Quitting; a gift of the Metal Element

“Quitting” has many connotations. 

If I quit school, I’m a failure. If I quit smoking, I’m a success story.

Personally, I have quit many things – some would be declared failures and others successes.

Quitting is an ending of one thing, and the beginning of another.
Endings, letting go, limiting – these balance all the beginnings, the growing and the expansions. Too much of either creates imbalance. “Quitting” can be a balancing act that moves us toward happiness and wellness.

It can be challenging to understand how stopping something “mid-way” is really the best course of action. “Quitting” can be labeled good or bad. From the broadest perspective, there is no one way for all of us to live. We each find our own way in this life, and that includes when to begin something and when to end (quit) something.

The Metal Element (letting go) balances the Wood Element (growth). 

The current western culture favors the Wood Element. We have a positive judgement about growth and expansion, and a negative judgement about decrease and limits.

All of this judgement can get in the way of intuitively determining the best course of action, or non-action, for us individually. One of the purposes of quieting the mind and going inward, is to get below the realm of reactive or judgmental thoughts, in order to connect with our inner resources of greater wisdom and self-knowing. 

Here, at the center, things are quieter and simpler. From our center, we make decisions that make sense to us as the unique individual that we are. In this way, we unfold our unique journey as we quit this and start that, and quit this and start that…

To learn more about the Elements, click here.