Managing the Stress Created by Coronavirus

Dear Readers: Thank you so much for your positive response to last week’s blog offering insights into how each of the elemental personalities might handle the isolation and confinement associated with the coronavirus pandemic. I am deeply grateful for your positive comments.

I’ve also heard from many of you that the stress associated with the coronavirus pandemic has been hard to manage. Certainly, it is stressful to worry whether you and your loved ones will manage to stay healthy as the virus spreads around the globe. It is stressful to wonder if there will be adequate healthcare should someone you love need it. And it is stressful to ponder how best to keep your household running and adequately supplied when faced with layoffs, shortages, and shelter-in-place orders.

There is no doubt that the concerns associated with COVID-19 have thrust most of us into a state of prolonged stress. When added to whatever stress we were experiencing in our individual lives prior to the pandemic, we are likely experiencing significant imbalance in our energies. But we have choices in how we address this stress, and the Five Elements model offers us informed options.

A beautiful aspect of the Five Elements model is that it simplifies what can be a highly complex situation. From a Five Elements perspective, the model says there are only two ways the elements can become stressed or imbalanced. They can move to a state of over energy (excess) or under energy (deficiency). And when that happens, the fix for the imbalance sits in the interactions of the elements with each other. This is simple at the level of the model but does get a bit more complicated when applied to the human personalities the elements represent.

That said, it’s still relatively easy to identify what’s out of balance when we’re stressed and take appropriate steps to relieve the stress and regain balance. And if you are unfamiliar with the Five Element model and the elemental personalities, I gave a brief overview of both in last week’s post. To begin with, we need to recognize what each elemental personality looks like when it’s stressed enough to lose its balance. To do that, it’s important to remember that even though the primary element in our personality expression is the most likely place for us to exhibit stress (that’s actually one way we identify our primary elemental personality: where we go when we’re stressed), we all have all five elements in our energetic make-up so can (and do) find ourselves stressed in any one of them at various times depending on what’s happening in our lives.

For example, if you are not a primary Earth personality but are facing shortages of food or other supplies necessary for your home, it is very likely the Earth element part of your personality will be what goes out of balance because there is significant stress around your home.

Likewise, you may not be a primary Metal personality, but when hundreds of thousands of people are dying around the world, the grief over the loss of life can (and will) impact your personal Metal energies. As a human family, we are all affected by what happens to each other and our planet, so in the face of this global pandemic, the Metal element part of our personalities may well be what becomes imbalanced.

The good news is that there are fairly simple behavioral ways to determine when an aspect of our elemental personality is out of balance and equally simple ways to help it move back into balance. Please bear in mind that these are meant as guidelines for determining where you or someone close to you is carrying excessive stress and how to help. They are not meant as substitutes for professional support when needed.

So, let’s take a look at what can happen when stress causes each of the elemental personalities to become imbalanced in either a deficient or excessive fashion.

Stressed Water Element: Deficient Water energy will often manifest as emptiness or hopelessness. If this happens, you want to build Water energy. A few easy approaches include spending time near water, surrounding yourself with the color blue, drinking ginseng tea, or wearing a lapis or aquamarine stone.  And of course, drinking water always helps!

Excess Water energy will often manifest as narcissism or intolerance. If this happens, you want to build Earth energy, the energy in the Five Elements model that helps control Water. A few easy approaches include spending time planning or working in a garden, surrounding yourself with the color yellow, drinking peppermint tea, or wearing a tigers eye or citrine stone.

Unsure whether the Water part of your elemental personality is over or under-energized? This exercise will always bring your Water energy back into balance: Place the palm of one hand across the back of your head directly above the neck, and the other palm across the front of your forehead. Hold gently for 2 to 5 minutes. This can be done as often as necessary.

Stressed Wood Element: Deficient Wood energy will often manifest as indecision or frustration. If this happens, you want to build Wood energy. A few easy approaches include spending quiet time near trees or green plants, surrounding yourself with the color green, drinking dandelion tea, or wearing a malachite or green aventurine stone.

Excess Wood energy will often manifest as impatience or anger. If this happens, you want to build Metal energy, the energy that helps control Wood. A few easy approaches include meditation, surrounding yourself with the color white, drinking red clover tea, or wearing a hematite stone.

Unsure whether the Wood part of your elemental personality is over or under-energized? This exercise will always bring your Wood energy into balance: Place the thumbs of each hand on your face at the outside edges of your eyes and rest the fingers of each hand across the forehead. Hold gently for 2 to 5 minutes. This can be done as often as necessary.

Stressed Fire Element: Deficient Fire energy will often manifest as being scattered or overwhelmed. If this happens, you want to build Fire energy. A few easy approaches include spending time around a fire or someplace warm, surrounding yourself with the color red, drinking motherwort tea, or wearing a garnet or ruby stone.

Excess Fire energy will often manifest as anxiety or panic. If this happens, you want to build Water energy, the energy that helps control Fire. As mentioned, a few easy approaches include spending time near water, surrounding yourself with the color blue, drinking ginseng tea, or wearing a lapis or aquamarine stone.

Unsure whether the Fire part of your elemental personality is over or under-energized? This exercise will always bring your Fire energy into balance: Place the palm of one hand across the back of your head directly behind your eyes and the other palm across the front of your forehead. Hold gently for 2 to 5 minutes. This can be done as often as necessary.

Stressed Earth Element: Deficient Earth energy will often manifest as being needy or clingy. If this happens, you want to build Earth energy. As mentioned, a few easy approaches include spending time planning or working in a garden, surrounding yourself with the color yellow, drinking peppermint tea, or wearing a tigers eye or citrine stone.

Excess Earth energy will often manifest as meddling or excessive worrying. If this happens, you want to build Wood energy, the energy that helps control Earth. As mentioned, a few easy approaches include spending time near trees or green plants, surrounding yourself with the color green, drinking dandelion tea, or wearing a malachite or green aventurine stone.

Unsure whether the Earth part of your elemental personality is over or under-energized? This exercise will always bring your Earth energy into balance: Place the thumbs of each hand on your cheekbones directly below your eyes and rest the fingers of each hand across the forehead. Hold gently for 2 to 5 minutes. This can be done as often as necessary.

Stressed Metal Element: Deficient Metal energy will often manifest as being critical or confused. If this happens, you want to build Metal energy. As mentioned, a few easy approaches include meditation, surrounding yourself with the color white, drinking red clover tea, or wearing a hematite stone.

Excess Metal energy will often manifest as inflexibility or a need for control. If this happens, you want to build Fire energy, the energy that helps control Metal. As mentioned, a few easy approaches include spending time around a fire or someplace warm, surrounding yourself with the color red, drinking motherwort tea, or wearing a garnet or ruby stone.

Unsure whether the Metal part of your elemental personality is over or under-energized? This exercise will always bring your Metal energy into balance: Place the palm of one hand on the top of your head and the other palm across the front of your forehead. Hold gently for 2 to 5 minutes. This can be done as often as necessary.

I hope this post helps us all manage our stress levels better during these trying times. While we may be unable to do much to change what is going on in the world right now (other than staying home as much as possible), we can own our reactions and take the necessary steps to stay balanced. And considering all that’s happening, that will be pretty great. Blessings to us all!