PURPLE HAIR

Purple hair. Yes, purple hair not purple rain.

So why a post about purple hair?

Well, let me tell you a story.

Some years ago, one of the staff walked in Monday morning, sporting a sharp, new curly bob. Not remarkable in itself, except that the Friday before she had long, long straight hair, so this was an amazing change.

When I spoke to the therapist on staff, she said it was her experience that people often signalled an upcoming change by changes in their physical appearance. It was almost  as if the body knew before the mind acknowledged it.

In the case of the hair cut, the woman involved left her cheating husband about 6 weeks later.

After that, I began to pay more attention to what changes people were making and what that meant for future decisions.

A few weeks later I met a friend for lunch. He was a closeted gay man who always wore a beard. That day I almost did not recognize him. The beard was gone. I said “are you ready to some out now?” “Yes”, he said, “I am tired of  hiding”.

Which got me thinking about how sometimes there is a part of us that knows a decision must be made and pushes us to do it.

It can be a change in appearance or something else.

I worked for the government for a number of years and  woke up every morning feeling nauseous. I just assumed it was because I wasn’t a fan of mornings.

Then, I quit my government job and started at a new place. The first morning of work, I work up feeling fine. I finally realized my body had been telling me to quit that government job. I’ve never had the problem since. And I pay more attention to those types of cues.

So, when you think about your life, do you remember times when your body was ahead of your mind in knowing what decisions needed to be made?

Are you in that place right now?

If you are and you are feeling stuck, give me a call.

The woman with the purple hair at the top of the post: she ended up quitting her unsatisfying job and moving on to university to pursue her dreams.

And just for fun, here I am with my latest hair colour, I’ll leave it up to you to decide what decision I am making.