Yellow- The Colour of Friendship

Yellow is the colour of smiles and sunshine. It is bright, cheerful and optimistic. Yellow symbolises intuition and wisdom; it is the natural symbol of enlightenment.

"How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun."

- Vincent Van Gogh

Yellow represents two important phenomena in human history: the life-giving sun above, and gold, the measure of earthly wealth, a tangible glory.

It has the highest reflectivity of all colours and appears to radiate outwards, to advance, in contrast with blue and grey, which seem to recede. That’s the reason objects in yellow grab our attention first. For the same reason, yellow is used as a colour to alert, such as in heavy machinery. It is the one hue that is brightest when fully saturated, whereas other colours darken.

Yellow is the characteristic colour of spring because spring colours are almost always yellow - daffodils, crocuses, primroses, forsythia, winter jasmine - and emerging leaves have a yellowish tinge to their green.

Used in the right way, yellow has the power to de-stress and rebalance us. Psychotherapist Lisa Skeffington says: ‘Holistically, yellow represents the healthy energy within our solar plexus, which helps us to balance stress levels. Visualising yellow can help to guide us back to homeostasis, or equilibrium.'

Yellow is carefree and confident. It’s not on the defensive. It acts as a shield against despair and feelings of humiliation. It’s eager for our attention like a happy child delighted to be at the centre of things. At times, its energy can be oppressive, but like its most famous ambassador – the lemon – there are few things it won’t enhance. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe loved yellow, considering it to be the colour of a gently hopeful attitude to life.

Yellow is the colour of friendship; it is the happiest of colours.