“Where do we go from here?”
When we are challenged to change, grow, expand or heal we are engaging our Wood Element. Wood is the whole movement from where we are to where we need to be. The movement from oppression towards freedom. From lost and floundering to goal oriented visionary.
Wherever there is movement, there is opposition, either from within or without. How we deal with opposition depends on the state of our Wood Element. Can we be sleek, graceful, almost effortless in our continuous dance with life? Or does our interactions feel awkward and jerky? Are we fully alive, responsive, and committed to being constructive even if it means giving up being right? Can we find creative solutions to complicated issues?
The interface between challenge and response. Wether it be the challenge of finding a good parking spot or the challenge of figuring out where we are going with our life. Both require keen vision and good sense of perspective.
It is our Wood Element that allows us to meet all opposition as an invitation to grow, maybe in a way we never would of imagined. It is our ability to dance and move responsively to the challenges of this life. As opposed to just digging in our heals, Wood challenges us to find a way where we all get what we need.
Anger is the acute awareness of the need to grow. Sometimes it is we who need to grow and sometimes it is the outer world that needs to change, move, evolve, expand, adapt, heal etc.. Wisdom is knowing the difference. When do we push and when do we yield?
The birthing process, healing old wounds, stepping into the next chapter of our lives, negotiating opposition. Nothing is born into this life without a bit of elbowing and pushing. How graceful we can be with transformation depends on the flexibility and creativity of our Wood Element. Our ability to come back to life regardless of what happened, resilience, choosing growth over death, this is Wood.
The season associated with the Wood Element is Spring. Everything you need to know about the Wood Element can be observed in nature as Spring comes alive. The power of those little seedlings bursting through the ground. The explosion of growth. All that it takes to come back to life after the long cold Winter. The ability to heal, and say a resounding Yes to life even if it hurts.
The two main organ systems that belong to the Wood Element are the Liver and Gall Bladder.
Signs and symptoms that our Wood Element may need support:
- Anger which may manifest as irritability, frustration or stress will be the most dominate emotion
- Feeling light headed, dizziness
- Tight muscles
- Numbness
- Hypochondria (under rib’s) pain
- Poor vision, floaters in vision
- Defensiveness
- Low self esteem
- Fatigue that is better with exercise
- Depression, lack of hope
- Pain that is better with movement
- Migrating pain
- Many forms of headaches, especially sides and top of head
- Fixed stabbing and continuous pain
- PMS
- Irregular menstruation issues of all kinds
- Bitter taste in mouth
- Jaundice
- Medical issues related to the Liver or Gall Bladder
- Muscle spasms, including eye twitching and facial ticks
- Difficulty planning and organizing
- Lack of creativity