22-6 Further small insights into the elements

I am surprised by the number of viewings my last blog about the Wood element received.  The question of when we choose to use "I" and when we extend it to "we" to include other people seems to have struck some kind of a chord.

Oddly, too, I have just had another little insight into the Wood element to add to the last one.  The phrases "no opportunity ignored" and "an opportunity missed" floated up in my mind, as being another way of describing Wood's approach to life.  I think it sees life in terms of the myriad opportunities it offers. I like to visualize these opportunities as little buds sprouting aboveground in spring.  Many of these will be trodden underfoot or eaten by birds, whilst others, many fewer, will blossom and grow to become flowers and trees. 

I don't think that I, Fire, see life as being made up of an accumulation of opportunities, either missed or accepted, as I believe Wood does. 

And finally, this made me look at how Fire differs from Wood, and helped me come up with some other descriptions of the elements:

 

Wood likes to live in the future

Fire likes to live in the present

Metal likes to live in the past

 

But what about Earth and Water then?  I think both have something which is much less focussed on one particular time.  Earth, after all, is the centre of all things, and Water's reach extends everywhere and underlies everything.  I always think of Water as having something timeless about it, whilst I think of Earth, cocooned in the centre, as being part of all the seasons.  This was one of the former ways of ascribing a particular time of the year to Earth.  According to this, instead of being given the rather odd season of late summer, Earth was given a small slice of time at the end of each season.