Earlier today I was feeling quite discouraged about a long-standing situation and thought I needed Gentian. My inner guidance said “no.” “Well, I feel really bad! Maybe I need Sweet Chestnut (the flower essence for despair)!” My inner guidance said “No! Try Gorse.”
I disagreed. Gorse is for people who have given up! That’s not true for me! But everything in me said “Gorse.” So I tried it, didn’t believe it would work, and went for a walk without making note of whether it had any energetic effects.
Oh yeah, that IS the Gorse attitude. You might try something, but you don’t really think it’s going to work. And why don’t you think it’s going to work? Because you’ve tried so many things and haven’t seen the success you desire. You’re not just discouraged (the reason to use Gentian), you’re deeply discouraged!
But it’s not as deep and horrifying as the Sweet Chestnut state—that’s when you think all hope is lost. The person in a Gorse state feels like giving up or has given up even though they may be aware that there are still avenues left to try (they just don’t sound very good). The person who needs Sweet Chestnut has tried those avenues, too! They’re at the end of their rope and need a completely new point of view. (For example: Sometimes the worst a person thinks can happen IS the way through. You surrender, tell someone “the worst thing I can imagine is about to happen,” and allow the assistance you would need in THAT situation to come through.)
And Gentian? That’s just when you’ve fallen off your horse, feel temporarily overwhelmed, and need help to get back on your feet and try again. You know you can do it most of the time, but you lost your balance for a bit. You do need to put this setback into perspective in order to sally forth with optimism and determination again, and that’s not terribly dissimilar from the pessimism of a Gorse point of view. But you haven’t given up. You’ve fallen back, maybe feel somewhat shell-shocked from the impact of the fall, but you haven’t given up or entered the state of thinking “what’s the use?” You WILL try again, you just don’t know exactly how and feel dismayed by that.
Honestly, it’s mostly a matter of degree, how long the situation has existed, how well your previous actions have worked out for you, how willing you are to try again, and how willing you are to ask for help. Sweet Chestnut can help you make a big shift in attitude to allow a major transformation in. Gorse can help you with that as well (but you already know at least one thing you can do). And any of the three can help you ask for help (or at least ask for more information) and try again.
—
And for those interested, I did try Gorse again and noted that it was at first VERY grounding. And then I felt energy clear up to the top of my head. I didn’t feel as pessimistic as I had been, and then thought that it might do me some good to try it again and keep using it until the feeling holds or a new idea comes in.
Also there’s a big difference between clinical depression and situationally-caused negative states such as these that lay people might call “depression.” Be sure to consult with the appropriate professionals to rule that out.
––––––––––––––––––––––––
Flower essences are used to assist with mind-body-spirit interactions and individual results may vary. They are extremely dilute which makes them quite safe. But because so little physical substance can be detected in a flower essence solution, these products are presumed to work on an energetic or vibrational level—something that cannot be adequately tested by western scientific methods. Claims made by me, therefore, are based on personal experiences and the evidence of the combined multiple decades of case notes by Dr. Edward Bach as well as Healing Herbs and Flower Essence Services (the companies who make the ingredients I use in my products). This is not, however, accepted medical evidence or substantiated scientific evidence from a modern allopathic point of view. I am not a medical doctor or licensed healthcare practitioner.
Statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information provided on my blog, websites or by this company are not a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a health care provider, and should not be construed as individual medical or mental health advice. Consulting with a health care provider is a must for anyone taking medications or working with a medical or mental health condition, and highly recommended before using any herbal product. Please consult your doctor or health care provider for any possible contraindications and/or interactions with current medications. I trust you to seek the medical guidance you need to use any of my herbal products healthily at your own risk.