Never underestimate the effect our personal experiences have on how we perceive the elements in other people

I am drawing together my thoughts on the Water element for a seminar we are dedicating to this element on Monday 27 February 2023 (see our website www.sofea.co.uk for details).  

 

I am always surprised by how different our individual take on the elements is, particularly those of other experienced five element practitioners.  Very often I notice that they are observing the elements from quite a different perspective from my own.  As practitioners, we must never forget that our own element will colour how we perceive our patients;  we must therefore do all we can to take this into account in our diagnoses.  This is something that can easily be overlooked.

As students we were given some key descriptions to help us define an element.  In the case of Water, these were words like "fear" or "ambition", as well, of course, as the well-known sensory signals of colour, sound and smell.  But each of us will react to the emotion "fear" in our own unique way, prompted by the particular life experiences which have formed us from an early age.  These lead us to create a unique vision of the world shaped by what we have each been exposed to.

 

At our Water seminar I will therefore be very interested to hear how other practitioners experience this element, particularly practitioners whose own element happens to be Water.  I know that I will learn much that will be new to me, as I always do, which is why I enjoy these seminars so much.