Fire and Steel

I'm thinking about two meetings coming up this week where I expect that the changes I will insist upon will meet some strong resistance. It calls to my mind the interplay of the five elements in Chinese astrology; the other half of the animals we often associate with the Lunar New Year. Fire is the element of change - especially substantial, fundamental change. Steel can be viewed as its opposite: the stabilizing, immovable spirit that helps persist, insist, and at times, resist.

And I imagine the blacksmith or the forger - the artisan that actually uses fire to sculpt metal through slow melting and very careful crafting. You have to heat the steel first, loosen its grip on its current shape, and then gently and tenderly nudge it in a new direction. Even in this malleable state, the metal's heat is very intense, seconds away from bursting into a new chemical formation you don't anticipate, snapping back into its original shape, or falling away completely.

So the metal's integrity must be nurtured and supported even as you bend it to suit a new purpose. After you navigate the resistance, provide comfort as it rests and cools into its new form. They will mourn the passing of its old figure. You need a tender touch here, too, as the cooling steel can be suddenly fragile, even brittle at some points. 

Only the caring hand can bend the steel without breaking it.