Solid strong person. Nurturing nature, having the characteristic of supporting.
Enrich personality, with optimistic look at the world. Always positive, carrying yang energy.
Full of wisdom, idea, and energy. Imagine how the earth is rich with minerals, abundant of nutrients and carbon energy.
A source of strong support, counseling. People tent to come to an earth person for advices and guidance.
Earth person is strong, maintaining ground, earn people respect quickly.
Motivating to be around with.
Earth person represent balance in both yin and yang, the feminine and masculine. Be able to have friends, conversations in both gender type.
Earth person is associated with the qualities of patience as earth takes epochs for transformation.
Thoughtfulness is in the nature of an earth person, this person seeks to draw all things together with itself, in order to bring harmony, rootedness and stability.
Pay good deal of attention into tastes and food. Enjoy making food or eating out.
Behavior - Personality
Earth person takes leadership role through uniting everyone by gaining their respect quickly.
Earth person can be a great follower with strong integrity, who leaders can truly rely on this person to get the job well done.
People come to earth person, rather than earth seeking friends.
Earth person is often cheery and calm, but when angry everybody would know.
As in team work, earth person draw everyone ideas, inputs and compile in to a suitable solution for all.
Earth person represents practicality, hard work and stability. Sometimes vocal about obstacle but, steady moving to tackle it. A steady unstoppable force.
Earth person is ambition, stubbornness at time. As earth person hold their ground and maintain a solid strong opinion. They take responsibility early on, and maintain long term planning.
Earth person has a craving for sweet, or have no sweet tooth at all.
A good listener and a conversationalist. Able to absorb and discuss pretty much any subjects, but will have a strong opinion about it.
Interaction
Destructive Cycle:
Earth is said to be controlled by Wood. A better way to put it is earth is defenseless against wood. Wood can parse earth, break up rocks, and hold on to earth as it digs its root deep.
An earth person often come to a wood person for second opinion, analyze or parsing a situation.
Controlling Cycle:
Earth controls water as mountain rises above sea, dam hold back water and control its flow. Water flow in channels and river designated by earth.
An earth person often has the authority over water, water might often not like it but still listen to earth. Water often won't be able to rise above or over come earth.
Generative Cycle:
Fire generate earth. As fire burn anything into ashes.
Earth person is further enriched by having fire around. It is cleansing and and important process to keep earth at a balance.
Overacting Cycle:
Too much fire on earth can have destructive power as in volcanic eruption and forest fire.
As being with fire person too much can irritate earth, as earth is responsible, balance and thoughtful. Fire is more childish, wild and spontaneous. These conflicting characteristic can spark arguments.
Always in transformation, person keep on adapting to any environment.
Take shape and side of containing object. Not often hold a strong opinion on any thing. Debate isn't this person strength. Rather prefer discussion.
Person can be influenced, persuaded much easier than others.
Allow environment around to shape them, do not like exert force to shape the environment.
Easy going, calm person, transmit a peaceful feeling, cooling affect. A supportive individual.
Calmness, conserving and stillness are the positive emotion.
Water is representative of intelligence, wisdom, flexibility, softness and pliancy.
Have a great sense of hearing. Enjoy music, and often have musical talent. Use music to express self.
Behavior - Personality
Spontaneous person, if mood feels like it, then do it rather than thinking about it. But if not in a mood, doesn't matter what people tell you. You would stay put.
Less competitive person, will try your best but not devastated over defeats as compare to a metal person.
A care free person, not so worry about what others think, be yourself and feel free.
Either like salty food or eat very lightly salted.
Prefer to take role as a great follower, not comfortable in leading position in group environment.
If in leadership role, lead by group consent, taking everybody inputs.
Going along with the group. "Doesn't matter" or "whatever" are often the responses. Can fit in quickly also help everyone to get along.
Be able to maintain a vast network of friends, even weak links and always leave a friendly impression on others.
Always look happy when active with others. But deep inside, when by themselves, they can either be solitude or tranquil. Imagine a very calm still pond of water.
Weakness
Often a rather passive person, waiting for things to happen.
Over-abundance of water element in a person can cause indecisiveness or the inability to stick with a decision.
Fear is the feeling that always hold water person back from taking a step. Fear of failure, fear of rejection. A more conservative person.
Water person if left too long by themselves or raise in a less loving family often becoming an introvert, very cold personality, not so approachable. Like ice.
Interaction
Destructive Cycle:
Water is controlled by earth. Earth is used to build dam, wall that block water.
Controlling Cycle:
Water controls fire. A water person doesn't get the hot negative energy emit from a fire person. Water can remain calm and counsel a fire person.
Generative Cycle:
Water condensed on metal. Metal traps or hold water or can be melted into liquid. Water person doesn't mind hanging around metal person. Metal person get along with water, in which metal most of the time make the decision and water is happy with it. Mutual benefits, one is firm while one is soft. One is decisive, the other glad to have decision to be made for.
Water nurture wood and allow it to grow. Wood retain water and moisture.
Overacting Cycle:
Too much water on metal induce rust and discolor the glamorous quality of metal. Having a strong water person can irritate metal person. When metal feels less significant because water now taking charge or getting too much attention away from metal. Metal could easily become jealous.
Too much metal on little water cause water to lose it purity. As rust is formed, water turn brown, losing it clarity and calmness. A strong metal person can be too commanding and demanding to water, holding water in a container for too long rather than letting it flow. This causes water to stagnate, water person to become dull and lose it good qualities.
Too much wood with little water suck water dry. A water person feel insignificant, as if nothing can please wood. Water loses it calmness, small body of water can't buffer as much as large body of water. Water person become angry more easily, losing confidence and spontaneity.
On my first post: Why Wu Xing, I talked about the Wu Xing Concept (The Five element theory). On the later post I talked about the Five element theory in our food. Now, I would like to extend my observation of this Five Element theory on how it can be applied to YOU.
As each person can be characterized by one dominant element and one recessive element, it is the properties of the dominant element that reflected upon your personality, your taste, your preferences and especially your interaction with other people, who are also characterized as another element.
By reflecting upon those attributes of a person and more importantly their specific interaction with other people, I can formula a classification for which element best fits them.
Once a person is being classified as an element, further personality traits and behavior can be interpolated and predicted. Using the element properties, I can use it to understand and reason certain behaviors of a person or predict a most likely response to a situation that person is facing.
Wood Dominant Person
Visualize a tree, cluster of tree, or a forest
Properties - Characteristics
Enjoy the outdoor, active, more athletic.
Like to try new things, exploratory. (Tree growth)
Person is pretty in a natural way without much artificial material
Either like sour food or hate it.
Green or blue, or a mixture of those: purple, cyan, yellow are color of choice.
Strong solid person, develop confident and becoming stronger overtime.
Can store a large amount of information, secret and retain feelings. But absorb it over time (Tree sucks up nutrient, and water from earth)
However, retaining too much feelings without proper way of channeling, can be poisoning to self. This could cause emotional instability and break down (Over watering plan, or too much sun/heat)
Loyal and plan ahead. (Tree sticks to its solid and always plan ahead for where the next leaf will be at)
Carefully weight each decision. Often try to use too many outside variables in calculating making decision. Perfectionist. (As a tree growth is driven by many environment variables)
Stay firm to beliefs and sometimes could be stubborn.
Sight is the strongest sense, quick with the eyes, able to recognize and identify things quickly.
Behavioral - Personality
Like company, constantly seeking people and event. Hate to be alone, enjoy team work and group activities. (Tree often never grow alone)
Like to be near other wood, water or earth person.
Out going person, introvert by nature but extrovert around people.
Sensitive person, who does more listening than talking. (Sensitive to the environment)
Observant to everything going on around. Like a guard, sentry, observation post.
Wood is sentimental person, always dig its root deep and hold on to memories.
Remember things for a long time, including the details. (hold on to ground)
Prefer to stay put, doesn't like to move around a lot.
Family oriented, close niche of friends.
High integrity, keep your word.
Weakness
Lack of mobility, difficulty of maintaining relationship with many people at once but only keeping a selective close group.
Prefer gradual change but not sudden.
Seek growth from outside sources. Dependent stable environment to grow. Require a strong family and friendship foundation.
Interaction
Destructive Cycle:
Wood is destroyed by metal. Chopped up, restraint from growth. Metal tents to have bent, and shape wood (Think of bonsai tree).
A wood person is not compatible with metal, since a wood person will be constrained and shaped by metal. However, sometime these constrains can be beneficial as a guide for a tree to grow.
Earth is parted by wood, broken up by roots. But also prevent corrosion.
Wood digs into the earth, parting it apart. A wood person cause an earth person to loose it richness. Sucking away nutrient and cause earth's mood to be dampen. However wood help earth to maintain its integrity. Prevent corrosion and keep earth together. Keep earth person from being arrogant and boasting.
Insulting Cycle:
Wood person often upset a metal person. Wood person always push the metal out of comfort zone. Not paying attention as much to metal, ticking metal off.
Earth cause wood to feel unaccomplished. An earth person always a source of motivation for wood, a role model. Wood looks up to earth, but always feel like earth person is always ahead, achieve more and better than wood.
Generative Cycle:
Wood feeds on and consumed by fire. Fire is generate only from wood. Fire person is inspired and motivated by wood.
Water nurture and create wood. Wood person flourish with abundant of water friends.
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water: their savors and nutritional functions
The principle of Chinese diet and nutrition engross heavily on the theory of Wuxing or the Five Phases. According to Chinese medicine, the universe is composed of Wuxing: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This infers that the human body is composed of those Wuxing as well. A deficit of one the phases correspond to malfunction of one or more of the 12 internal organs. The harmony of all phases will keep the person healthy. All five phases are interconnected with generative cycle and destructive cycle.
The Chinese believes our food is also composed of Wuxing. Each type of food might hold different Wuxing properties. By appropriately adjusting our dietary intake, this practice is believed to help maintain and restore balance in our body. Additionally by understanding Chinese diet and nutrition, we could watch out diet and maintain good health.
Understanding the relationship between Wuxing and food is pertinent in order to know how to choose a healthy diet, prevent and treat illness. Wood is associated with sour, citrus and acidic taste. Sour is astringent and gathering . Sour directly affects the liver with the over production of saliva and injure to the muscles. An excess amount of sour in the body will cause all wood phase’s elements to over react and cause injuries to the associated organs and body tissue. According to the destructive cycle shown in the diagram above, excess of sour could cause weakening of the earth phase with is association with the Spleen. Also by this cycle, sourness could be counteracted or controlled by the addition of metal-pungent foods .
Fire is associated with bitterness. Bitter is drying but yet strengthening . Bitterness directly affects the heart, blood vessels and circulation. It helps us with growth and strengthening of our body. This will help tonify the heart, blood vessel and metabolism. Many heart related problems, such as obesity and high blood pressure, could be prevented if we increase our intact of bitter food. However, consuming too much alcohol, coffee or tobacco will introduce excess bitterness to the body. Too much of it could lead to Spleen energy dryness, congestion of stomach energy and a withering of the skin . It could also invade the metal phases and dry out the lung, which would not be favorable because the lung hates dryness. Excessive bitterness could be counteracted by addition of salty food.
Earth is associated with sweet. Sweet is harmonizing and retarding. Excessive sweetness could cause damage to the water phases. In our society, excessive consumption of sweetness is the biggest problem. One thing that makes sweetness so attractive is its ability to reduce pain by affecting the central nervous system . Excess sweet invade and cause damage to the water phase: including an unbalanced kidney, an overactive bladder, weakening bones, and teeth. Urinary problems and diabetes are directly related to excessive sweetness . Excessive also sweetness repels the fire phase. The damage to the fire phase could be similar as described in the previous paragraph, such as obesity, low metabolism and heart failure. Addition of sour foods could be used to counteract extra sweetness and strengthening the fire phase.
Metal is associated with hot, pungent, and aromatic. Metal is dispersing. "The pungent taste scatters, and is used to expel pathogenic factors. " Pungent is warming and treat cold as well. Metal tonifies water phases. If there is deficiency of water phases, the kidney is usually a deficiency of yang to heat up the body. Pungent warming food could treat yang deficiencies in water phases. Excessive pungent or spicy food could attack the wood and dry out the lung. Muscle knots, slack pulse and unhealthy fingernails could be a result of excessive metal pungent foods in the body. This can be counteracted by the addition of better foods .
Water is associated with salty. Salty tastes flow downward and soften hardness to treat swelling and constipation. In biomedical terms, saltiness create an osmotic gradient when salt passes through the large intestine and draws fluid back to help soften stools and constipation . Excessive salty diet invades the fire phase and injures the kidney. Sweet foods can be used to counteract this excess of salt.
Classification of food and their properties
Understanding the relationship of the Wuxing and taste is important in order to choose a balanced meal and treat any disharmony in the body. Here is some classification of food and their associated phases
Within each food type, there are different intrinsic properties of Wuxing. One interesting observation is that chocolate is under bitter taste. Some research has found out that eating a small amount of chocolate may help blood circulation and prevent heart disease. This is also true for consuming a small amount of coffee or tea. However, an excessive amount of these could render the reverse affect.
Besides the properties of Wuxing, foods also hold a Yin and Yang characteristic. According to Chinese Medicine, foods have an intrinsic temperature and they can be classified as hot, warm, neutral, cool or cold foods. The intrinsic temperature of food does not depend on whether food is hot because it is taken from the oven or cold because it is taken from the fridge but because food is understood to have an inherent "quality" in its nature .
Hot food has strong dry tastes. Eating too much hot food can cause damage associated with the fire phase. Hot food creates excess body heat which in turn causes the person to be restless, insomniac, have a hard stool and excess pimples. Body heat problem can lead to high blood pressure, emotion instability, and loose shen (spirit). Loose shen can be characterized as attention deficit disorder. The person has trouble sticking with a plan, or schedule and often becomes forgetful. Emotionally, the person could have sudden burst of emotion such as anger, grief or becoming bi-polar.
Cool foods have a harsh effect on the spleen and stomach. Cool food is usually associated with raw meat, fruit, vegetables and diary products. Raw food requires more effort to digest and broken down. Food that is cool in temperature also requires the body to heat it up which takes away body qi. Especially, diary products are raw, heavy and stagnant. Consuming an excess amount will cause blockage and digestion problems. Too much meat, cheese, butter, fats and sugar in the diet forms a substance called "phlegm". "Phlegm" tends to accumulate and obstruct various channels in the body .
Next I'll discuss the application of the wuxing diet.
Originally, I wanted to name this blog "5 Elements"; however the name was taken leaving only Wu Xing, the Chinese translation, available. This traditional concept of the 5 elements has been embedded deeply in the Chinese teaching, culture, medicine, philosophy, arts and more.
Wu Xing is a traditional Chinese philosophy which stated that natural phenomenon can be characterized into 5 elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. Also known as 5 phases, 5 movements, 5 steps.
The harmonious existent of these five elements are what gives the stability to any given system. The system could be any physical or abstract object. In the domain of medicine, the harmonious states between five elements determine the person health. From traditional Chinese medicine, sickness is the result of imbalance within the body of one or more of the elements. Bringing the body back to balance, relieve the excess of the domain elements and reinforce the depleted elements are the key to traditional Chinese medicine treatments.
It is the techniques and the arts of observing all natural phenomenons and behaviors in the frame of the five elements that helps us to characterize any system; from food, personality, geography, martial arts and flavors.... Given this new perspective, we can look at the world differently than the way most people are perceiving. Nature are cyclical, sustainable only in the boundary of harmonious states, artificial manipulation can bring the system out of balance which often results in dramatic restoration to the balanced state.
Wiki page that gives a good summarized concept of 5 elements
For the past few years, I have been paying more attentions in observing the existent of the five elements characteristics within the food that we ate, the personality of each person that I know and understanding the dynamic interaction between the elements to better explain the natural phenomonons. I'll elaborate on the next post.
