Living in the Flow of Life - The Water Element
We humans want and desire to achieve and be so much in this physical life. We see this one life as an opportunity to do and experience everything possible. This often leads us to live our lives outside of the present moment. This winter, I watched myself, friends and colleagues launch a wide range of new projects, many of which did not have the response that the launcher was seeking.
From the beginning of winter, I felt the need to go inward, to really be quiet with myself. I spent the first month or so here, quietly being with myself, rarely expressing creative energy outwardly. I wrote a little, dabbled here and there and had a range of cool ideas come into my consciousness. At the beginning of February, I started to liven with my thoughts and ideas a bit, but I found myself with spurts of energy and then wanting to retreat inward again.
I battled myself a little bit, but mostly, I let myself remain with an inward focus. For years, I've been reading about the Five Elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine and bringing the elements into my practice for my clients through balancing techniques. Each element is associated with emotions, seasons, organs, and many other traits.
The water element is associated with the winter season. Life around us shifts in the winter, plants drive their energy down tho their roots, animals thicken their hides and hibernate, and lakes harden to ice. Yet, humans keep going without skipping a beat. The winter season is a time for gestation and germination. It is a necessary part of our life as it is the season in which we renew and feed our life force energy.
Passing by the winter season without acknowledging rest before the spring season leaves us feeling depleted without an opportunity to restore the energy that we've drained throughout the year. We become challenged by living in the flow of life.
If we take the winter as a time to retreat with ourselves, a time to go quiet, a time to go within, we will have great success in refueling our essence, the very life force within us. Going within gives us a chance to search for our truth and to fully experience our vulnerability. Vulnerability is the space where healing and expansion flourish. We get to understand the fundamental idea of where things begin, where they are and where they are going.
Staying in the flow of the seasons is one of the most powerful tools that we can easily incorporate into our own life. Give yourself the gift of the winter retreat within, stay there throughout the season, gestate, germinate and reap the benefits of your renewed life force energy in Spring.
For more information about the elements, CLICK HERE
References:
Staying Healthy with the Seasons - Elson Haas
Between Heaven and Earth - Efrem Korngold and Harriet Beinfield