Spring Is FINALLY Here!!

I feel great today. The sun is out, and Spring is in the air! This time of the year reminds me of so many things.... the first of course, having grown up on a farm, is the smell of the freshly ploughed soil and the second is actually a Traditional Chinese Medicine course I took with a couple of friends/colleagues while we were still at CCNM.

It was a course on the five element theory of Chinese Medicine. It was the day I realized nothing can change who I am - I was born a "wood" and will always be a "wood". Every element has a season associated with it, a colour, a set of characteristics, an organ, health concerns and tendencies....

I am the wood element, which is associated with the liver, and with Springtime. Spring rejuvenates me and gives me the energy I need to grow and work hard. The two friends I went to the course with were "fire" and "water" and we learned what each of us gives each other and what we have to be careful doing to each other. Fires are full of energy. Fires need wood to spark them and to give them ideas/ thoughts to keep burning... but that isn't always good. Sometimes it's too much for a fire and they can get out of control and burn out easily. I also learned that I tend to surround myself with "earth" people. My two best friends, Noreen and Andrea are both "earths" - I guess they stabilize me and ground me. Thanks guys!!! I'm off to visit my "fire" friend, Anna, tomorrow! Always an adventure.

It was a course I will never forget as I learned how to look at myself differently and how the people around me affect me, my thoughts, and my actions. One of the teachers wrote in my textbook something I will always remember - "Remember that you must learn to be patient and bend like bamboo."