1. Which element represents you best?
– While like most others I think I see parts of the other elements in my personality, like I know I relate to the freedom of air or I can be stubborn at times, which I think most would associate with earth, I think that Fire or Water would represent me best. Fire encapsulates my passion and energy for things that love. Fire, even when it’s not an intense blaze, always has this energy and warmth to it that captures perfectly how I feel like when I’m able to talk about what I love. I feel re-energized, excited, confident, and completely in love with my subjects. I also hope that for other people most of the time I’m open and friendly and that I don’t come across as too closed off. I always try to be warm and kind to people.
When it comes to my emotions though I feel like I much more identify with water and it’s mercurial, always changing states. I feel like I, for the most part, consistently wear my heart on my sleeve, and that my mood or emotions are always shifting, like how water has the potential to change states or how an ocean can change from still waters to thrashing waves. Unlike fire and more like water, however, are periods where I lose energy or momentum. There are periods where I really lose motivation orI’m able to be very calm and take in things at a much slower pace. I’m not totally still and I’m still moving and changing, but things are much quieter and moving more slowly, like deeper currents in the ocean.
2. Choose a favorite landscape, a place that you love most of all, and find a photo of it to share.
– Two of my favorite landscapes are the hills close to the shore of San Diego with an approaching marine layer and my home during a fall thunderstorm. Both of them are so different, but both feel so cathartic and cleansing. The smell of saltwater and fresh rain makes it easier for me to breathe and usually creates an atmosphere that lets me relax and unravel my thoughts.
3. Which ideas of those four basic aspects of nature interested you the most?
– For me, the historical, the cultural, the religious, and the philosophical all go hand in hand. I love mythology and for me, it’s fascinating to look at the Chinese and Greek elements and to see how they influenced not only how they saw the world and their mythological and spiritual connections, but also how those ancient beliefs changed and influenced our modern ideas about how we view the elements today.