Last week, I shared about how joy can overcome sadness. This week, let’s take a closer look at the emotion, fear.
In TCM (five elements), the kidneys are linked to the fear emotion. Our kidneys store the life essence (肾精) that we inherited from our parents, and one of its main purposes is for growth and development, especially in the young.
This is the reason why some elders advise against frightening a child too much, as it can negatively impact their growth! Fear can weaken the kidneys (in terms of Qi and essence), which in turn affects a child’s overall development.
A weak kidney (Qi and essence deficiency) also leads to weak legs, lower back, hearing, bones, as well as brain-memory issues, which tend to occur naturally in most elderly due to aging.
In fact, feeling extreme fear can lead to illness in some cases. Therefore, it is important for us to learn how to manage and counter fear.
Let’s learn what is the emotion that can counter fear in the following summary:
- In TCM five elements, the kidneys are represented by the water element.
- The only element that can counter water is earth.
- The earth element is represented by the spleen organ.
- Spleen is associated with the 思虑 emotion.
- 思虑 can mean a few things—in the past, 思虑 means worry. But here, it can also refer to thinking, reasoning, analyzing.
- Thus, the act of thinking, reasoning, and analyzing can counter fear.
Following is a popular story <<杯弓蛇影>> that illustrates how reasoning (understanding why) can help to cure an illness that is caused by fear:
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During the Jin Dynasty, there was a man named Le Guang who loved making friends and often invited them to his home for drinks and conversations.
At one such gathering, a guest was drinking from his cup when he suddenly noticed what appeared to be a small snake swimming inside his cup.
Though terrified, he didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the other guests, so he reluctantly drank the wine.
After he returned home, he fell ill.
Le Guang visited him and asked, “You were perfectly fine at the party the other day. How did you suddenly become so sick?”
The guest replied, “While I was drinking, I suddenly saw a snake in my cup, wriggling. I felt scared and disgusted, but out of respect for your hospitality, I forced myself to drink it. Afterward, I left and have been feeling unwell ever since, as if there’s a snake in my stomach. That’s why I became ill.”
Le Guang thought about it and realized that the guest must have mistaken the reflection of a bow hanging on the wall for a snake in his cup.
So, he invited the guest back to his house for another drink. Once again, the guest saw a snake in his cup. Le Guang pointed to the bow hanging on the wall and said, “Look, the snake in your cup is just the shadow of this bow!”
Le Guang then took the bow down from the wall, and the snake in the cup disappeared.
The guest (after finding out what the real ‘snake’ is) suddenly understood and immediately recovered from his illness, feeling greatly relieved and happy.
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Fear can be a disastrous trigger for sickness/illness that is uncurable by physical medicine.
As the saying goes, 心病还须心药医 – it means that emotional or psychological issues need to be addressed with solutions that target the heart or mind, rather than with physical remedies.
I hope you find the information useful!
This is also the period that chrysanthemum blossoms. And in TCM, the best foods for people are those that are available in that season (应季食材). Thus, drinking some chrysanthemum tea is also highly encouraged. 
