There are four natural elements: air, fire, water and earth. They are mentioned from the zodiac signs, to the Planeteers.
What we tend to forget is that these are within us – our thoughts, passion, emotions, life, but most important of all is our heart; our desire.
Also part of Weekend Writing Prompt #199
Emotions are like an invisible shadow that clings on to us ever since we come into this world. They serve to help us taste life to the maximum. They may enlighten us or confuse us according to the situation. But in essence, they are what makes us stand out from every other species. The fact that we can feel things, sometimes (too) deeply.
We talk of and experience emotional outbursts, because sometimes our feelings get too difficult to bear.
And we often get carried away by what we feel, that sense of excitement, the adrenaline rush, the fear even. We let our emotions dictate our actions and sometimes this results in complicated situations.
So, we are prompted to follow our heart – our feelings – but to take our brain with us. To be smart in the things we pursue and we feel we desire, but to make our decisions wisely, logically and rationally. It’s not always easy to think before you act. Because sometimes your heart pulls you faster and stronger than your mind can convince you to think. It takes you to places you shouldn’t be, places that are as exciting as perilous, ones that can cause both happiness and pain. Your heart can easily drag you into situations you cannot return from, no matter how much your brain may try to take over afterwards.
Emotions are our strongest asset but also our greatest curse.
He entered the room like a raging bull, which was easy to do because he had the appearance of a bull. When he got angry though, he huffed and puffed and stomped his feet. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him. He was fearsome at sight.
But like many things, appearances deceive.
He had the ability to make a room messy in no time. To throw things around and even break a few objects as he passed. It was not his fault he was vast and space-consuming. Deep inside though he had the heart of a lamb. He was easily hurt, which was mostly caused because he trusted people too much. He mistakenly believed that others would do for him what he would do for them. He couldn’t understand that not everyone had the kind heart he had or even cared as much. When he felt broken or worse, enraged, he would turn into something not even he himself could recognise. And it took thrice as long for him to calm down afterwards.
He hated how messy he could become and how out-of-self. But he took a little pleasure in the fact that, according to various researches published at times, messy people are thought to be more intelligent than the average person. He believed it reflected the messiness of his brain – how so many things were clamped into such a small space. He acknowledged the literal bull character wasn’t good for anyone, but all he needed was some comforting words and the acknowledgement that he was not alone. Like every creature in this world, his heart too would soften when it received some tender, love and care. Maybe that too would somewhat organise his messy mind.
Also part of Daily Prompt: Messy
Legend has it that if you can warm up a snowman’s heart, s/he will become a real person. The person s/he once was. That is why we try to dress up these big, round snow-persons as best as possible, expecting that the glow will reignite inside and they will return to being happy.
Joy grew up believing in this legend and every year she would devise all sorts of things in the hope of turning the snowman into a real person. She would dress him with beautiful, colourful, clothes – not just the scarf, but a jacket, gloves, a woollen hat, sunglasses even. But that wouldn’t work. One year, she even made a snowwoman to keep him company, wishing that love and companionship was what made the snowman’s heart grow colder.
The year her parents divorced, Joy was still a teenager. When winter came, she understood why the season causes some to fill with melancholy and depression. And when her own heart was broken, she realised what it is that makes some hearts grow cold.
Then she found a random hand-written note in a book she had borrowed from the library. It read: “Here’s the thing about people with good hearts. They give you excuses when you don’t explain yourself. They accept apologies you don’t give. At your worst, they lift you up, even if it means putting their priorities aside. It’s because they don’t make you work hard for the attention they give you. They accept the love they think they’ve earned and you accept the love you think you’re entitled to. Let me tell you something. Fear the day when a good heart gives up on you. Our skies don’t become grey out of nowhere. Our sunshine does not allow the darkness to take over for no reason. A heart does not turn cold unless it’s been treated with coldness for a while”.
It was signed with a snowflake.
©Kelvin M. Knight
“Do you know how the heart symbol came to be?” Her grandfather saw her gazing mesmerized at the unexpected shape on the sliced bread.
“There’s the belief that this drawing we use to symbolize love and all its associates is in reality two human hearts fused together as one”.
She looked at him, her eyes suddenly sparkling.
“Is that the reason we are constantly searching for our other half? To feel whole?”
“It may very well be”, he replied.
His wife came into the room. It didn’t matter how old they were, he still beamed every time he saw her.
Also part of Friday Fictioneers
Black clouds fill the sky
Dark as my heart.
The cold freezes the misty air.
I sit here alone
the snowflakes melting
into raindrops.
There is no warmth,
No fireplace lit. The memories
are burning.
You forgot and so easily
moved on. But my soul
is still hurting.
Shattered dreams
like broken glass
never the same again.
There is no life
in winter’s frost. No love,
no remedy.
It’s time for something
fresh. A new start.
Maybe next year.
It’s hard to be perfect. No matter if it is just keeping up the appearance of being faultless.
Joseph knew it well. All his life he was trying to prove himself to others – even to his family and friends. That he was different. That he wasn’t like the rest of the guys out there. He had something special boiling up inside him and was striving to find a way to let it out. All amidst friendly mockery and criticism that he took on like a clown – with a smile on the outside and a frown inside.
But he never told anyone about this. Not even Alicia. He just wanted her to be happy. He was happy as long as she was. And that was all that mattered.
At least that was how he felt. Most of the time.
They were both trying to get ahead in their careers. Alicia had motivated him to reach higher. But it seemed that no matter what they did, no matter how many applications they sent, no matter how much networking they did, nothing seemed to work. There was no window opening up. Not even a mouse-hole.
And at work it all seemed to pile up. He was getting more and more jobs assigned to him, which of course he could do given his extraordinary skills, but under normal circumstances it would take another two people to share the tasks. Yet no matter how efficiently and accurately he responded to his obligations, there always seemed to be someone coming back and asking for more.
Alicia was at her limits too, as she was facing a similar situation at work and was being suffocated under never-ending workloads that seemed to proliferate instead of decrease.
Joseph had to listen to her complain, while she tried to console him when his turn came to externalize his agitation.
But one day, Joseph felt something was wrong. He woke up with a numbness in his feet and stumbled on the way to the bathroom. Something that had never happened before. He didn’t tell Alicia. There was no need to make her worry.
The doctor he immediately saw told him that unfortunately they detected a genetic mutation that caused an unforeseen illness to develop. Something that would require extensive, prolonged and continuous treatment.
Joseph felt the ground from under his feet disappear. He could feel the blood flushing out of his brain and rushing to his heart, which was beating like a drum. Cold sweat trickled down his spine, as he attempted to remain conscious. He could hear all his dreams shatter right in front of him. Right at that moment. Because everything would be different now.
At work, it was just another tedious day with demands piling up and everyone nagging about each other. It was bad enough he had his company to worry about, Alicia wanted to lash out on someone about her own ordeal.
And that was the moment he cracked. The moment when he felt it was better to behave like a jackass and get her to move away from him than make her suffer with him this unexpected future. It was easier to be the guy she hated. The person who did not deserve her. To make her see that she deserved better. It was better to break his own heart into a thousand pieces than force her to change her own dreams for his sake. For a future that no-one knew what it would bring and how.
Alicia ran away from him, with the image of a prince turning into a beast in her head.
And Joseph, he closed up inside his shell, hoping that one day she would understand – that he loved her so much, he let her go.
Mark fell in love with Nadine the minute she walked in the door. Her large round eyes reminded him of a squirrel lost in a huge park looking for its acorn. She was adorable and he knew that a spark had been ignited. She was the girl he was waiting for and he would do whatever he could to enchant her. A love is only as powerful as the strength of its constituent mutual feelings.
Nadine seemed lost. She did not know where she was in life. All her dreams seemed to dissolve and everything appeared so much harder in reality. This was not what she had hoped to experience. She was indeed lost. And then she met this charming young gentleman who made her laugh whole-heartedly and to whom she could confide her thoughts, feelings and worries. He was the shoulder to lean on when all else disappeared.
The spark grew and the flame was brighter than ever. Winds and tornadoes tried to blow it out but somehow they both managed to keep it alight.
But then Lady Discord opened her wings and the flame began to die out. The couple fought more often about silly things and they began to even question their very relationship. The one they struggled so far to maintain.
When Mark surpassed his limits one day and yelled at Nadine everything he was holding back so long, things that no one would want to hear from their loved one, from the person that was supposed to stand by them, Nadine knew that something had to change.
So she made the leap. And left. With a broken heart and an uncertain dream.
When she went to Lille she hoped things would be different. That she would finally realize her dreams. That she would find the opportunities she longed for and be liberated from the crushing sense of inadequacy that was drowning her.
Mark was inconsolable. He even flew to Lille and tried to find her. But how do you find a needle in a haystack?
He was waiting for her in the central square for six hours. She knew it as the time-stamp on his mobile messages proved, but she never appeared.
He left with the hope that she would see his message. The one that said “I was here looking for my heart. You took it and I cannot live without it. Or without you”.
Inspired by the story of a 22-year old Greek boy who flew to Lille to apologise to his ex-girlfriend (who was there on Erasmus) for foolishly breaking up with her after an incredible two months.
Also part of Daily Prompt: He’s (She’s) So Fine
There is a tree in the back garden of Mrs Wilson’s house. A sycamore tree that has been growing tall for decades. I have always remembered it there. Offering its shade in the stifling summer heat, and its protection from the gushing winter hail. It has always been there. An ever-present protector.
Mrs Wilson says it was her grandfather that planted the tree. But she herself isn’t so sure about it either. How many generations have sat on its branches, pulled its leaves, climbed up its thick trunk and even hung from it self-made swings to play with. The incidents and life-experiences this tree could have witnessed are beyond measure.
Gemini, Mrs Wilson’s small Yorkshire dog was attached to this tree. No-one realized why. Ever since he was a puppy he would crawl up by its trunk and fall asleep. Whenever he was scolded for something he would run outside and hide under the shade and large, falling leaves of the tree. It was his haven. And even in the rain and thunder, he would stare outside the window at the tree and howl, upset that it was suffering the bad weather all alone when he was stuck inside.
It is amazing how creatures become attached to one another so intensely, so absolutely, so tightly. Things that some may consider so unimportant, things such as a tree that people simply cut down if it is in their way, things that do not offer some apparent benefit. It is these things though that provide the refuge, the protection, the support that we so often need.
Gemini found it in a great, old, sycamore tree.
Mrs Wilson found it in a photo of her husband who recently passed away.
And I, I find it anywhere, depending on the place and circumstance – in a soft-toy given by a loved one, in a picture of happier times, in a letter of love, in places that come from the heart.
Also part of Daily Prompt: Oasis
MC's Whispers 