5 Elements Are Different Ways of Loving

Someone makes me feel understood not by saying a word, but by presenting his creation based on my ideas. And there, I feel love.

Then I understood that there are really many ways to express love.

And many ways to love.

Water — listening — is a tender, inward, non-active kind of love.

Fire — excitement — is an outward love for creating.

Earth — nourishing — might be the easiest and most common way to be seen as a kind of maternal love.

Wood — directing — could then be a kind of paternal love, leading and supporting others.

And Air — communication and space — is more about our wider relationships with people and the world.

Anyway, the one thing that runs the whole system is love.

If you move through the cycle without love,

Water becomes a pond of heavy emotion: jealousy and obsession.

Fire burns out the people around you, and yourself.

Earth gets dried out, or becomes sticky that you can’t move.

Wood leads everywhere and leaves everything and everyone behind.

There is no harvest in such a place.

Air also dries out, or there is no space for things to grow or come out.

There is no space to breathe.

So this is why we need a proper distance between us.

Space to observe yourself and each other.

And that distance varies with every relationship.

In every possible way, in every minute of our daily lives, we are learning how to keep a healthy distance — enough to avoid making each other annoyed or tired, while continuing to express love and making sure it is received with care and appreciation.

I realized that feeling understood really matters to me.

I want to understand myself.

I want to understand this world.

And I want to understand you.

That’s my way of loving.

So let me hear your story.

I am here to listen, and to understand you.