You Are Of The Earth

Buddhists believe that every human contains four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.  These four elements make up our physical body, and allow us to feel the energies associated with each of them.  We will talk about those energies in a minute.  What is clear, is that these four elements can help us to stay grounded.  However, it seems that many people choose to be ungrounded, that is, they feel “spaced out”.  And rather than try to change this feeling, the individual seems to encourage the feeling.

          This great picture comes from www.meta-synthesis.com

When we feel “heavy” when we are walking or running,  or “sleepy” or “full” after a meal, then we are feeling the effects of our Earth energy.  The Earth energy is working to pull our bodies – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – back into the confines of our physical center.  Sometimes our bodies are not pulled back in all the way, so we feel “off center”. It is our Earth energy that allows us to taste and to touch.  When we feel solid, or stiff, or smooth, or hardness, then we are using our Earth element.

When we feel constrained and our movement seems stiff, or we seem without fluidity, then we know our Water element is blocked.  When we feel sticky and emotional and want to cry for no reason, or if we feel depressed, we are feeling Water energy.  Congestion and phlegmy coughs tell us that our Water energy is out of balance.  If we see people in need, our Water energy cries out to support them, to be in service.  It is our Water energy that allows us to see and to make assumptions or judgements around situations.

We know that when we hear things and feel the mental energy of our brain working that the Air Element is in play. Or, when we have visions, or words come to us unbidden, we may find that our Air Element is changing, and with the change, bringing us new information.  Those with a strong air element like to be entertained and to solve puzzles and quizzes.  When we are caught up in our Air element, we float on “cloud nine”.  Playing, pushing, pulling, and all movement are showing us how we use the Air element.

The Fire Element shows up as heat in our body, as passion and anger.  When somebody wrongs us, or we feel something is unfair, then we tend to “burn up” with rage or indignation.  We use the heat we carry to show love and affection, to show protection.  Healers talk about the amount of heat that is generated when they are working with a client. Attraction heats up with the Fire element.

We have all these great sensations that tell us so much about our bodies and that show us that we are in the present moment.  Then, we lose this information by getting into our mind, into our ego, and analysing the information so that the info of the present moment becomes useless. 

If you have some time today, meditate on the Nature of your body, and how the Earth changes may affect how your body feels in the Earth element.  Meditate on the Oneness, on finding peace in the present moment, and on the Ancestors, who have already experienced the circle of life.  Find a prayer that helps you relax, and that slows down your mind.  Allow yourself to be here, now, in the present.

Blessings,

Judy

Teachings From A Holstein Steer

One of my memories of my childhood is a black and white Holstein steer. He was one of Dad’s feeder steers in the corral.  For some reason, Harry, which is what we called him, liked kids.  He would come over and stand beside us, bringing with him a mouthful of hay.  Or, after he’d finished at the water trough, he would come over to have his shoulders rubbed or the spot above his eyes and below his horns rubbed.  

 

Picture of a Holstein bull to approximate the size of the steer.

Dad was worried that he might hurt us because he was so big.  However, he was extremely gentle with us.  My brother and I got to the point where we would get up on his back and talk to him, and get him to walk around the corral.  The other steers just seemed to think he was the oddest thing.  They would stare at him when he was with us kids.  If we were riding Harry near them, they would snort or bellow, and move away.  At one point, my brother and three of his friends were all sitting on Harry’s back. All the boys were ten years old.  

One day, someone left the back gate unchained and when the steers rubbed against it, the gate opened.  The thirty or so steers stampeded to freedom.  They ran out into another big field, and when they saw how green the grass was, they stopped running and began to graze.  After realizing that the steers were out, Dad organized my brother and I in a chute arrangement and Dad and our dog, Flash, headed out to the field to round the steers up.  They came running in as fast as they ran out, and were prepared to run past the gate, over top of my brother and I, and head east.  Harry was running with the rest of them.  When he got to us, he slowed down and stopped with both of us kids in front of him and out of the way of the other cattle.  When the herd passed us, Harry went around us and trotted off after them.  Yes, we eventually got the steers back in several hours.  After all, they would not want to miss their evening feeding.  

What I learned from our time with Harry, through the playing with him, and his affection, are the following ideas:

• It is okay to have interests outside of your friends and family.  New interest broaden your horizons.
• Always protect your friends.
• When people gang up on you, you don’t need to get angry or be afraid; simply stand firm.
• Kindness and affection know no boundaries. Love is permanent in your heart.
• Sometimes you need to break the patterns in order to see how good routine and life, in general, are for you.
• Just because it seems you have a lot in life, it doesn’t mean that you can’t aspire to something else.
• Four legged friends are sometimes truer than two legged friends.
• Friends may pass through your life, however, the memories last a lifetime.

Blessings,

Judy