A morning with water energy
Imagine you’re walking through your living room and suddenly you stub your toe on the coffee table. You cry out in pain shouting a few of swear words, tears roll down your cheeks. As you grab your toe, you fall onto the couch, rocking to sooth the pain. The front door opens, in walks your daughter returning from school. She sits next to you and shares a humorous encounter from class and you both begin laughing together. You get interrupted by the phone ringing, but when you pick it up you’re annoyed that the caller already hung up. As you set the phone down, you glance out the window and see a hummingbird feeding on a red tubular flower and you’re filled with awe and a smile forms on your lips. You’ve just experienced the flow of water energy. Pain flowed into happiness into annoyance into awe, with each allowed its own external expression.
Emotional connection flows from the element of water
The element of water relates to our emotions. Still water is reflective. In a stream, water moves around obstacles like rocks that are in their path and slowly erodes them into earth. Balanced water energy flows naturally and emotions are free to come and go, without blocking them or clinging to them. If we stay in action or in our minds to avoid how we feel, we miss connecting to our self and may lead to confusion. Being with our feelings brings fluid open-heartedness. The element of water brings deep emotional connection to others as well as our self.
Relationships lacking water also lack vulnerability
When the element of water is missing in our relationship, there is a lack of vulnerability and intimacy. This can look like moving through life robotically without any connection to how you are feeling. Building a dam to stop the natural flow of feelings might look like a person who always stoic and emotionless.
Excess water brings a flood of emotions
Too much water might look like a person who is wallowing in sadness, pity, victim consciousness. Unable to take in the current moment, they are revolving around the same emotion from the past. Overwhelm of emotions can lead to collapse as seen when we cry ourselves to sleep. We can become so flooded with emotion, unable to be interrupted, that it’s difficult to participate in life.
Connect with your feelings to invite water in
Just being near water can elevate water energy. Sit at the beach and watch the waves crashing down on the sand and rocks, one wave following another. Reflectively, rest near a pond or in a bath and notice what feeling arises within you. Or more actively, take a shower and feel the warm water splashing down your back, washing away the day’s anguish. It’s no coincidence that innovative ideas often bubble up in the shower. Playing in water invites the element of water in. Connecting with your feelings, either alone or with someone you trust, will invite in the element of water. It is necessary to feel your feelings rather than talk about them to access the vulnerability of water. Asking yourself the proverbial therapist question, “How does this make me feel?” is intended to bring in the element of water.