The oak tree for stamina, but also flexibility

It can take a holiday or respite from normal routine – such as Christmas – to show us how much we need rest and recovery time.  The final lead-up to Christmas, with its end-of-term events, additional shopping and catering, can find us plodding on, barely able to keep putting one foot in front of another.  That’s when – if we are not actually overwhelmed (Elm) or tired to the point of collapse (Olive) – we probably need to take some Oak.

Someone on Twitter recently said of the oak tree, ‘Always the last to go to sleep’, referring to how it’s the last to lose its leaves.  For those adults toiling into the night to get ready for Christmas or any other event, this is a reminder that when we plough on as though through deep mud, committed to do our best and meet our responsibilities, there comes a time when we must stop and get some rest.  Resilience and will-power can only take us so far.

The image of the oak hanging on to its leaves epitomises the doggedness of the Oak remedy.  The stoicism to keep going culminating in despondency because our strength has gone; an inability to see when ‘letting go’ has become imperative.  The Oak remedy reminds us to listen to our body and our needs.  It restores our understanding of flexibility: when to battle on and when to stop.  When to overwork and when to rest.  When to hang on in there and when to let go.

Oak tree at Christmas 2022

Love, light and Holly

 

When we need a dose or two of the Holly flower remedy, it’s because our minds are full of vengeance, suspicion, or other hate-full thoughts. If our emotions are negative or afflictive in any way, our outlook becomes distorted, we are unable to see clearly. “Kathleen Raine, the Scottish poet, says that unless you see a thing in the light of love, you do not see it at all. Love is the light in which we see light,” wrote John O’Donohue.  In Celtic folklore the holly tree is sacred and symbolises peace and goodwill – qualities that are missing in us when we need to take Holly.

Today, December 13^th, is St Lucy’s Day – a day marked as a festival of light in Sweden and elsewhere.  St Lucy is also the patron saint of sight, for without light our eyes are unable to see.  Her colour (in the church liturgy) is the same as that of the holly berry – bright red, a colour we always associate with heart love.  The Holly remedy reminds us that love is about giving: giving away ego. Forgiving.  Giving one’s best self to others. 

“Holly connects us with the fundamental unity in the universe.  There can be no hatred of others when we and they are part of the same whole,” writes Stefan Ball in his book Bloom (available from the Bach Centre).

Love is the heart knowledge that we are all one, all part of the same cosmic unity.

The light that never goes out

 

When Dr Bach was recovering from an emergency operation he was told he only had three months to live. His determination to find a simple, gentle healing method drove him to work night and day on his research, to such an extent that the light shining from his lab window was called ‘the light that never goes out.’[1]  How prophetic – since the flower remedies hold out a shining ray of comfort that has never gone out.

Poet John O’Donohue[2] writes: “Love is the light in which we see light. Love is the light in which we see each thing in its true origin, nature and destiny.… The loving eye sees through and beyond images and affects the deepest change. To recognise how you see things can bring you self-knowledge and enable you to glimpse the treasures your life secretly holds.”

Of course the only way our eyes are able to see at all is in the presence of light. O’Donohue continues, “The human eye is always … evading what it does not want to see…. Many limited and negative lives issue directly from this narrowness of vision.… how you see and what you see determines how and who you will be….To the fearful eye, all is threatening… all you see and concentrate on are things that can damage and threaten you… the judgemental eye… is always excluding and separating, and therefore it never sees in a compassionate or celebratory way.“

The flower remedies can change our fearful eye into one of peace and calm.  Beech helps us to see in a compassionate and tolerant way.  And other essences restore our ability to see with patience, clarity, love and so on. 

The flower remedies come to us from the power of sunlight.  On our darkest days, they let in the light.

 

Photo: Willrad von Doomenstein on Flickr

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[1] The Medical Discoveries of Edward Bach by Nora Weeks

[2] Anam Cara by John O’Donohue

Why the Resentment?

 

Dr Bach wanted his system to be as simple and easy as possible and in fact it is quick to learn. But sometimes it can be hard to decide on a remedy for ourselves because we are so close to the problem. Advice from The Astrotwins this week read, ‘… examine your own feelings around playing mother to your loved ones.  Giving a bit less will lessen resentment.’  Many of us might be so busy trying to work out how to ‘fix’ things that we don’t pause to remember that Willow can help us reframe the challenge. We take the situation at its face value – the people or problems that need to be resolved – rather than check if it’s our emotional mood which needs lifting or transforming.

Whenever there is resentment, self-pity or a feeling that life is unfair, Willow is the first essence to turn to.  But once we’ve recovered our equilibrium, we should reflect on what caused us to feel like that.  Examining our emotional lows might reveal to us that it was our over-mothering (Chicory) or inability to say no to helping others (Centaury) that has brought on the resentment.  Or maybe Elm for instance, because we’ve taken on too much responsibility, or Impatiens (‘It’ll be quicker if I do it’, rather than delegating it).

This is why we talk about the remedies having an onion-peeling effect.  We initially only see the need for Willow but as we gain more self-knowledge and self-awareness we go a bit deeper in our psyche and perceive the need for other remedies, including all the ones NOT mentioned above!

 

Boundaries define our limits

Sometimes the simplest remark or quote can spark thoughts about emotional states and how we might address them with flower remedies.   This photo heading reminds me that we lose our sense of identity if we don’t have adequate boundaries in our lives.  It attracted this comment by artist Nick Pumper: “In order to define a thing, there must be limits.” Sand dunes notoriously shift because they have no boundaries, being subject to all the winds of change. 

This is what happens when we need Centaury – our boundaries are so weak or ineffectual that we shape-shift in order to please people.  We want to help but there are times when we neglect our own needs in order to do so.  In this sense Centaury types have something in common with those needing Walnut.  Both are in the group Oversensitive to Ideas and Influences because they are susceptible to the demands and priorities of others.   The pressure on those needing Walnut is from those who want to hold back the future, whereas the pressure on Centaury is from those expecting attention in the present.  These influences or expectations can throw us off course.  When we need either remedy, taking it strengthens our sense of what is right for us, lets us see that we are not being selfish in addressing our own needs, and that to fulfil our destiny we must live our life untrammelled by the push and pull of others.

 

“Sometimes it is easy to be generous outwardly, to give and give and give and yet remain ungenerous to your self. You lose the balance of your soul if you do not learn to take care of yourself. You need to be generous to yourself in order to receive the love that surrounds you." John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

 

A-Z of Emotional Resilience - booklet

I'm pleased to be able to announce the launch of my booklet, A-Z of Emotional Resilience. (2022)

When negative emotions become an ingrained part of our lives they can be detrimental to health, especially if we try to ignore or suppress them. But with the right tools it is possible to overcome our tendency to guilt, rage, resentment and other destructive feelings.

This booklet discusses 50 difficult emotions and introduces the concept of relieving them by using nature’s healing plants, five of which may be already known to you as the world-famous Rescue Remedy®. 

By choosing from the complete range of 38 Bach Flower Remedies we can reclaim balance and clarity, restoring our mental well-being. This book advises how and when they can be used to raise our vibrations and provide emotional resilience.

40 pages including a complete descriptive list of the flower remedies for reference. To order contact me by email - see About Me in the the right hand pane - and pay by PayPal.  The price is £4.00 including UK 2nd class postage. Outside the UK, please enquire.  For a downloadable pdf click the link on my website - see under 'My complete profile' in the right hand pane.

For a link for my latest book, Space to Reflect, click here .

For a link to my earlier book, Turning to the Light, click here

Standing on shifting sands

 

If you have you ever stood at the water’s edge, you’ll have felt the receding waves suck the sand out from under your feet.  After a minute or two you move as it’s so uncomfortable standing on the ridge that’s left.   In a new position you look back to where your feet had been: is there a hole, evidence of where the sand was sucked away? No, the sand is as smooth there as everywhere else. Life is like that – you are the whole beach and everything else is just tides, with footprints coming and going.  When a part of our life is sucked from under our feet we just need to change our stance or viewpoint in order to see that our deepest self is not affected.

This is the third consecutive year that feels full of change, full of pervasive feelings of global depression, worry and fear.  The waves are like a constant onrush of emotions. But we can acknowledge them and work out what remedies we need.  Gorse or Sweet Chestnut, Mimulus, Star of Bethlehem or even Wild Oat are just some that spring to mind. With their support our feelings of positivity and optimism return, which will help us to help others in challenging times ahead.

Photo by aquilatin on pixabay