Boundaries are a concept often assigned to the Fire Element whose season has just come online…
Fire element boundaries are reflected in our capacity to open our hearts to someone. In a perfect world that openness has a pace that is comfortable and appropriate to both parties.
When there is imbalance to the fire element and the heart, either because of lifestyle imbalance, or a life event that caused dysfunction in the potential of the fire element, you may see easy heart break for every new relationship that doesn’t take off, inability to feel safe in relationships, avoidant attachment, social anxiety, oversharing, obsession, sex addiction, isolation, even psychic overload – picking up on everyone else’s thoughts and emotions and not being able to turn them off.
And there is so much more to boundaries. Each element has a unique relationship to them. For example,
Earth element personality types or people with earth element imbalance may tend to excessive worry. This can extend to inappropriate worrying about people in their life and position themselves to become overly responsible or involved in other people’s business. The idea of being clear about what is your responsibility to solve or spend mental energy on is important for the earth element. Worry, how you digest your thoughts, is reflected in how you digest your food. Balancing digestion is a portal to breaking cycles of worry and rumination.
The metal element is concerned with societal boundaries like rules and contracts. It does best when communication is clear, agreements are in integrity and guidelines are established. Metal element personality types or people with metal element imbalance might feel excessively bound by outdated ideas of right and wrong behavior or other people’s ideas of how they should be living. If this is the case, it is powerful for this person to hold a boundary for their own personal integrity. (Also, the metal element includes the physical boundaries of the skin and the lining of the intestines and the physiologic boundary of the “wei qi” or immune system).
Water as an element can be boundaryless. It can flow and seep everywhere. It requires containment in the form of a bowl or a dam. For water element humans, a lack of boundaries can look like having trouble maintaining a schedule or attuning to the concept of time. The bowl, in this case, is systems, like clocks, timers, budgets, project schedules, calendars and reminders to keep a water element person on track with their commitments and goals.
A healthy Wood element, by contrast, is steadfastly committed to their vision. They have a clear sense of their ability to commit to projects and have a strong sense of devotion to their own vision. When healthy they stay on track with their goals and have boundaries on their time and energy. When out of balance they may become pushy about their agenda or frustrated when their schedule or timeline requires tweaking. Another unhealthy wood element presentation is giving up in the face of small obstacles or moments of low confidence.
When you think about boundaries in your life, is there an element that feels most resonant to you?
Could your boundaries use some strengthening or harmonizing? There are treatments that we can do to support the specific flavor of boundaries that you struggle with. You can schedule your first or next session opens in a new window::HERE::
