You don’t need to be an activist to benefit from this post. We’re all suffering much of the same, whether we’re on the front lines of resistance or just numb from too much horror. These Bach Flower Essences, will help you with the heavy, draining emotions that come from being overwhelmed. One of them will also help you with feelings of guilt if you voted One Onion (spoiler…it’s Pine).
Gentian is the essence that will help us when we have had a set back that we are disappointed with. It helps us keep our faith in our idea and action and gives us the resilience to try again. I find it very quick acting in its ability to restore the energy and focus needed to overcome temporary disappointment.
Gorse is the remedy for pessimism and resignation. It’s the one when you have given up and ask yourself ‘what’s the point’? Gloom seems to have overwhelmed you and it’s hard to see any joy or point. Pessimism is the key characteristic of this remedy.
Mustard helps us with the gloom that can descend upon us quickly and out of the blue. Unlike Gorse, this isn’t a long lasting sadness and will often lift quickly with a little Mustard Bach Flower Remedy.
Sweet Chestnut gives solace when we are at an emotional breaking point. The anguish is too much and we think we are ready to snap; that our mind or soul will break. Too much bad news and trauma can push us to this point very rapidly because we are overloaded with bad news (and admit it, we’re all a little addicted to it, aren’t we? It helps validate our worldviews).
Willow benefits us when we are feeling resentful. Long term anger and frustration and even jealousy can develop into this feeling and becomes a chronic drain on our vitality and optimism. It is the remedy to use when.
Wild Rose can help us when we’ve given up, when it’s all too much to deal with, so we withdraw into apathy. Its for when we give up and just accept the way things are. Wild Rose reawakens our interest in life and rekindles our ambitions.
Larch is the remedy to use when one feels that we are not up to the task, that our efforts aren’t good enough – that we aren’t good enough. The enormity of what we are struggling against and the nature of the poly-crisis that we are feeling the weight of can make us feel that we aren’t enough to help resolve it. Unlike Wild Rose or even Gorse, we haven’t given up, we just doubt our own abilities. Larch will help us realise that we are worthy, that our efforts contribute to the greater struggle.
Pine is for when we feel the draining emotion that is guilt. We may feel guilty that our actions haven’t worked, that we didn’t work hard enough or protest enough – we try to put the blame for the failure on something we did or said. Guilt can paralyse us and prevent us from moving forward by letting us understand that the future is there and anything from the past can be dealt with. We may have been wrong and done something that was bad for ourselves or others but carrying it with us without working with it can be debilitating. Pine brings our energy into the present with self compassion so that we can deal with our guilt.
All of these states can lead to tiredness and exhaustion. To support the remedies recommended for the states in this post, you can add Olive which helps us to re-energise our nervous system after exhaustion. Hornbeam will help you when the heaviness is stopping you from getting started Imagine the feeling you get on a Monday morning when you have to get up and get to work and you’ll be on the right track.
In our efforts to make the world a better place, we need to remember that we are in new territory. Things are happening that have never occurred before. We have leaders that are out of control and are making it up as they go along. We have a climate that is now, literally, out to kill us if we don’t get our shit together and slow down its heating. We have eliminated the strongest protection that a world and a society can have – diversity. Is it any wonder that we feel sad, disappointed, frustrated and angry.
All of these feelings are perfectly normal reactions to a world that is out of control. You are not sick or wrong for feeling any of these things. They show that you have a heart.
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