We are having a brutal winter in Chicago. I hear from my family in the East that they are also experiencing rough weather. It is only my relatives and friends in California (they are NOT farmers worrying about drought) who are bragging about superb temperatures. So, this next article is for those of us living east of the Rockies.
As some of you may already know, in Chinese Medicine there are five elements; wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These five elements are metaphors for describing how different aspects of our world interact and relate to each other.
As we in Chicago know very well, winter arrived with dramatic force! It is not always a dramatic season. Often, winter is a time of stillness and rest (think hibernation), during which energy is conserved and stored. Water is the element of winter. Therefore, this is a great month in which to discuss it. Water is one of the most powerful elements (and my favorite). In Chicago, we are seeing water frozen and still, only one form of water’s dangerous wrath. It can also move with speed and deadly force. Remember the tsunami in Southeast Asia? Yet water is also patient and slow. We know that water can slowly smooth the surface of a rock by years of continual gentle persistence. From these examples, we understand that Water represents fluidity or the ability to “go with the flow.” I really appreciate this aspect – water is adaptable, still, and patient, yet unyielding, determined, and unstoppable.
