Sunday, February 11, 2018

Help needed!

To my surprise, because I have in the past always used my blog entries as a form of one-way traffic, I have learnt a lot by asking for feedback from my blog readers to my blog of 22 January “Metal removes itself”.  In this I asked for comments from people as to how they would react to being in tricky situations.  The comments that I received taught me a lot about how different elements approach life.

I am always aware that I may be becoming a little too fixed in my ideas about the elements, and offering insights which are too stereotyped.  This is a danger for anybody who has immersed themselves in one area as I have done with studies of the elements over so many years.  I sometimes wonder whether I am growing a little blind to different aspects of the elements.  So to counter this, I would like some further help with another piece which I am writing to form part of what I hope will be my next book.  This book will draw together my many tips for diagnosing the elements which I have devised for myself, and which are scattered here and there throughout my writings.   

The piece I am writing at the moment I am calling “The impact an element makes upon us”, and describes the way in which I feel the different elements engage with me.  I have written about four elements, but I have come to a slight full-stop with Fire, because that is my own element, and I feel my observations may well be too specific to me and not general enough to help others.  This is how I have started the piece:

“Fire, maybe because it is my element, tends to make me relax since I am on familiar terrain and therefore no longer feel under any pressure to react.  It is as though I do not have to put on a mask of any kind, and can be who I really am.  As a practitioner this runs the risk of making things a little too cosy, with a tendency to overlook inevitable areas of tension, in case these disturb the comfortable atmosphere I and my patient are hoping to create for ourselves.     

Because I feel at ease with Fire, I am not as aware as people of other elements might be of the pressure it puts upon me, because it makes me feel warm and comfortable.  I realise that this may well not be the case for everybody.  Because this is a very personal reaction I will have to watch carefully how Fire’s interactions with other people unfold.

I will be very interested to hear descriptions of how readers of this blog, whatever their element, experience their interactions with Fire.  

 

 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Nora, even if I don't explain myself very well in English, I try to give you my feelings about Fire CFs. The first thing that comes to me is the difference between inner and outer Fire. Indeed, the outer fire easily give me the smile, and make me easily to joke with them. I never have felt this with Inner Fire, which are more introverted I think and they often appear to me more uneasy, worried or busy. Anyway I can confess that is often difficult for me to diagnose inner Fire first.
    I also noticed that outer Fires take me off more energy than inner Fires. Maybe because the first ones burn more than the second ones! And they drain my Wood Qi in the Sheng Cycle?!...
    I really feel more confortable with Inner Fires because I find them more serious and with deepest things to say and to share. And to conclude I noticed that the more I'm upset, the less I like the lightness and the joy of the Fire's CF. But when I'm OK I appreciate a lot their heat and joy, because they help me to move my wood Qi which can easily stagnate if I don't move enough physically or emotionally...
    Sorry for my English...
    Pierre, a French acupuncturist passionate by the Worsley's style.

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  2. As usual, Pierre, you make some very interesting observations. Thank you.

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  3. Another very interesting comment on Fire from Sujata who is Water:
    "Fire is my favourite element and these are my own views (perhaps those of many Water element people)-

    I never feel over-warmed (or singed) in the presence of Fire (maybe it's just the specific people I have met), I just get a wonderful warm feeling, knowing that someone is genuinely concerned about me (along with all the other things that they are involved in). I have also observed a wonderfully practical side of Fire - even though they take their own time coming to a certain decision, ultimately the decision seems to be a very sensible approach to what they are aiming to achieve.

    Fire makes me eventually feel very much at ease (even though initially I might be wary or uncomfortable as I would be in any person's presence). It is an element that Water aspires to be like (I think)- because of its qualities of genuine warmth and of appearing to be comfortable with itself and others all the time, unlike Water's variability and hesitation. Water looks to Fire (when it is not looking inwards to itself) to provide the only antidote possible to its (Water's) fears - that of unconditional love, which none of the other elements can give."

    I am learning more and more about how other elements regard Fire, often much of it giving me fresh ideas.

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  4. Another comment from my Facebook page: "Depends on the health and kind of Fire. Some Fire it is like this immediate warmth. Other Fire it is this feeling of someone searching for or trying to evoke my own warmth. Always underneath...there is either a sense of playfulness or a plea for a little bit of intimacy (even with cold Fires). Also in Fire eyes there is this depth, like something deeper very well protected. And for Fire this theme of “Is this something I keep protected safe with you? “ - again so easy to generalize but this is my experience." Thank you, Elissa Marie

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