Come Down off the Cross, We Need the Wood... Element
The answer to frustration is action.
I'm thinking about the challenges we're facing together as a planet a lot lately, and especially today because it's Earth Day. The enormity of our collective work can get a little overwhelming!
What saves me is that I know that when frustration arises, it's actually the mobilizing and motivating energy of my human body encouraging me to make positive change. In Daoist cosmology, this is related to the symbolism of the "Wood" Element - the energy of growing things, of life.
When the Wood Element is flowing freely, we feel motivated, generous, and empowered. When this energy is locked up, it results in frustration and resentment. I was reminded of the old joke you might tell yourself if you find yourself stuck in any kind of martyr complex: "Get down off the cross, we need the wood!" And it occurred to me, we need the wood element! Of course, not all our own sufferings are self-imposed, but when we're tormenting ourselves with stories of helplessness, the best thing we can do is ACT!
This swiftly gets us down off the crucifixion of feeling disempowered and allows us to use the potent energy of the Wood element that is arising in us. This energy is our own survival instincts impelling us to MAKE CHANGE, but if we don't give them an outlet, they turn inward and break us down.
The problem is two-fold, in reality, because not only is that anger just working its way through our bodies, but we're usually repressing it as well. That means we're creating more tension in ourselves to try to manage the tension in ourselves that feels so uncomfortable!
So what do we do instead? The trick is to find any way you can to contribute, to participate, to make a change. It doesn't have to be big - in fact, seeing the enormity of the problems that we face can actually be a big obstacle to making necessary changes, we can't see how we get from here to there, and so we just shut down. We need actions we can reasonably do right now.
If we're willing to start small, we can mobilize this Wood element power of growth. We might make a tiny donation to an environmental org, or do some act of self-care that will make us more able to help tomorrow. We could research how to protect voting rights, or sign a petition against gross forms of abuse.
All these ideas are things you can do NOW, and the best part of that is its effect on your inner body. It lets you use that survival energy that rises up so strong and it gets you back into the state of flow.
If you can tap into this growth aspect of the Wood Element, you'll then likely unlock its other aspect, which is one of vision and of freshness. Once we get out of the cycles of feeling helpless and resentful, the ensuing freedom brings more of our creative capacities online. Even if you started out by doing tiny things that you aren't sure will help, the inner flow that this creates can open up your eyes to the bigger things that might be very effective indeed.
When we keep ourselves on the cross of letting the enormity of life's challenges burden us with resentment or hopelessness, the vitality in us is still there, just inverted. When we come down off the cross, we can actually use the Wood - taking advantage of the growthfulness and freshness of this elemental potency within. When faced with gigantic issues, we call ourselves to GROW BIGGER and face them with great courage.
