The Magenta Life is a community of empowered women who are choosing to live life in color. Be Brave. Lose the Beige! is sassy and pokes fun at societal rules and norms. It says yes when the world keeps saying no, especially when it comes to aging issues.  Read the book, subscribe to the blog, take the KQuiz and learn more about what motivates you, or engage in a creative exercise in our Creativity Corner. Welcome to a Magenta Life!

The stories and creative techniques outlined in this book are guaranteed to introduce color, sass, and a lightness of spirit into your later years. Are you ready to start coloring outside the lines, even if a few pesky rules get trampled in the process?

  • Liz Kitchens would make Erma Bombeck cackle, leave Ann Landers at a loss for words and make Gloria Steinem proud.

    -Rannah Gray, author of Familiar Evil, winner of 14 national and international book awards or

  • This is a fun and witty read with deep-down sound advice written between the lines. Since reading this book, I face every decision knowing that choosing beige is the easy way but not usually the one that will bring me the most happiness. Choose magenta!

    -Marcia Felts

A Few Lessons from the Book

  • BBLB Maxim #1

    Exercise your creative muscles.

  • BBLB Maxim #2

    It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

  • BBLB Maxim #3

    Breaking little rules is empowering. Just don’t make others clean up your mess.

  • BBLB Maxim #4

    Don’t be afraid to break with convention. It’s liberating and might inspire others.

  • BBLB Maxim #5

    Be brave and open to changes and life transitions.

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Three is the Perfect Number
Three is the Perfect Number

An Atlantic Monthly article entitled, “Always Have Three Beverages”, employs the universal “Rule of Three” to argue the importance of ordering three drinks. “The first is water. The second is a source of caffeine. The third is something fun – juice, soda, glass of wine. Small pleasures, like adding a fun drink to your retinue, have psychological value.

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What is Your Divine Proportion? (And I’m not referring to your body mass index)
What is Your Divine Proportion? (And I’m not referring to your body mass index)

Spring has sprung in Central Florida and it’s gorgeous. Nature begs us to pause, notice, and say Amen. I would argue, this time in nature’s calendar invites us to incorporate more color into our daily lives.

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Jingle those Car Keys
Jingle those Car Keys

A new puppy, health concerns, and limited travel dollars have caused me to re-think travel priorities at age 70.

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WHAT’S YOUR ARCHETYPE?

SAGE

VISIONARY

CARETAKER

REBEL

Here in the Be Brave. Lose the Beige Community, we believe the more you understand yourself, the easier (or maybe just less surprising) it will be to navigate the transitions you face in the aging process. Change is inevitable but self-awareness helps us stay in touch with what motivates us and keeps us connected to our inner magenta.

Creativity makes an excellent partner in our quest to avoid a beige, predictable aging journey. Creativity is related to the personality trait of “openness” and leads to more flexible thinking which is important as we face inevitable changes as we age. Aesthetic experiences have a restorative effect, reducing anxiety and stress levels. Creating art for forty-five minutes lowers cortisol levels, regardless of the skill level of the art maker.  So, what if you are intrigued with this whole idea of creative thinking and its potential to positively impact aging but don’t tend to view yourself as creative? How do you rip off that bulky “uncreative” label and cultivate this quality? It calls for some exercise. The Creativity Corner features “Exercise Your Creativity” practices designed to exercise your creative muscles. Try the “Doodle for Your Noodle” practice or write your own six-word story.

  • Doodle For Your Noodle

    Our “Doodle for Your Noodle” exercise is designed to transform stress into neurographic art. All you need is a piece of paper and a marker. The technique links our conscious with our subconscious. Without over-thinking it, start to make organic, flowing lines with a marker.

    The lines can intersect and even flow off the page. Go back and round out the intersection of the lines so that any hard edges are softened. If you choose, you can fill in the lines using markers, colored pencils, or watercolors.

  • Write Your Story in Six Words

    It’s the start of the new year. Spend twenty minutes writing your own six-word story using the following prompt: “What can I do to knock my own socks off in 2024?”

    Six word stories are a two-for-one exercise that not only fosters creativity but also helps develop self-awareness. It is surprisingly revealing what you can learn from crafting a story out of so few words. The constraints of choosing only six words is freeing. It relieves the pressure of writing a perfect and precise story. Examples:

    “I’m going to learn to weave.”

    “Make money. Find love. Keep both.”

Your Hue Guru

Meet Liz

Liz Kitchens is a rare and endangered species, born and raised in Orlando, Florida, whose memory of Florida pre-dates Walt Disney World. She conducts workshops and seminars on creativity and directed an after-school and summer creative arts program for teens in underserved communities.