Calming Colors that Keep Us Vibrant
As I passed around my phone so everyone could catch a glimpse of next year's colors, the team spontaneously cheered. Next year's colors? "Many feel compelled to be connected around the clock because we are afraid we'll miss something important. There is a growing movement to step out and create 'quiet zones' to disconnect from technology and unwind, giving ourselves time to stop and be still. Color choices follow the same minimalistic, 'en plein air' theme, taking a cue from nature rather than being reinvented or mechanically manipulated. Soft, cool hues blend with subtle warm tones to create a soothing escape from teh everyday hustle and bustle." (Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone Color Institute)
There is a corporate chuckle as I read the psychology behind the color choices, and our Ruhamah staff exhale a sense of shared resonance. While the world at large is needing quiet white space from the flurry and drive, temptations and demands of technology, the color choices also signal a much needed direction to all of us in Ruhamah Designs. We acknowledge our need of the physical reminder of color, to retreat from time to time from the agony and pathos of our girls, to breathe deeply and re-calibrate.
Ruhamah Designs isn't just a business. It's so much more. Our employees aren't the usual segment of the population with the average set of hang-ups and issues that we all face. Our girls exhibit brokenness that defies mending, insecurities that play like shadows on their faces at work, fears that paralyze as they strive to meet quotas, disproportionate rage that bubbles to the surface during ordinary interactions with supervisors and co-workers, and unchecked tears that course down their cheeks as they hammer out earrings. They each have personal stories that we can only imagine; each carry pain we can never fully understand.
In Ruhamah, we see a range of emotions that mirror our own, but are a thousand times stronger, a thousand times more intense. Sometimes the play of emotion is ferocious, sometimes debilitating and always it is exhausting, for the girl, and for those around her.
So, here we all were, stepping back from the dramas at our workshops, and making time in our hectic schedules for rest at a Catholic retreat center.
We needed to share the stories of the girls we serve, process the pain of the lives we encounter every day, and brainstorm solutions to the complex issues we face a the work place. We needed to share our moments of baffling hopelessness in the face of the girl's anguish, the gifts of counsel, unheeded, the warnings of destructive behavior, sadly ignored, the patterns of self-destruction that we saw, but could not stop.
We needed to step back and problem solve together, not isolated, independent bodies spread apart by thousands of miles, but together, as one united group of people who pray, long for and hope for one great dream, for our girl's wholeness.
We needed to breathe deeply and remember afresh how to care for ourselves, our bodies, minds, and souls.
So, we gave ourselves time to connect with each other and our Creator. We gave ourselves the chance to have fun, to shop in the wonderful city of Bangalore. We purchased saris and fancy salwars, block printed fabric and special sweets to take back home. We dreamed about the future of Ruhamah over cups of really good coffee.
It was a short week together, but long enough to reaffirm that our strength comes from our Creator and Sustainer and to revel and refuel in His love. We returned from the press of this world for a short while, both fr ourselves and for the girls we sere, so that we
There is a corporate chuckle as I read the psychology behind the color choices, and our Ruhamah staff exhale a sense of shared resonance. While the world at large is needing quiet white space from the flurry and drive, temptations and demands of technology, the color choices also signal a much needed direction to all of us in Ruhamah Designs. We acknowledge our need of the physical reminder of color, to retreat from time to time from the agony and pathos of our girls, to breathe deeply and re-calibrate.
Ruhamah Designs isn't just a business. It's so much more. Our employees aren't the usual segment of the population with the average set of hang-ups and issues that we all face. Our girls exhibit brokenness that defies mending, insecurities that play like shadows on their faces at work, fears that paralyze as they strive to meet quotas, disproportionate rage that bubbles to the surface during ordinary interactions with supervisors and co-workers, and unchecked tears that course down their cheeks as they hammer out earrings. They each have personal stories that we can only imagine; each carry pain we can never fully understand.
In Ruhamah, we see a range of emotions that mirror our own, but are a thousand times stronger, a thousand times more intense. Sometimes the play of emotion is ferocious, sometimes debilitating and always it is exhausting, for the girl, and for those around her.
So, here we all were, stepping back from the dramas at our workshops, and making time in our hectic schedules for rest at a Catholic retreat center.
We needed to share the stories of the girls we serve, process the pain of the lives we encounter every day, and brainstorm solutions to the complex issues we face a the work place. We needed to share our moments of baffling hopelessness in the face of the girl's anguish, the gifts of counsel, unheeded, the warnings of destructive behavior, sadly ignored, the patterns of self-destruction that we saw, but could not stop.
We needed to step back and problem solve together, not isolated, independent bodies spread apart by thousands of miles, but together, as one united group of people who pray, long for and hope for one great dream, for our girl's wholeness.
We needed to breathe deeply and remember afresh how to care for ourselves, our bodies, minds, and souls.
So, we gave ourselves time to connect with each other and our Creator. We gave ourselves the chance to have fun, to shop in the wonderful city of Bangalore. We purchased saris and fancy salwars, block printed fabric and special sweets to take back home. We dreamed about the future of Ruhamah over cups of really good coffee.
It was a short week together, but long enough to reaffirm that our strength comes from our Creator and Sustainer and to revel and refuel in His love. We returned from the press of this world for a short while, both fr ourselves and for the girls we sere, so that we
By Mala Malstead
Co-founder, Ruhamah Designs
Co-founder, Ruhamah Designs
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