Use green to overcome holiday blues this season

Is your holiday cheer distressed by money concerns? Wear green, the color of love, to enhance peace within yourself and encourage patience with others. According to ColorAlchemy, to prevent getting red-hot and bothered over shopping anxieties, decorate for the holidays with green candles, table cloths and ornaments to support harmony with family and friends. Feature green accent pillows and other emerald accessories to help keep that peaceful feeling throughout the year.

Color influences everybody's emotions. Madison Avenue marketing millionaires command its power, as do Hollywood film makers, interior designers and every artist under the sun. Color affects everything you think, do and say.

Did you ever wonder why you feel so good spending time with nature? Green is nature's color, the color of living things. Its balance of warm and cool is easy on the eye and distinguishes it as "the color of love and compassion."

Eliminate stress and expense anxiety by gifting loved ones with handmade, live or silk evergreen wreaths (circles are symbols of togetherness and longevity). Instead of traditional red accents, which may cause impatience, use blue (green's partner) for more natural inspiration. Just like the color of a crisp, springtime sky, add blue silk flowers, bows or ornaments for more tranquility.

Spend fewer greenbacks by personalizing handmade gifts with the feel-good aspects of color for everyone on your list. Make custom, colored gifts with specific loved ones in mind.

All colors have special life-enhancing benefits. Consider these ideas to get started:

n Red excites and energizes: Fill a red container with cookies to sweeten the most seasoned sourpuss.

n Orange inspires play and spontaneity: Make a small, whimsical orange-flower arrangement to brighten a workaholic's desk.

n Yellow commands confidence: Bead a yellow bracelet with special charms for timid children, friends or co-workers.

n Green lovingly nurtures: Present an IOU with the gift of quality time. Show up with a picnic basket and head off to sit beneath a wise, old tree.

n Blue clears the mind and is thought provoking: Gift your favorite water and sky picture (that you took yourself) in a frame.

n Indigo inspires insight: Make a gift card for an evening walk in the country to count shooting stars.

n Violet quiets and deepens inner peace: Sew an eye pillow in luxurious purple fabric filled with dried lavender.

Need more help delivering thoughtful gifts without breaking the bank? Wear blue to have clear ideas or orange to have fun in your creative process.

Information courtesy Jami Lin. You can find more free ideas about the unlimited benefits of color featured in Lin's award-winning book, "ColorAlchemy." Visit ColorAlchemy.com.