growth

In the past three years, I have moved several times. And as I settle in to each new space, I always end up adopting various plants to scatter around my place. I have always tended toward ivy or spider plants, since I can’t kill them easily, and most recently I have taken some new succulents under wing. For me, having plants is partially for the aesthetic; a little green in my living space is refreshing and reminds me of being in nature, a place I enjoy very much. However, keeping indoor plants has just as many physical benefits as it does psychological.

Life is continuously unfolding before us. Many of us try very hard to direct the course of life’s trajectory, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, no matter how much we try to control, direct and predict where life will take us we can never fully know the future. In fact, the only thing we can count on is that life will definitely present us with unexpected twists and turns; why not learn to embrace the unexpected changes and find comfort in the unknowable future?

My family and ancestors are from the tropics. The seasons they experienced were the harmattan and rain.  Even though I find comfort and ease in warm weather, I acknowledge that I was raised in New England. I’ve faced many climates growing up on the east coast. I must say, navigating the winters of my life have always been the hardest. The sunlight left too soon and the darkness would stay too long.  The snow could be unbearable. When another six feet of snow came down, I would throw my hands up in exasperation, believing the storms would never end.

What do the gallbladder and liver meridians, sour flavors, Spring time, tendons and sinews, eyes and vision, planning and decision making, creativity and anger all have in common? They all live in the Wood Element of the 5 Element Theory of Chinese Medicine. Creativity lives in the Wood Element because it is about action. Just like the small sprout pushing its way out of the dirt to the sun, creativity has a direction of moving upwards and out into the world. My childhood was a continual process of being in that creative space.