| November 8, 2021 |
| “What is Wetiko?”, you might ask. Wetiko is the American First Nation word for the shadow. The shadow lives in all of us. It is not outside of us. Religion seems to have put God and Satan outside of us when in reality the two live within all of us. It depends which one we feed. If we understand this, we can step away from the old triangle that society lives in of victim, persecutor, rescuer or problem, reaction, solution. Over the last two years, I have watched the Wetiko grow. Taoism and the five elements can help us come out of this, and I notice my clients become more positive about the ups and downs of their lives with treatment. They get into what I call flow and don’t stay stuck. The five elements are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal. They are characterised by the respective emotions of fear, anger, joy, sympathy and grief. These emotions can be appropriate or inappropriate. Appropriate fear is a dynamic emotion meaning it can be accessed when needed and then let go of, and is related to Winter and Water. It helps us not to step out in front of a car or throw ourselves off a mountain. Inappropriate fear leads us to follow stories that keep us in fear, flight and fight, and not to trust our own knowing. We have seen plenty of that recently. Fear can be very addictive. Anger is a dynamic emotion related to Spring and Wood. It helps us protect ourselves, keep boundaries and be creative. If anger is stuck, it creates rage and resentment and passivity. We have seen plenty of that recently as we are constantly told what to do by authority figures who have lost our trust over the last two years. Joy is related to Fire and Summer. When appropriate, joy connects us to our heart. Unexpressed or inappropriate joy can lead to cynicism, excessive shyness and loneliness. We have seen plenty of that recently too. Earth is related to sympathy and to late Summer. With appropriate sympathy we can feel the oil of compassion in everything and an abundance in our lives. Without sympathy we can turn inwards, neither feeling any empathy nor receiving any empathy from others. Metal is related to grief and Autumn. True grief allows us to let go of the past and move into new narratives, like the trees losing their leaves for new ones to grow. If we do not grieve we hold on to the past and stay in a place of regret. In this place we cannot see either what we have achieved or what we could achieve. At this time of year especially, as the cold and damp weather arrives, we need to concentrate on our immune systems by being in flow. Nature has all the answers to our dilemmas. Please spend as much time with her wherever you live. You can move through stuck emotions by dancing, running, walking, creating, writing, meditation, and all exercise including yoga. Together we can create a reality that connects us to the endless possibilities of the freedom to be who we really are, and that is LOVE having an experience in this space time reality. Love Wendy |
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