon of snuggle.
Yellow moon whispers, “Sweet sleep.”
We often take the colors of the world for granted. As a chaplain, I have found that colors are very meaningful to people. Regardless of the group I am with, if I hand them a variety of colors of paper or journals, they will specifically know which color they want and why. When I have suggested that a patient write in a journal using different colors of ink to signify different emotions or experiences, I have received positive feedback that writing in colors was helpful in coping and sorting through their feelings. Upon offering a crocheted prayer blanket/shawl to a patient, I have never had anyone turn one down. The response is always delight and appreciation, and the colors of the yarn are noticed and celebrated.
Helen Keller was blind, deaf and could not speak, yet Marion Owen states in her Lagniappe blog, “While Helen could not see color per se, she could sense them nonetheless.” Owen goes on to quote Helen saying, “My impressions of color are emotional, symbolical. I am interested in theory that there is a correspondence between all the colors in the visible world and the soul within.” Perhaps Helen was right, and there is a connection between colors of the world and the soul.
As you ponder Helen’s thoughts, and the colors around you, try the exercise this week of journaling your emotions and experiences in various colors. Another therapeutic method is to look for one specific color all day. See how many items you can find of that color and write them down. Perhaps you will find meaning in that color. Perhaps you will write your own fun poem - like I did - that makes your soul smile.
(Written Sept. 29, 2017; revised March 18, 2020, and Feb. 26, 2023)
Patients, family members and USA Health associates are encouraged to call the Meaningful Reflections Line at 251-445-9016 for a daily recorded word of encouragement.
