Signs of Spring: The Color Green

What is the first thing that occurs to our mind when we think of spring? The color GREEN, is it not? With spring we associate the fresh leaves of dandelion, the young grass, and the budding tree, bush, and vine.

Green is the most outstanding pigment on Mother Nature’s palette of exterior decorating. In the science of food values, that coloring is known as chlorophyll, the green substance of plant life which, when taken into the body, becomes the hemoglobin of the blood.

Green has a healing vibration. Hospitals often use a mild shade of green in patients’ rooms, and it is usually the color of choice in decorating large public buildings. For the over-worked mental worker, merely going out of doors and resting the eyes upon some far distant patch of green will soothe and relax the whole nervous system, especially the eyes.

Where is the housewife who does not instinctively insist upon having a green growing plant in the home? Even in winter, when flowers are scarce, a pot of ivy or geranium helps to satisfy the need for some visible contact with nature. A bit of green pottery or a cluster of leaves will enliven an otherwise drab room. Upon entering, the eye will be drawn immediately to that object, as if in search of a haven of peace from whence to gather renewed vigor.

Why does a wise Mother Nature surround us with such a pronounced color frequency? The answer is simple: so that eventually we might be inspired to see the invulnerable link between human life and the plant kingdom.

Alkaline foods

The normal medium in which the body performs its functions is alkaline. Alkalinity means health and immunity to disease. The alkaline chemicals neutralize and eliminate the acids formed by activity and by an excess of acid-producing foods. When, as a result of improper diet, overwork, lack of rest, lack of fresh air, etc., the body becomes acid, we are ill.

In order to keep the body in an alkaline condition, it’s important to eat foods that have an alkaline reaction. A few such foods are tomatoes, lettuce, celery, spinach, cucumbers, beets, eggplant, asparagus, carrots, leeks, chard, mushrooms, squash, soybeans, almonds, lentils, lima beans, buttermilk, oranges, peaches, pears, lemons, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, apples, grape juice, cantaloupe, watermelons, figs, and dates.

Because they contain the largest percentage of alkaline elements, the leaves and tender stems of vegetables should be included in our diet. The green vegetables do not contain much solid nourishment, but they are invaluable for their bulk and for the minerals, sodium, calcium, and iron—three of the most essential alkaline elements.

The green leaves of cabbage, for instance, contain four times as much iron as the colorless inner leaves. Romaine lettuce is preferable to the common “garden variety” of lettuce — practically every leaf is vibrant with color. Through eating an abundance of alkaline foods, either in bulk, reducing them to juices, or through the process of drying and powdering, we can go far toward restoring a condition of youth to prematurely aging body cells.

It is only by realizing our oneness with God that we can completely break our self-created imaginary limitations of accidents, failure, lack, disease, and death. We must never suggest to the mind the human limitations of sickness, old age, and death. Instead, constantly, inwardly tell it: “I am the Infinite, which has become the body. The body as a manifestation of Spirit is the ever-youthful Spirit.”

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From: “The Ever-Youthful Spirit,” by Paramhansa Yogananda; Praecepta lessons, 1934, 1935, by Paramhansa Yogananda