This is an excerpt from my book Aura Colour Therapy, about an aura colour I call Compassion Orange. For anyone who has studied iridology, this auric pattern is equivalent to the Ring or Harmony or Lymphatic Rosary pattern in the iris.

This is a pale fluorescent apricot orange, like sunset reflected on soft fluffy clouds, or water. ‘Gentle’ is the word that most readily comes to mind when I think of this colour. Compassion Orange makes your heart feel expanded and all-encompassing. The feeling you get when your ‘heart goes out’ to another, is a typical Compassion Orange feeling. Sometimes this can be joyful because it keeps us connected with others, but quite often, it can cause an ache or pang in the heart.

Compassion Orange can reflect a compassionate nature or recent growth in a person’s capacity for compassion. Compassion Orange types are instinctive healers, often happiest when helping others or doing what they can to help make the world a better place for everyone to live in. Their concern for the world around them is on par with those who wear heart-based colours such as Wholehearted Pink and Generosity Green. For the most part, their compassion arises from a strong empathetic ability; they can easily imagine how it might feel to walk in the shoes of another person.

Dissonance and conflict can be particularly stressful for Compassion Orange types as they have quite a sensitive nervous system. Ideally, they need a nurturing, peaceful and harmonious environment to maintain optimum health. Unfortunately, Compassion Orange people find it difficult to rest in peace when they know others are suffering. Their empathic nature makes them feel this suffering within themselves. So in spite of their vulnerability to painful and disharmonious situations, they are drawn, almost magnetically, to people, animals, communities and environments in need of help.

With such a deep need for harmony in the world around them, Compassion Orange people are excellent counsellors, mediators, peacemakers and parents. Like Patience Green types, they have deep insight into the psychology and behaviour of other people. A natural gift for empathetic listening makes them good at resolving disputes between others but their sympathies will almost always lie with the underdog. People who wear Compassion Orange with red colours in their aura are often warriors for justice who fight battles on behalf of the weak and underprivileged.

Compassion Orange people are often over-concerned with the well-being of others and must be careful not to place their own needs last. They are particularly prone to feeling guilty about other people’s problems or feeling responsible for situations outside of their control. As a result, they tend to over-extend themselves by taking on unnecessary burdens and other people can be quick to take advantage of such self-effacing behaviour.

As with Loyalty Pink types, these people need to learn how to weigh up the ‘fair for them’ vs ‘fair for me’ scales with more weight placed on their own side of the equation. Anyone with some Strength Red or little Hardship Grey accompanying this colour is on the right track, because they know how to be assertive and say no to requests from other people without feeling guilty.

Finding Compassion Orange in your aura can be a prompt to address overly ‘nice’ behaviour in your personality to ensure you do not end up being used as a doormat for someone else to wipe their feet on. Excessive empathy can be balanced with Boundaries Blue, Detachment Blue, Strength Red and Hardship Grey. Read the sections on Boundaries and Connecting in Chapter Four for guidance on managing personal boundaries.

If you want to use this colour to help you develop better empathy, breathe it into the heart and belly while you practice imagining how other people and living beings might be feeling. Mirror their body language and facial expressions. Ask yourself, ‘If I were moving like that or my face looked like that, how might I be feeling?’. You can also breathe this colour in around the ears to improve your counselling skills and help you listen with greater attentiveness and compassion.