By Dove Sprout, co-owner of Creston Acupuncture and Natural Health Centre
We’re back in summer, which is the season that corresponds to the fire element in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and also corresponds to the heart and emotional/love centre.
There are so many sayings when it comes to the heart:
- “Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.” —Roy T. Bennett
- “The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.” —Rumi
- “Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” —H. Jackson Brown
- “The best gifts come from the heart, not the store.” —Sarah Dessen
- “Let the rays of your heart shine on all who pass by.” —Terri Guillemets
- “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” —Confucius
- “A person’s world is only as big as their heart.” —Tanya A. Moore
- “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” —Aristotle
- “You are not rich until you have a rich heart.” —Roy T. Bennett
- “You change your life by changing your heart.” —Max Lucado
- “Only do what your heart tells you.” —Princess Diana
- “When the heart speaks, its language is the same under all latitudes.” —Ella Maillart
- “All you need is love… love is all you need.” —The Beatles
One of my favourites is, “Fear divides us, love unites us.” These sayings seem to indicate the capacity for us to have rich, fulfilling, happy lives if we are able to live through our hearts. It represents the universal language of love, something we can all feel when we are in the presence of it, yet something many of us have become estranged from as many of us have been forced to isolate and have since allowed the dividing energy of fear to dominate. From fear comes our survival instinct, and it fills our head with plans, ideas, and strategies that we think are necessary to ensure our survival. It takes us out of our hearts and creates a lens and forms beliefs around comparison, judgement, envy, blame, division, and even hatred when extreme.
If we are in our hearts, we are relaxed, there is a sense of trust, there is great compassion for our fellow humans, and our capacity to feel love & joy is boundless and expansive. It is the basis of our most authentic selves, our relationships, our families, and our communities. We are not meant to be so separate, so isolated, so fearful. Our chances of survival are actually far more likely if we work together.
We’re living in unprecedented times, but we’re all here, and we all have the capacity to make the decision to live in and through our hearts, to trust there is enough to go around, that we will be provided for, that there is possibility for co-operation and thriving communities. With heart energy being expansive, I have an image of it starting at the centre of your chest and radiating outward towards other. This means that love must start at the beginning, with loving yourself and through loving yourself, nourishing your connection with whatever deity you are in relationship with, and from there it can radiate out to your significant other, your children, your family, your neighbour, the birds singing as you walk by, the stranger you pass in the streets, the person behind you in the grocery store, your community, your province, your country, the world.
We cannot control global events, but we can choose to do our part, no matter how small it seems, to contribute to a world we want to live in. It is the person that is the most cut off from their hearts, the person that is the most angry, grumpy, fearful that need it the most. It can all happen in a moment, a choice point, an awareness from a sense of love about what kind of world we want to live in. Just start with yourself… in this moment, the only thing we ever really know for sure.
While this article is mostly about love and the heart, here are some other practical tips to keep fire element in balance this summer:
• Balance your sociable nature by taking time to be alone each day.
• Write in a journal, practice Tai Qi, Qi Gong, or meditate to settle frenzied energy.
• Avoid overbooking yourself/activities that cause you to feel too scattered.
• Participate in activities that bring you joy.
• Laugh!
• Eat small regular meals.
• Reduce caffeine, sugar, and deep fried foods.
• During the summer season, include foods that are bitter and cooling such as watermelon, apricot, cantaloupe, lemon, peach, asparagus, sprouts, bamboo, bok choy, broccoli, cucumber, spinach, summer squash, seaweed, mung beans, cilantro, mint, and dill.
Here is a simple recipe for a cooling, summer drink to enjoy:
• 1 litre mason jar filled with purified/alkalized water
• Several cucumber slices
• Organic lemon juice (as much as you like)
• Liquid Stevia drops to taste
• Dash of sea salt
Enjoy some joyous summer fun and see you at the beach!
Dove Sprout and Paul Gaucher co-own and operate Creston Acupuncture & Natural Health Centre located in downtown Creston. For more information or to book an appointment with Dove, call the clinic at 250-428-0488. For further questions about what acupuncture and herbal medicine can treat, e-mail Dove at acupuncturecrestonbc@gmail.com or check out acupuncturecrestonbc.com.
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