How Synesthesia Shapes Creativity, Intuition, and Relationships | RR355
In this episode of Relationships Rule, I had the pleasure of speaking with intuitive artist and spiritual teacher Heather Eck about seeing people and relationships in a completely different way.
Heather experiences the world through synesthesia, a condition where senses overlap. In her case, people, emotions, and experiences appear as color. What began as a unique way of perceiving the world eventually became the foundation for her work as an artist and guide helping others reconnect with their intuition.
During our conversation, Heather shared how color can reveal emotional patterns, why intuition often speaks before logic does, and how paying attention to subtle signals can deepen our relationships. We also talked about her journey from a successful corporate HR career into the creative and spiritual work she now does helping people gain clarity and healing through color and art.
What I found especially fascinating was how Heather uses color as a language for understanding people. It reminded me that strong relationships are built not only on what we say, but also on how deeply we listen and how present we are with one another.
This conversation invites us to slow down, trust our intuition a little more, and become more aware of the energy we bring into our relationships.
Key Takeaways
- Synesthesia creates a different lens for understanding people - Heather experiences people, emotions, and environments through color, giving her a unique way of sensing energy and emotional patterns.
- Intuition often speaks before logic - Many decisions cannot be solved through analysis alone. Learning to notice body signals and intuitive cues can bring clarity.
- Color can reveal emotional patterns - The colors people are drawn to or avoid may reflect underlying emotions or experiences.
- Creative expression can be a path to healing - Art can help people process emotions, reconnect with themselves, and move through difficult experiences.
- Stronger relationships come from deeper awareness - Paying attention to subtle emotional signals can help us understand others and connect more authentically.
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Transcript
Heather, have you ever wondered if there's more to
Janice Porter:understanding people than what we hear or see on the surface?
Janice Porter:Well, today's conversation invites us to look at
Janice Porter:relationships in a completely different way. My guest, Heather
Janice Porter:Eck experiences the world primarily through color, but
Janice Porter:we'll find out more as we go along. As an intuitive artist
Janice Porter:with synesthesia, she interprets people, emotions and energy
Janice Porter:through color and translates those experiences into art that
Janice Porter:supports healing and connection. And in this episode, we explore
Janice Porter:how intuition, creativity and awareness can help us better
Janice Porter:understand ourselves and the people around us. So welcome to
Janice Porter:the show, Heather,
Heather Eck:thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to
Heather Eck:see you.
Janice Porter:Yes, I'm excited to be to learn more about you
Janice Porter:and the work that you do. And I think in I did ask you this
Janice Porter:ahead of time that I think my listeners probably are not
Janice Porter:familiar most of them with synesthesia, which I wasn't. And
Janice Porter:I wondered if you explain that to us what it is and how it
Janice Porter:shows up in your everyday life?
Heather Eck:Yeah, of course. So if you are familiar with this
Heather Eck:movie called Ratatouille, it's a Pixar movie that came out a few
Heather Eck:years ago about the little rat that likes to cook. There's a
Heather Eck:scene. It's one of my favorites.
Janice Porter:I haven't, I don't think I actually saw that
Janice Porter:movie, but it was funny that you mentioned that movie, because my
Janice Porter:nephew, we always think he looks like the chef,
Heather Eck:like the chef, yeah, yeah. So anyway,
Janice Porter:yeah, right. I'm gonna watch it now. Okay, you'll
Janice Porter:love it. The little rat, okay,
Heather Eck:Remy, the little rat. He is. There's a scene
Heather Eck:where he is in like a black screen, and he's holding a
Heather Eck:strawberry and a piece of cheese, and he takes a bite, and
Heather Eck:then behind him, on screen, you see colorful swirls, and then he
Heather Eck:takes a bite of the cheese, and you see colorful swirls. And
Heather Eck:that is, I think, a perfect visual of what happens in a
Heather Eck:synesthetes mind, depending on what form of synesthesia they
Heather Eck:have. But it's essentially where your brain's signals sort of
Heather Eck:cross. And so for me, if I taste something or smell something or
Heather Eck:hear music or meet somebody, I will see their energy in my mind
Heather Eck:as a shape or color or even a choreography. And there are over
Heather Eck:80 different forms of synesthesia. And so it can be
Heather Eck:things like you might the days of the week as colors or music
Heather Eck:as color, or I have something called Mirror touch pain, which
Heather Eck:is essentially, if I see that somebody's in pain, or I think
Heather Eck:about their pain, I'll get pain that rakes down the backs of my
Heather Eck:legs. And it's just that I'm sort of interpreting their pain
Heather Eck:through a physical sensation and and that happens to me a lot
Heather Eck:with people. When I meet them, I feel in my body what is
Heather Eck:happening with them energetically. Wow.
Janice Porter:And I did do a little bit of research on it,
Janice Porter:and and i i will say here, that what I read says synesthesia
Janice Porter:isn't a disease or disorder. It won't harm your health, and it
Janice Porter:doesn't mean you're mentally ill. Some studies suggest people
Janice Porter:who have it may do better on memory and intelligence tests
Janice Porter:than those who don't. And while it may seem easy to make up,
Janice Porter:there's proof that it's a real condition. And I'm and I'm I'm
Janice Porter:guessing that it's kind of like you said it, that your five
Janice Porter:senses, they get mixed up, or they're this. The synapses
Janice Porter:aren't, aren't perfectly separated or something, right?
Janice Porter:Yeah, yeah. And very fascinating. I'm going to say
Janice Porter:this now before we get into talking about more about what
Janice Porter:you do. But I remember, and I don't know if this is a form of
Janice Porter:it or this, was it an experience of that or not. But it sounds to
Janice Porter:me like it was. I once had a friend who was or an
Janice Porter:acquaintance who was a, I guess, a psychic. She she did readings
Janice Porter:for people, and I loved what she did. And my girlfriend lost her
Janice Porter:son, and she was seeking out things, and she went to hear or
Janice Porter:went to have us a reading with this woman and the woman before
Janice Porter:she went to visit my friend, she had talked to me, and she knew a
Janice Porter:little bit about that fact that my friend had lost her son. He
Janice Porter:was a basketball player and a hero in the school, and it was a
Janice Porter:very sad accident on grad night, he got hit by a bus, blah, blah,
Janice Porter:blah, but, and in fact, it's 20 years ago this month, so it's
Janice Porter:kind of this this year, and my the. A psychic said to me
Janice Porter:something. She asked me a question. She said I got this
Janice Porter:very horrific smell when I started to do a little bit of,
Janice Porter:you know, focus on this person. And it turns out, when she told
Janice Porter:my friend that it made sense, because her son had the worst
Janice Porter:smelling running shoes in his Lacher like all the time now, is
Janice Porter:that a sense of of synesthesia?
Heather Eck:Oh, that's a really great question. So I mean, yeah,
Heather Eck:yeah, yeah, it's a great question. I'm so sorry for your
Heather Eck:friends. Yeah, and
Janice Porter:it was, as I said, 20 years ago, but yeah,
Janice Porter:still.
Heather Eck:It's still there. Yeah. So there are all of us
Heather Eck:have spiritual gifts. We all come into this life with those.
Heather Eck:And there are what are called the Claires. And so you have
Heather Eck:Claire audience, which is clear here, hearing, or Claire
Heather Eck:cognizance, clear knowing. There's one called Clear aliens,
Heather Eck:which is about smell. And so I have a little bit of that too,
Heather Eck:where you can sort of pick up on somewhat like, for example, I
Heather Eck:can smell the New York City subway through a TV show like I
Heather Eck:can smell that you talk about something I can smell. If I
Heather Eck:think about my grandfather, I might smell his pipe, so that
Heather Eck:that's a form of Claire. And I think my strongest Claire is
Heather Eck:Claire sentience, which is clear feeling. And I think that's sort
Heather Eck:of where I pick up on somebody energetically through their
Heather Eck:emotional body, and then it comes through to me, or it sort
Heather Eck:of expresses itself in my mind, through color, through shape or
Heather Eck:through form. But a lot of times I interviewed somebody today who
Heather Eck:had also lost his daughter a number of years ago, and the
Heather Eck:whole time I was talking to him, I just felt like I was going to
Heather Eck:cry. I kept wiping my eyes, and I think it was just that his
Heather Eck:energy is still so immersed in that grief space that it's
Heather Eck:pervasive, and so I feel it. So I think it's a form. I think
Heather Eck:it's a, probably a Claire, but it, if she saw it, it probably
Heather Eck:also is a form of some kind of synesthesia too.
Janice Porter:Yeah, interesting. So when did you
Janice Porter:first realize that you were experiencing people and
Janice Porter:situations through your senses that way.
Heather Eck:Honestly, I think that I have been this way since
Heather Eck:I was a little kid, and I just didn't know what it was called.
Heather Eck:I did not know that it was called synesthesia until I was
Heather Eck:in my early 40s, and I saw another artist online who said,
Heather Eck:I have sound to color synesthesia. And she was
Heather Eck:painting songs, and I went, Oh, wait a second. I thought that
Heather Eck:everybody had that. I didn't know that it wasn't a thing that
Heather Eck:everybody had. And so I would lay when I was a little kid, you
Heather Eck:know, like when you walk into a room and you sort of know what's
Heather Eck:happening with the people. You get a feel for five attention
Heather Eck:here, you know, or something like that. So that was always
Heather Eck:with me. And then I would lay in my room and I would draw or
Heather Eck:paint or what have you, but I would draw the music that I was
Heather Eck:listening to. And I specifically remember there was this movie
Heather Eck:that came out in the late 90s called the piano, and I laid on
Heather Eck:the floor and drew what the music looked like. And so I
Heather Eck:think it's been with me for a long time.
Janice Porter:So then it's not genetic. It's not hereditary.
Heather Eck:You know, I asked my dad this because I think my
Heather Eck:dad is, you know, we all have spiritual gifts. I think my dad
Heather Eck:has them. He just hasn't tapped into them. But I asked him one
Heather Eck:time. I'm like, did you when you tasted that, Dad? Did you see
Heather Eck:it? Yeah, because I'll taste something and I'll go, oh, it
Heather Eck:goes like this up, and then, you know, in my mind, it has like a
Heather Eck:shape. And so I was like, did that? What does that look like
Heather Eck:to you? I'm like, I think he's got it too. He just doesn't
Heather Eck:know,
Janice Porter:interesting. No, we don't really know if it's
Janice Porter:hereditary. Then, in your
Heather Eck:case, I don't know, yeah, are you left handed? No,
Heather Eck:I'm right handed. But for a while, I did a lot of things
Heather Eck:left handed. I would like play pool left handed, and
Janice Porter:it says that it's more prevalent in left handed
Janice Porter:people in what? Yeah, no, yeah, I'm left handed, but don't see
Janice Porter:things in colors or in shapes or whatever, but anyway,
Janice Porter:fascinating. So all right, so how does synesthesia influence
Janice Porter:the way you understand people and the energy they bring into a
Janice Porter:relationship? How does it affect how you talk to people? What
Janice Porter:color Am I like? What are you seeing talking to me? Because
Janice Porter:that's what it makes me want to ask you,
Heather Eck:yeah, yeah. So I see yellow and green around
Janice Porter:you. I don't like those colors.
Heather Eck:I'm going to be really honest with you, I don't
Heather Eck:like those colors either, but they're not bad.
Janice Porter:That's hysterical. Those are my least
Janice Porter:favorite colors.
Heather Eck:I don't like yellow and green together. I can't
Heather Eck:stand it. I haven't needed it since I was a little kid. It's a
Heather Eck:weird thing. I just don't like the two of them together, like
Heather Eck:the lemon lime. I'm not a fan, but energetically, what they
Heather Eck:show me is that you dwell in your solar plexus and in your
Heather Eck:heart, and so those two colors reflect where you spend most of
Heather Eck:your time. Solar Plexus can be all about your sense of
Heather Eck:identity, how you want to show up and represent yourself to
Heather Eck:people, how you want people to see you, your sense of optimism,
Heather Eck:of joy, of self worth, of confidence, and also in your
Heather Eck:heart, which is all about your ability to love, accept,
Heather Eck:forgive, cherish, nourish your yourself and your heart. So
Heather Eck:green is all about self, love, acceptance and compassion.
Janice Porter:So interesting, though, because when I think of
Janice Porter:green, I think of envy. I think of jealousy, right, which is,
Janice Porter:yeah, traditional sort of, right,
Heather Eck:yeah, there's a there's so I sort of see the
Heather Eck:colors as connected to energy centers, if you think about
Heather Eck:chakras, yeah, that was my original understanding of them.
Heather Eck:Now I sort of align them more with like Biblical
Heather Eck:understanding, or even like a Levitical understanding, because
Heather Eck:I think of having how God created everything, and from
Heather Eck:that came color too. So now I associate it more that way. So
Heather Eck:green is a color of nature. It's a color of of nourishment, of
Heather Eck:growth, of flourishing.
Janice Porter:And my last name was my maid, Greenfield. No
Janice Porter:kidding. How funny. Really interesting. Okay, so you spent
Janice Porter:years working in the corporate world. How many of us didn't
Janice Porter:before becoming a full time intuitive artist? So what was
Janice Porter:the turning point that led you to trust that path?
Heather Eck:It did not happen overnight. It was a long road i
Heather Eck:i was like a certification chaser. You know, I was looking
Heather Eck:for something. I couldn't find it. I did everything from
Heather Eck:Pilates to HR to my coaching certification too. I mean, I
Heather Eck:dabbled in everything I and I think it was because I was
Heather Eck:seeking something. And I had always been a very spiritual
Heather Eck:person, and I was working with a spiritual teacher, and I'd kind
Heather Eck:of reached this point in my career and in my life where I
Heather Eck:really hated every, every single part of it, you know, like I was
Heather Eck:exhausted. I remember specifically we drove down to
Heather Eck:Disney for vacation, and I borrowed one of those Wi Fi
Heather Eck:things from it, and I worked the entire drive down like I was
Heather Eck:just torn up. And I went to see my spiritual teacher, and she
Heather Eck:said, What were you like as a kid? Because your gifts show up
Heather Eck:when you're a kid. And that was very true for me, that creative
Heather Eck:expression was pervasive for me when I was younger. And the
Heather Eck:instant that she said creative expression. It was like a light
Heather Eck:bulb went off in my mind, and I started painting. And I was
Heather Eck:painting in the morning before work, and painting for people,
Heather Eck:you know, at night, doing spirit portraits and stuff. And I
Heather Eck:started to get to this point where I thought I no amount of
Heather Eck:time off is going to make me feel better. And and I wanted to
Heather Eck:leave, but I didn't know how, and on one day, I received a
Heather Eck:promotion and an enormous raise, and I received my very first art
Heather Eck:show on the exact same day. And I was so mad. I was so irritated
Heather Eck:by that, because I Yeah, because I felt like I felt like I was
Heather Eck:getting mixed signals from the universe about what to do. I
Heather Eck:felt like I felt like I was mad at God, honestly, because I was
Heather Eck:like, Well, you told me to do this art thing, and then you
Heather Eck:give me the more money than I've ever seen in my life. Like, what
Heather Eck:are what am I supposed to do here? But I think that what I
Heather Eck:was doing was sending mixed signals, because I was trying to
Heather Eck:straddle both worlds, and that does not work. And so, long
Heather Eck:story short, I had this very challenging manager, and he had
Heather Eck:kind of pushed me to the edge one day, and I said, That's it.
Heather Eck:I'm done. And I decided I would resign. And I went in to tell
Heather Eck:him that I was planning on resigning, but that I would work
Heather Eck:through the rest of the year. And as soon as I said, I'm
Heather Eck:giving you my notice, he was like, Let's go tell your team.
Heather Eck:And within two weeks, I was I was done. And honestly, it was
Heather Eck:as though I had never had any work at all there. Within that
Heather Eck:two weeks time, it was like projects just obliterate, just
Heather Eck:like disappeared. And I think that that was God's way of
Heather Eck:saying, like you're done. Because had I decided to stay
Heather Eck:and work for another couple of months, I don't think I ever
Heather Eck:would have left. I think I'd still be there.
Janice Porter:Oh, I was thinking that it showed your
Janice Porter:boss's true colors, and how you could maybe never have worked
Janice Porter:for him much longer. Younger than the two weeks. Yeah, been
Heather Eck:painful. It would have been painful, yeah?
Janice Porter:But, I mean, we live in that world that when we
Janice Porter:don't know anything better, and we're fearful of what's out
Janice Porter:there, because especially when you've got that good money
Janice Porter:hanging over your head. So I can see that being part of the the
Janice Porter:issue as well. But for sure, yeah, so when you went out on
Janice Porter:your own, you had your first art show ready to get ready for then
Janice Porter:right away,
Heather Eck:I had had a couple of art shows. I felt like I had
Heather Eck:that first art show that I did. I did a few while I was still
Heather Eck:working, and then afterwards, kind of started to dig into,
Heather Eck:well, now what do I do? How do I find more work? How do I show my
Heather Eck:work and then, how do I, you know, build a business out of
Heather Eck:this too?
Janice Porter:Did did you have any one thing that helped that,
Janice Porter:you know, catapulted things for you?
Heather Eck:Honestly, what's really funny is when I look back
Heather Eck:at the timing of everything. I think it's so divine, because I
Heather Eck:left in September 2019 and then covid happened in March 2020 and
Heather Eck:my son was in second grade at the time, and so I was able to
Heather Eck:be home with him, running my business while helping support
Heather Eck:him, which was such a blessing, because I don't know that I
Heather Eck:could have done that corporate HR job and school at the same
Heather Eck:time. But I also think during that time, a lot of people, you
Heather Eck:know, they looked around in their lives, in their homes and
Heather Eck:their offices, and they were like, I need to change things up
Heather Eck:here. So I sold more art in that year, that last year of covid,
Heather Eck:than I had ever sold before. I think for that reason too. So
Heather Eck:that was really nice.
Janice Porter:So, so is your primary work now your artwork,
Janice Porter:or is it using art to help? Because I know you help high
Janice Porter:achieving women make the decision that they've been
Janice Porter:circling for months is what it says on here, on your LinkedIn
Janice Porter:profile and and you, you've registered the color mapping
Janice Porter:method. So do you teach art as well?
Heather Eck:I do. Yeah. Okay, yeah. So my day is really split
Heather Eck:between making art, because I like to make large, abstract
Heather Eck:pieces that sort of reflect the energy of what's happening in
Heather Eck:the world, or I'm, I'm, for the last couple of years have been
Heather Eck:really immersed in biblical study and in learning Hebrew,
Heather Eck:and really kind of tapping into this ancient wisdom and painting
Heather Eck:what I read, which is really exciting. And so I do that, and
Heather Eck:then work through, work on getting exhibitions and showing
Heather Eck:that work. And then also working with women, one on one through
Heather Eck:sort of creative I would call it like spiritual therapeutic art,
Heather Eck:because I look at where I was at that time, when I was in
Heather Eck:corporate and couldn't figure out how to get out of this place
Heather Eck:that I felt so miserable in, and art really started to bring me
Heather Eck:back to myself. And I meet a lot of women who they don't
Heather Eck:necessarily want to quit their jobs to become artists, but they
Heather Eck:do want to rediscover this part of themselves that they've lost
Heather Eck:sight of. And a lot of the people that I talk to have just
Heather Eck:lost this creative side of themselves. They just have sort
Heather Eck:of forgotten what it's like to play. And we learn so much about
Heather Eck:ourselves through art, whether we're journaling or writing or
Heather Eck:doodling. And so it's sort of a combination of art and coaching
Heather Eck:combined, where we'll sit down, I'll do a color reading for like
Heather Eck:I just did for you, and say, here's what I see, and here's
Heather Eck:what that might represent. And we use that as sort of a jumping
Heather Eck:off point. And then we'll say, well, let's explore that. Here's
Heather Eck:an art exercise, or hear a journal on this. And it's
Heather Eck:amazing what comes up when you just give yourself a few minutes
Heather Eck:of quiet and allow yourself to think and feel. And I just
Heather Eck:helped somebody the other day. She was like, I got this client.
Heather Eck:I want to break up with this client. And I'm, you know, here
Heather Eck:are the reasons why. I don't want to money. Of course, I
Heather Eck:don't want to make up with this client. And so we worked through
Heather Eck:and I had her do an art therapeutic art exercise, and at
Heather Eck:the end she goes, Why am I? I obviously want to fire this
Heather Eck:client, so I'm just going to do it. So she had enough. But
Heather Eck:sometimes I think it's the permission slip that you need.
Janice Porter:Well, well, I was, I was just thinking when
Janice Porter:you were talking about, in order to for you to help these people,
Janice Porter:these women who are going through, there has to be a trust
Janice Porter:there that happens for them to work with you. Does that come
Janice Porter:quickly because you're so intuitive, or are is most of
Janice Porter:your work referral based, but still, you're talking to people
Janice Porter:you don't know very well, perhaps at the beginning. So
Janice Porter:where do you see or how do you make that happen?
Heather Eck:Yeah, that's a great question. I think, I think
Heather Eck:there is a little bit of a longer runway, because it is.
Heather Eck:Yes, trust it. So. So it's sometimes I think about, like,
Heather Eck:going to see a psychic, right? You're like, yeah, I don't know
Heather Eck:this lady. She's going to tell me, yeah, some stuff about
Heather Eck:myself. I think that color is a really gentle way of exploring
Heather Eck:an aspect of yourself, right? Like, if I say, Oh, I see blue
Heather Eck:around you, and blue tells me that there's an aspect of your
Heather Eck:life that you have been unwilling to speak about or talk
Heather Eck:about, or a truth that you're withholding. Just by saying that
Heather Eck:to somebody, they go, Oh my gosh, you know, yeah. And they
Heather Eck:know, they know immediately. And I think, because, I think I
Heather Eck:credit a lot, a lot of my 20 plus years in HR and my coaching
Heather Eck:certification for being able to just hold space for somebody
Heather Eck:while they process something like that. And so I think after,
Heather Eck:you know, building that trust and sharing that information,
Heather Eck:there tends to be this instant sort of like, okay, yeah, let's
Janice Porter:do it. Let's they're comfortable. They're
Janice Porter:more comfortable quickly. Yeah, it's funny. I was on a
Janice Porter:networking, online networking thing this morning, and it was
Janice Porter:with some people I did not know. It was the first time I'd gone
Janice Porter:to this thing, and I was invited by a gentleman that I had
Janice Porter:interviewed on my podcast. And the people that were there were
Janice Porter:all very easy to talk to and very comfortable to share things
Janice Porter:with, very quickly. And because he had us do an exercise in
Janice Porter:breakout rooms about trust and about, I forget now what it was,
Janice Porter:but it was, can you build Yeah, about toxic people in your life,
Janice Porter:and can you actually build trust virtually quickly? And it was
Janice Porter:really interesting exercise, but I think the people in the room
Janice Porter:made the made the difference. So I don't always experience that
Janice Porter:All right, so
Janice Porter:I'm just looking okay. So your work often blends color
Janice Porter:intuition and spirituality, which I've heard you talk in all
Janice Porter:of that. How do these elements come together when you create a
Janice Porter:piece of art? Are you the only one that knows what that piece
Janice Porter:of art is or right?
Heather Eck:No, you know, what is so funny about my work is
Heather Eck:that I, you know, for a long time before I was thinking about
Heather Eck:trying to put together an exhibition of any kind, I went
Heather Eck:to France for two weeks at the beginning of January last year,
Heather Eck:and I came back and I thought, Oh my gosh. I just started to
Heather Eck:put together the thought around an exhibition, because it felt
Heather Eck:like I was building a collection of pieces that were all centered
Heather Eck:around a specific theme. Prior to that, I would just make a
Heather Eck:piece and note there would be no pieces that looked alike. They
Heather Eck:were all very different. And I used to say, Oh, these are just
Heather Eck:commissions for people I haven't met yet. And I had a
Heather Eck:photographer come over to take some pictures in the studio, and
Heather Eck:I was going to do one of those spin around things, and I pulled
Heather Eck:the piece, and I showed it to her, and she looked at it, and
Heather Eck:she instantly broke into tears. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And
Heather Eck:she goes, That's me. That's, I'm, that's my painting. And I
Heather Eck:have, I've had people cry when they've seen their pieces
Heather Eck:before, but I I've never had somebody go, oh, that's mine.
Janice Porter:That's and I did you shiver? Did you something
Janice Porter:physical happened to you?
Heather Eck:Yeah, yeah, because I think that it is. There's some
Heather Eck:aspect of your soul that recognizes you in the painting,
Heather Eck:whether that's through color or the symbol or what have you. I
Heather Eck:think that there's something it's like when you hear a song
Heather Eck:and you are moved by the strings or those chords that just give
Heather Eck:you the chills, and you're like, Oh, this is my song. I think
Heather Eck:that that happens with artwork. And I've had people, my one
Heather Eck:really dear friend, I had her over to the house, and I had all
Heather Eck:these pieces lined up on the wall, and hers was in was in
Heather Eck:there. And I said, um, your painting is over there. Do you
Heather Eck:think that you can find it? And she went and picked every single
Heather Eck:piece up, and she touched it, and she held it, and she and she
Heather Eck:skipped right over hers. And then, and she goes, I don't know
Heather Eck:which one is mine. And I was, I said, the one that you blatantly
Heather Eck:ignored. And we laughed about it, because at the core message
Heather Eck:of that painting was about reflection, and it was about
Heather Eck:seeing yourself as God sees you. And she was, at the time,
Heather Eck:unwilling to accept that part of herself, and so her spirit
Heather Eck:skipped there. Sure, so it that's an interesting thing. I
Heather Eck:think that there are times where I can explain, oh, well, this
Heather Eck:color represents that in this. And if you look at there's a
Heather Eck:symbol here, and that means this, which I can do. But I also
Heather Eck:think that there are something about pieces that you will pick
Heather Eck:up on if it's meant for you.
Janice Porter:Yeah, that's fast. Fascinating to me. Okay,
Janice Porter:many of my listeners are business professionals. How can
Janice Porter:being more aware of energy and intuition improve the way we
Janice Porter:build relationships at work?
Heather Eck:That is such a great question. I love that. So
Heather Eck:I think we intuitively know a lot more than we give ourselves
Heather Eck:credit for. And if you kind of like we talked about, just give
Heather Eck:yourself a minute before a meeting, before you walk into a
Heather Eck:room, to just sort of take a breath and ask yourself what
Heather Eck:sensations or feelings or temperatures or whatever that
Heather Eck:you feel in your body, because they are sending a signal to you
Heather Eck:about something. You know, when you say, like, Oh, I just got
Heather Eck:this gut feeling, or my gut wrenched or something that is
Heather Eck:really your intuition firing and telling you to pay close
Heather Eck:attention. And I ignored that for a really, really long time.
Heather Eck:And I think a lot of us do. It's like when you can give yourself
Heather Eck:space to feel your most of the time. You can navigate the world
Heather Eck:simply by how you feel about something, whether you are
Heather Eck:feeling expansive and excited and open, that seems to be a
Heather Eck:good thing to follow. It feels tight or restrictive, or you're
Heather Eck:like, Oh, I got a little bit of a twinge here. That's generally
Heather Eck:a sign to say, like, not so much.
Janice Porter:I think, I think that I feel, that's how I
Janice Porter:operate, I think, a lot of the time and and it may be that you
Janice Porter:can't do anything about it at the moment, you you know, if you
Janice Porter:feel like, Oh, my God, this is not where I should be, or
Janice Porter:whatever there's and it's too late to do that, but to change
Janice Porter:it, but it does color. It does color how you are in that
Janice Porter:situation. And, yeah, sometimes for me, that feels like I don't
Janice Porter:know what to say as easily or I'm, you know, I it just feels
Janice Porter:totally uncomfortable, yeah, and if I know that that this is
Janice Porter:where I should be, then I can be more open and more comfortable
Janice Porter:and have more fun doing it for sure.
Heather Eck:Yeah, I think that that is a skill that you can
Heather Eck:strengthen, or a muscle that you can strengthen,
Janice Porter:but, but you can't, you can't, you can't be
Janice Porter:more authentic, like that. See, like, well, authenticity, it's
Janice Porter:a, it's a, an absolute, I think, right, right? So, yeah, so if
Janice Porter:you're not being authentic, it's being led by those those
Janice Porter:feelings or those messages that you're getting that that says,
Janice Porter:No, this isn't right for you, but there's nothing you can do
Janice Porter:about it at the time, so you have to muddle through it.
Heather Eck:Yeah, I agree. I What? What just came up for me.
Heather Eck:Then when you said that, is that like, if you are spending all
Heather Eck:day sort of telling all these little lies to yourself about
Heather Eck:how you feel, then you're not being authentic, because there's
Heather Eck:a truth that's not being expressed, and a lot of times
Heather Eck:that you are blocking the truth of what your body, your spirit,
Heather Eck:is trying to convey to you, and and that causes pain, and it
Heather Eck:causes anxiety and it causes dis ease in the body when you're not
Heather Eck:being authentic.
Janice Porter:Yeah, beautiful. It's true. Have you ever had a
Janice Porter:moment where the colors that you sensed about a person revealed
Janice Porter:something surprising or meaningful about them? I'm sure
Janice Porter:you have many of those, but I'm
Heather Eck:Yeah, there was one story that I always go back to
Heather Eck:with this woman that I met who I felt blue all around her. I
Heather Eck:mentioned the color blue before. We're just talking about truth,
Heather Eck:which I think if we go back to that, how can you use energy and
Heather Eck:intuition at work? You can use color to help support you at
Heather Eck:work, too. In relationships, if you know you're going into a
Heather Eck:room with somebody who really grates on your nerves and you
Heather Eck:get stressed or anxious going in, you can wear blue for
Heather Eck:yourself and for that other person, because it will
Heather Eck:instantly soothe and calm them down. Lowers the blood pressure
Heather Eck:and it it soothes the energy of the space, so you can always
Heather Eck:lean on color for certain situations or relationships if
Heather Eck:you need a little bit of extra support there.
Janice Porter:So over the years, I mean, I'm sure I've
Janice Porter:taken at least four or five different personality type
Janice Porter:quizzes or whatever. And, you know, between disc and and the
Janice Porter:color theory one and, and there's some, there's a whole
Janice Porter:bunch of them. I can't even remember, but they all have
Janice Porter:colors associated most of them have colors associated with
Janice Porter:them. And like I think of the color one. In particular,
Janice Porter:because I remember, I was in corporate at the time, and we I
Janice Porter:was in a training department, and we were customer trainers
Janice Porter:that would go to clients, and we would do training. And most of
Janice Porter:us, when this person came in to do the training with us, most of
Janice Porter:us were the same color, because we're all trainers, right,
Janice Porter:right? But, but I think of how instilled in me some of those
Janice Porter:basic colors are when you think of and tell me how different it
Janice Porter:really is in your world of synesthesia. So red is power.
Janice Porter:Red is extrovert. Red is, you know, they're stand up and
Janice Porter:they'll speak in front of a room. Blue is the the the, I
Janice Porter:think they've got some heartfelt in them. They're they're
Janice Porter:emotion, they're nurturers. And those kind of people, green are
Janice Porter:the analysts and the engineers and the the the project over
Janice Porter:people, kind of people. And the fourth color, I think, was
Janice Porter:orange in this particular thing. And orange, I can't remember,
Janice Porter:because it's so removed from me, I think. But there's so so in
Janice Porter:other words, I have sort of mental thoughts around those
Janice Porter:colors for the different personality types is that
Janice Porter:completely like, washed away and completely different in your
Janice Porter:world,
Heather Eck:there are some similarities there. And I think
Heather Eck:because if you, if you look at, like, Color Psychology, there's
Heather Eck:and color theory, I think that there's a lot that overlaps
Heather Eck:there. So for example, the red is somebody who's being strong
Heather Eck:and powerful. Yes, that aligns very much with the root, which
Heather Eck:is all about strength, stability, financial, security
Heather Eck:and power. So that one feels really closely aligned. Blue, I
Heather Eck:would say, is, is a nurturing color in that. I think it
Heather Eck:supports calm, tranquility, peace. They're probably the
Heather Eck:peacekeepers. Trust, just trust, rust, authenticity, yeah. And if
Heather Eck:you look at like, different brand logos and things like
Heather Eck:that, you'll find, you know, American Express is blue,
Heather Eck:McDonald's is red and yellow, you know? So you look at the
Heather Eck:differences there, you can kind of start to think about why
Heather Eck:those colors become pervasive for people. Yeah, was the other
Heather Eck:color you mentioned. Were the green and orange, green
Heather Eck:engineers and the So, green analysts, yeah, the analysts,
Heather Eck:yeah. So I would say that's more of a gray to me, because those
Heather Eck:folks tend to be more neutral in in decision making, and they
Heather Eck:tend to be the people who don't really want to rock the boat,
Heather Eck:but sort of stick to the facts. It's a little bit of a black,
Heather Eck:which is about protection, sophistication and and privacy,
Heather Eck:and then White, which is all about, like, clarity, clear
Heather Eck:slate. So like bringing those two together, and then orange is
Heather Eck:typically a color of strong emotion, expression,
Heather Eck:relationships, sexuality, creativity. So, yeah,
Janice Porter:yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah. So for someone who
Janice Porter:feels disconnected from their intuition. What are some simple
Janice Porter:ways that they can become more in tune with intuition?
Heather Eck:This is going to sound really simple, but just
Heather Eck:put the phone away for a little bit. Get away from a screen and
Heather Eck:be alone with your thoughts for a little bit, and just allow
Heather Eck:yourself to be to just allow yourself to listen to what's
Heather Eck:going on inside your brain, and not saying you have to respond
Heather Eck:to it, and certainly, please don't judge it, but just allow
Heather Eck:those thoughts to become smoother, clearer, so you can
Heather Eck:hear what's going on for you. And then I think, start to
Heather Eck:practice it. And I say, practice, not test it. But like,
Heather Eck:practice it. Where you can say, My son and I went through a
Heather Eck:drive through a couple of weeks ago, and he was going to get, I
Heather Eck:think it was like, socks or something. And I said, Larry,
Heather Eck:let's play. What color socks are you going to get today? And he
Heather Eck:said, I'm going to get blue. And I was like, I think you're going
Heather Eck:to get blue too. And then when we opened the box, he had blue
Heather Eck:socks. And I was like, awesome. So it's just sort of like
Heather Eck:learning to play and trust yourself to kind of dig into
Heather Eck:something. You could say, like, I wonder what song's going to
Heather Eck:come on next, or I wonder who's going to call me today, and just
Heather Eck:sort of ask, like, start to tune in a little bit more. Meditation
Heather Eck:is always a way to just calm the mind so you can hear more
Heather Eck:clearly. And then, of course, I'm a big fan of journaling. If
Heather Eck:you can just take, you know, five minutes a day, and just
Heather Eck:even if you're not writing words, just scribble, but
Heather Eck:thematically, move those thoughts out onto paper, and
Heather Eck:that'll help to clear the clutter a little bit.
Janice Porter:Those are all good ideas, amazing. Interesting
Janice Porter:last question on this, if there's one insight you hope
Janice Porter:listeners take away about understanding people
Janice Porter:differently, what would that be?
Heather Eck:Oh my gosh. I think, I think for me, I always
Heather Eck:try to approach people with compassion. And I think that
Heather Eck:everybody's going through something. You know, every
Heather Eck:people will ask, Is my aura black? Do you see? Is my or and
Heather Eck:I'm like, No, it's not like, you're fine. Everything's okay.
Heather Eck:But I think that we're all going through something, every single
Heather Eck:one of us, and and we reflect what we're going through in the
Heather Eck:conversations we have in the colors that we choose to wear,
Heather Eck:in the way that we respond to people. And so I'd say, just be
Heather Eck:compassionate with yourself, and give yourself grace, and then be
Heather Eck:compassionate with other people, because everybody's going
Heather Eck:through something
Janice Porter:so true, especially today in this world,
Janice Porter:my granddaughter, who's six and a half, she has everything had
Janice Porter:to be purple for like, the first five years, and even
Janice Porter:everything's purple. And she loves purple. And just the other
Janice Porter:day, she said to me, I think I like yellow, grandma, and I'm
Janice Porter:like yellow that doesn't match with anything purple. What do
Janice Porter:you mean? She said, I think yellow is my new favorite color,
Janice Porter:and purple second. And she threw me for a loop, yeah. Oh, I love
Janice Porter:it, I know, but we haven't got so that we have to buy
Janice Porter:everything yellow yet, but we'll see.
Heather Eck:Well, what's really fun about that is so purple is
Heather Eck:the color of the crown Energy Center, which is about our
Heather Eck:connection to God, to our higher selves and the divine. And so a
Heather Eck:lot of times that was my favorite color when I was a kid,
Heather Eck:too, because we come in and we're still connected, you know,
Heather Eck:we're still we still have all that intuition. It's still
Heather Eck:there. We haven't, we haven't pushed it away.
Janice Porter:And I said she was an old soul, so that
Janice Porter:probably Yeah, probably
Heather Eck:Yeah, and yellow and purple are complementary, so
Heather Eck:they go together really well, and it's kind of cool.
Janice Porter:But I don't like yellow. See, we went through
Janice Porter:that at the beginning. Now that I think about it, yeah, yeah.
Janice Porter:Just thought that was interesting. And I do notice
Janice Porter:silly things like that. It's kind of fun, so I'll keep it on
Janice Porter:what happens with the yellow please do Yeah, so I could go on
Janice Porter:and on with this stuff. It's really fascinating to me and
Janice Porter:interesting. Let me ask you one last question about your work,
Janice Porter:though. Who, who do you love to work with? You know, if my
Janice Porter:listeners are intrigued by the work that you do, how can they
Janice Porter:find you and who do you you know, who is your target
Janice Porter:audience? Because, I mean, we're in business, we need to know
Janice Porter:these things too.
Heather Eck:Yeah. So you can find me online, on Instagram. I
Heather Eck:met Heather Eric artist, and if you actually, if you are
Heather Eck:interested in learning more, you can DM me the word color, and
Heather Eck:I'll know that you heard me on your show.
Janice Porter:And Canadian or American? No, just kidding. Oh,
Janice Porter:great question,
Heather Eck:C, O, L, O, R, however you want to spell it,
Heather Eck:yeah, okay.
Heather Eck:Say, I love to work with people who are me five years ago.
Heather Eck:They're, they're the ones who are, you know, sitting on the on
Heather Eck:the on the they're sitting at the crossroads of trying to
Heather Eck:figure out what is next for them, and they're a little bit
Heather Eck:stuck, or a lot of it stuck, and they just don't quite know.
Heather Eck:They've lost touch with their intuition. They know that
Heather Eck:there's something bigger and more purposeful for them, and
Heather Eck:they just haven't gotten there yet. And I think that's what the
Heather Eck:color reading can help you with, is helping you figure out what's
Heather Eck:keeping you stuck, and then working through this sort of
Heather Eck:spiritual, therapeutic art to help you uncover it.
Janice Porter:That's very cool. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.
Janice Porter:Fascinating. Looking at how seeing people about seeing
Janice Porter:people and relationships through a different lens your
Janice Porter:perspective reminds us that connection goes far beyond words
Janice Porter:and logic. Thanks for sharing your experiences and helping us
Janice Porter:think about intuition, creativity and relationships in
Janice Porter:a different way. For those listening, be sure to connect
Janice Porter:with Heather and explore her work to learn more about the
Janice Porter:power of color and intuition. And as I started to I think it's
Janice Porter:interesting to look into the power and the the meaning behind
Janice Porter:synesthesia, because I think it's definitely a gift, and I
Janice Porter:think it's it's a very interesting thing to explore,
Janice Porter:and I will be doing that a little bit further. So thank you
Janice Porter:again, Heather, for your time and for your wisdom. Thank you
Janice Porter:so much.
