Elements Out of Balance
I grew up a child of a hoarder, & have some tendencies myself.
So I know how hard it can be to declutter & release the past in order to create space for new things.
In addition to the conditions I grew up in, which is another story for another day, what’s also interesting to note is my Bazi (Feng shui astrology chart) is also pretty Earth-heavy.
Since Earth out of balance can lead to hoarding tendencies, or excess clutter, having extra Earth can lead to an exacerbation of my hoarding tendencies.
My chart says I benefit from Metal, to release clinging to an unhealthy past.
Metal is represented by white, pastels & silver, & is not the style I'm naturally drawn to… like I appreciate those colors for what they are, but I personally love black, & bright, bold colors, like tropical & jewel tones.
However, when Carlos moved in, I needed to create space for him, which meant combatting my reluctance to let go of clutter from the past.
So I changed up the decor of our house, which leaned heavily on the representations of Earth element in yellows, golds, & earthy tones. I had this insane yellow, gold & chartreuse striped chair from the thrift store that I got rid of, reluctantly lol…
… & I've admittedly noticed the difference in how the clear, unfussy, & practical energy of Metal helps me to let go of the things I'm holding onto, & helps me release the grief that comes up in the process.
Our space is always a work in progress.
The focus now is to find an agreeable balance: his energy benefits from lots of greens & tropical vibes, which I love, but energetically too much Wood (green/blue) makes me unnecessarily angry, I’ve noticed.
So there may be compromise between what makes us feel good & what’s good for us.
So How do you determine If an element is out of balance?
Assess the obstacles, challenges & problems experienced in the space
Start Here: in 6 quick steps, you'll learn how to orient yourself & assess the energy at home.
get oriented:
assess the energy at home with Taoist feng shui in 6 steps
First, you’ll need to orient your house with the Bagua, & use the self-assessment (linked above) in order to discern the types of problems experienced by you or your family.
Then, you'll need to compare the space of your house to what’s going on in your life.
What types of problems are you or your family routinely experiencing?
Which problems reoccur?
Which patterns repeat?
Which lessons do you struggle to learn?
Which ones you find yourself resisting working through?
My personal belief is that the problems we regularly need to maintain, or the ones we may be more reluctant to face directly, are the problems which need more energetic support from your environment to process & learn from.
The 5 Elements Out of Balance
Here's how each of the 5 Taoist elements present energetically when out of balance in your space or life...
The five elements are Water, Wood, Fire, Metal & Water. They're symbolic, literal & figurative representations of energy that exists at home & the world at large.
While imbalance is totally natural, sometimes the energy of the imbalance can begin to impact you, your family or your goals. If things are running on too much friction & chaos, check if any of these elemental imbalances are at play:
Water out of balance can be overly mysterious, overly reflective, internalize things too much, indecisive & uncertain.
Wood out of balance looks like anger, or the American concept of manifest destiny, do-or-die; regret; criticism; discouragement; dislike of self & others; negative judgment; repressed anger related to thwarted or withheld affection.
Fire out of balance looks like arrogance, scattered energy, vanity, jealousy, frustration, regret, grief from loss of love, disappointment in personal relationships.
Metal out of balance looks like grief, insecurity, inability to change, inability to achieve parental or spousal expectations, lacking confidence.
Earth out of balance looks like hoarding, excess clutter, messiness; acquiring physical or material goods to create a sense of security; pensiveness & worry.
Depending on which problems you notice the most with your family, or which ones you identify with personally, you'll want to assess how much of each element you have in each area of your house, & consider if it could be impacting the overall balance.
Now that you know which areas have which problems, you can take a first step toward establishing balance.
The 5 elements interactive relationships & cycles
Focus the energy on one goal for one room
Affirm your unique energy patterns & needs
Get unstuck from your present challenges