The nature of color

I'm among the fortunate. While many along the Des Moines River are flooded out of house and home, I remain high and dry. Dry enough, that is.

While our days are now sunny, gray filled the skies only days ago. Every view had grown gloomy with haze, leading me to seek out any measure of color that might lift my spirits.

What is is about sunshine, about color, that helps us transcend darker emotions?

Sun-drenched mornings, like this one, bring their own cheer. But on gloomy days, happiness takes more effort and I must look in the subtle places. Which is why I found myself, in the midst of a recent cloudy week, seeking the small bursts of floral color (seen above), still speckled with raindrops. And taking special delight in the brilliant yellow of the gold finch and red of the cardinal.

My relationship with color is, no doubt, as primal as my psychological dependence upon nature. Hmmm. Is my dependence psychological or spiritual? On days like today I'm not sure there's a difference.