Fire and Air

 

Today while returning to my apartment unit, I got onto an elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor, which is the floor I live on. A woman then entered, pressed the button for the twenty-sixth floor, pulled out her phone, and began staring at it. When the elevator reached the sixth floor, she mindlessly stepped off the elevator and began heading down the hallway, all without looking up from her phone. Since she had pressed the button for the twenty-sixth floor, I assumed that was where she lived, so I called out to her that she had probably gotten off on the wrong floor. I turned out to be right, and she returned to the elevator while I went to my unit. 

This was an interesting incident for me. The fact that I noticed she wasn't getting off on the floor she'd pushed the button for, and the fact that I was able to deduce she'd probably meant to get off on the twenty-sixth floor, suggests that the air element is at decent strength within me. The air element, after all, is the element of awareness and clarity of mind. The fact that I called out to her to let her know suggests that the fire element is at decent strength within me. The fire element is the element of action. 

If something like this were to happen to my old self, and by this I mean the person I was before working through IIH, I would also have noticed and deduced that the woman had gotten off on the wrong floor. The air element has always been at decent strength within me. However, I wouldn't have called after her. Instead, I'd have just left her to figure out her mistake on her own. The fire element, at least in its positive form, was weak within me, so I wouldn't have taken action. 

Sometimes, Bardonists wonder how they can assess the quality of their magical equilibrium. Observing yourself throughout the day is a good way to start. Even little incidents can give you insightful clues regarding how much you have improved or regressed.