Honeysuckle
Lonicera caprifolium
Insufficient interest in the present · the 7 drift-remedies · 13 of 38
For living in the past — the nostalgia that has become a refuge. Bach's remedy for the soul that prefers what was.
What Honeysuckle actually treats
Honeysuckle is Bach's remedy for the person whose attention is in the past. The good old days. The relationship that ended. The home that was sold. The version of life that was. Bach saw the Honeysuckle state as a gentle but real grief that has not completed — the past is preferred to the present, and the present is therefore unable to nourish. The remedy returns the gift of memory without the captivity to it.
The state it meets
Living in memory. The past is more vivid than the present. Nostalgia as refuge. "Things used to be better." Re-reading old letters, scrolling old photos, returning to old places. The future feels less real than what was.
The shift it brings
Memory as treasury, not prison. The past is honored without being fled to. The present becomes available — not because the past was diminished, but because the soul has stopped needing it as escape.
In love
Honeysuckle in love is the partner who keeps comparing this relationship to the previous one, or who lives in the early-days memories of THIS relationship rather than meeting it as it now is. The work is to fall in love with what is, not what was.
In work
Honeysuckle in work is the founder whose best work was years ago and who has not let themselves do new work since. The remedy supports the move to make new things, not just curate the old.
A 5-minute practice
Once a week, deliberately revisit one good memory — fully, with permission, no guilt. Then close it. The opposite of repression is not constant return; it is honored revisit, then full engagement with now.
Pair with
3 key questions
- What chapter of my life am I still living in even though it ended — and what would honoring its ending free in me?
- If I let the past be precious AND complete, what energy currently spent on returning to it would become available for now?
- What new thing am I afraid to start because it would mean accepting that the old thing is over?
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