Too Much Fire

The summer here has been a season of heat and wildfires.  The Okonagon Complex fire is now the largest in this state’s history and predictions are that it may continue until October, when snow flies in the higher altitudes — which means we could have two more months of this. Day after day the area is blanketed in smoke and I wonder if it might be affecting us on a deeper level.  One friend said she has been irritable, another confided that she felt lonely and couldn’t sleep.  A man told me he felt screwed up and lost.  The study of acupuncture concerns five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal, water — and each of us is a blend of those influences. I wanted to find out more and I read about symptoms that accompany an excess of the fire element:  insomnia, agitation, loneliness, isolation, anxiety, restlessness and more.  Theoretically, dietary additions that can help offset this this are green, leafy vegetables. I believe that if we grazed all day long, no amount of green leafy vegetables could compensate for the excess of fire in our systems this summer.