Oranges-Luscious Mood-lifters from my Terrace

Oranges-Psychology, Physiology and a Poem

My spiky head dipped in orange bower

This poem deals with my experience of bringing an orange bonsai home and its impact on my mood swings. As someone suffering from autoimmune conditions which are associated with serious debilitation and restrictions orange as plant, colour has come to my rescue more often than not.

Springtime earthly sun
this place tangy, fresh, inviting
ambrosial white flowers
flushed with ending rays
I share with bees and birds

if you see me at sundown
a few suns canned
my spiky head dipped into an

orange bower
bathing in luscious clementine
splashes — 
the distant sky ending in acidic exuberance
leaving behind traces of halogen-bright rind
I don’t tell you my mind-pockets carry joy

if you see me in the light of the
rising morn’
holding an orange in my palm
my olfactory nerves inebriated
with acerbic scent, warm with hope
you may think from a distance
my hands are making fire

in my kitchen
tender peels scrapped, head squeezed
fountains of juice
filling my senses
fish, mousse, sauce
zesty inside-earth ebullient
I chose my tangerine the way I pick
on my mood

I bend my fingers into the
orange plush to gouge out carpels
for each one of you —
with an orange by your side you are
never alone

little things and not
they are oranges from my kitchen garden

“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions,” the artist Pablo Picasso.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/242279-colors-like-features-follow-the-changes-of-the-emotions

My relationship with colours changed after I fell ill with a chronic illness.
Shifting from grey, ash, beige and other dull colours my eyes caught fancy of the bright and evocative ones.

I felt it first hand when I bought an orange bonsai home, after nurturing many colourful flowers.
Every time I will walk out in my terrace garden (I am a caregiver to a small green patch) I am filled with warmth, energy and exuberance, all that I struggle with right now.

It is strange that ‘orange’ makes the cut for me in a space where I grow beautiful pastel shades of pansies, begonias, petunias.

I often bring them inside to cook my fish, sauce or salad, the aroma not leaving my kitchen even after the meal is prepared. A dash of orange on my dining table warms up my space.
I love spending time with inviting white fragrant flowers of my orange bonsai which are home to butterflies, bees , birds and sitting in my little green patch devouring the bright fruits under the orange streaks of the setting sky often turns my listless mundane days into something meaningful.
A lot of my writing stems from these inspiring moments.

Psychology says our brains associate certain colours with specific emotional triggers based on evolutionary survival instincts, in a way our eyes absorb, process and reflect light from objects.
They impact our mood in the ways some wavelengths are absorbed by our retinal cone and are translated into colours we see.

After my experience with this plant I found new interest to understand how colour influences our mood and thus went fishing for more information on the same.
That search led me to some surprising details on how colour impacts our wellbeing.

Studies suggest this colour exudes energy warmth and positivity, the reason the colour is used by interior and product designers to achieve the desired impact.

I have used colour as therapy indulging in photography, painting as a way to heal and find joy.
And before I leave, Oranges serve as a good fix of vitamin C much needed for boosting our immunity.
Should we learn how to package goods from nature…..

For more of my musing: https://nefelibata.in/2025/03/25/say-bye-to-sugar-hello-to-freedom/
https://nefelibata.in/2025/03/10/bugs-now-guaranteed-be-damned/

Connect:https://substack.com/@monoreena29mocra?utm_source=user-menu

#Autoimmune disorder

#mood

#Nature

#orange

#psychology