What Is Your Five Element Constitutional Type?

Quiz Questions

• 1.
  Check each answer you feel applies to you. 

  • A.
    I enjoy healthy competition
  • B.
    I am comfortable in a leadership role
  • C.
    I tend to see potential in others
  • D.
    I like to have a plan
  • E.
    Because I see how to proceed, I often end up leading by default
  • F.
    I easily put plans in place to achieve a goal
  • G.
    I sometimes feel responsible for other people's lives
  • H.
    I can sometimes put a lot of pressure on myself and/or others
  • I.
    I am decisive and self-assured
  • J.
    I sometimes feel like it's is all up to me or all on my shoulders
  • K.
    I am uncomfortable with vulnerability
  • L.
    I sometimes find it hard to apologize to others
• 2.
  Check each answer you feel applies to you. 

  • A.
    Having solitude and retreat is necessary for me and my well-being.
  • B.
    I enjoy being on my own.
  • C.
    I admire precision.
  • D.
    It feels good when proper procedures are followed.
  • E.
    I see beauty in things that other's don't.
  • F.
    I know when something is valuable and when something isn't valuable.
  • G.
    I tend to hold my breath or not breathe fully.
  • H.
    Feeling pure has value to me.
  • I.
    I tend to hold myself to high standards
  • J.
    I tend to hold others to high standards
  • K.
    I tend to hold life to high standards
  • L.
    I tend to have dry skin
• 3.
  Check each answer you feel applies to you.

  • A.
    I am a people pleaser.
  • B.
    I am invested in what other people think of me.
  • C.
    I am most comfortable when I feel in control.
  • D.
    I dread the future
  • E.
    I tend to do things quickly. I am uncomfortable slowing down.
  • F.
    I prefer deep meaningful conversation to small talk.
  • G.
    I can feel responsible for other people's happiness.
  • H.
    I make decisions based on emotion and feeling.
  • I.
    I can be intense and give my all to everything I do.
  • J.
    I can have a hard time letting go and enjoying myself.
  • K.
    I tend to be anxious.
  • L.
    I like to make people feel better.
• 4.
  Check each answer you feel applies to you.

  • A.
    I enjoy contemplation and deep thought.
  • B.
    I tend to seek the truth.
  • C.
    I like to proceed with caution, taking time to weigh all the options.
  • D.
    I am content being on my own for long periods of time.
  • E.
    I am aware of and keep tabs on my resources and reserves.
  • F.
    I am aware how uncertain life is.
  • G.
    I have a hard time with too much social stimulation.
  • H.
    Sometimes I feel frozen with fear.
  • I.
    Sometimes it feels good to withdraw from others and from life.
  • J.
    I have ongoing low back pain and issues.
  • K.
    I move slowly and tend toward being sedentary.
  • L.
    I consider myself purposeful and steadfast.
• 5.
  Check each answer you feel applies to you.

  • A.
    I consider myself a nurturing person.
  • B.
    I enjoy bringing people together and being a part of a strong community.
  • C.
    I easily sympathize with others.
  • D.
    I appreciate sympathy from others.
  • E.
    I tend to worry and ruminate.
  • F.
    I am uncomfortable with boredom.
  • G.
    I place great importance on accomplishing and doing.
  • H.
    I enjoy being around others and sometimes feel uncomfortable being alone.
  • I.
    I can at times feel needy and insatiable.
  • J.
    I sometimes feel that no one cares for me the way I care for them.
  • K.
    I put other's needs before my own.
  • L.
    I tend to crave sweets.

Quiz Outcomes

• 1.
  Wood

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  Wood is the time of spring. In spring, all of nature, including our human form, pushes up and out and creates new growth. Wood constitutions are decisive, competitive, and self-assured. They have vision and can use that vision for new growth and helping others grow. They make good leaders, pioneers, and teachers. Wood constitutions value justice, leadership and achievement. They have a keen sense of what is right and what is wrong. They like to have a plan and stick to that plan. The organs and body systems associated with the wood constitution are the liver, gallbladder, ligaments, tendons, and sinews. Wood rules the eyes and vision. The color of wood is green. The sound of wood is shouting. The natural direction of wood is pushing up and out. It is important for wood constitutions to feel that they can move forward in life. The emotion associated with wood is anger. Anger, resentment, and bitterness, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with wood. Headaches, migraines, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), menstrual problems like cramping, flow that is too light or too heavy, and fibroids are all issues generally associated with an imbalance in the wood element. When a wood constitution becomes stressed, she can become belligerent and bullying. She can become fixed in a certain view point and have difficulty seeing any way but her own. She can begin to feel that she is the only one capable of getting things done in a certain way and thus begins to feel responsible for everything and everyone. Becoming flexible and accepting compromise can be a way for a stressed wood to relax and feel more balanced. When a wood constitution becomes weak, she can feel timid and indecisive. She can feel a sense of resignation toward life and powerless to create anything new in her own life. She may turn her anger inward toward herself which can turn into shaming herself. Finding a voice for that anger can be a way for a weak wood to feel stronger and more balanced. Seeing a therapist or writing your anger out in a journal can be ways to free the repressed anger. The virtue of wood is benevolence. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance. Benevolence means kind-heartedness, goodwill, consideration and humanitarianism. The first and most important person we show benevolence toward is ourselves. As we find a space for kindness toward ourselves, we are able to find our way to kindness toward others.
• 2.
  Fire

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  Fire is the time of summer. In summer, sun and yang energy reach their zenith at the summer solstice. Summer is a time of letting go, having fun, and connection with others. Fire constitutions are passionate, vivacious, and dynamic. They enjoy connection and contact with others. They feel comfortable with vulnerability and deep connection with people in their lives. Fire constitutions value courage, openness, and vulnerability. They enjoy conversation that goes deep and gets to the heart of the matter. Spontaneity and going with the flow of life are natural rhythms of fire. Creative self-expression is an important component for fire constitutions. The organs and body systems associated with the fire constitution are the heart, small intestine, pericardium, triple heater (an organ specific to Chinese medicine which governs fluid processes in the body), and the arteries. Fire rules the tongue, speech, and communication. The color of fire is red. The sound of fire is laughing. The natural energy of fire is effervescing. In Chinese medicine, the heart is the king and most important organ. All other elements have two major organs associated with each element. The fire element has four major organs associated with it. Just like our earth would not survive without the sun, our body relies on the heart just like the earth relies on the sun. Both the skills of rational thought and intuition reside in the heart. The heart rules connection and interaction with others. Our ability to create and maintain healthy relationships is the jurisdiction of the fire element. Fire constitutions have a tendency to need to either feel in control or feel controlled by someone else. Boundaries are regulated by the fire element. Having healthy boundaries in relationships and life situations depends on the health of the fire element. The emotion associated with fire is joy. Joy and excitement, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with fire. Anxiety, insomnia, and high blood pressure are some of the diseases which can show up when fire is out of balance. Joy is a positive emotion and essentially all positive emotions stem from joy. In Chinese medicine, there is no distinction between positive or negative emotions. Emotion is emotion and when experienced habitually over time can injure organs and body systems. When a fire constitution becomes stressed, she can become overly controlling. She may become domineering and a tyrant in an effort to exert a feeling of control over others and life situations. Intimacy with others, either physical or emotional, may feel too scary as it will feel vulnerable and thus out of control. This can lead to broken relationships and a sense of isolation. Fire can have a hard time committing to relationships or life situations like completing education or a long term job. Commitment may feel like they can no longer be spontaneous in life. Fire can become sarcastic when stressed. Fire can rely too heavily on either rational thought or intuition and lock themselves into the belief that only one of these is the "right" way to make decisions. All of these things can squeeze the joy out of life and lead to a sarcastic attitude. When fire becomes weak, she can feel more comfortable being in relationship with someone who is controlling. She may feel a sense of relaxation in knowing that someone else is controlling her and controlling life situations around her. She may become submissive and a sycophant. She may lack strength in both rational thought and intuition and so becomes dull and ungrounded. She may become too open and vulnerable sharing too much with others making them feel uncomfortable. Weak fire can lose themselves in others. She may have a hard time staying with one thing for too long seeking joy and excitement in the newness of change. The virtue of fire is propriety which means appropriate action. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance. Other synonyms for propriety are respectability, decency, appropriateness, decorum, good manners, and discretion. Practicing propriety can help fire constitutions maintain lasting relationships, have healthy daily interaction with colleagues and friends, and help with issues of commitment. Practicing propriety can also help bring joy, happiness, and contentment into the everyday life of fire. There is an ancient Chinese concept called WuWei. WuWei means non-doing or non-action. According to the book Nourishing Destiny by Lonny Jarrett, the character of WuWei was placed above the emperor's throne for centuries in ancient China reminding everyone that life has its own intelligence, flow, and rhythm. As humans, our best way of interacting with life is to allow it to unfold before us and around us. This allows us to trust life and relinquish our need to feel in control or be controlled. It is important to remember that WuWei, or non-doing, is not passive. It takes mental focus, patience, self-awareness, and practice to achieve non-doing.
• 3.
  Earth

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  Earth is the time of late summer. In late summer, the seasons pause for an intermission between the yang activity of wood in spring and fire in summer and the yin activity of metal in fall and water in winter. Earth is considered neither yin nor yang and represents the stability through the transition from yang to yin. Late summer is the time when creation, growth, and action of the spring and summer give way to the waning, decline, and inward motion of fall and winter. Earth constitutions are supportive, compassionate and nurturing. Earth constitution's lives tend to revolve around family, close relationships, and stability. She enjoys bringing people together, harmony, and commitment. Earth constitutions give genuinely and think of the whole group. She has a healthy sense of both giving and receiving. Like nature's steady rhythm's, she is capable of having a steady rhythm to her daily routine. The organs and body systems associated with the earth constitution are the spleen, stomach, pancreas, muscles, and venous system. Earth rules the sense of taste and the mouth. The color associated with earth is yellow. The sound of earth is singing. The emotions associated with earth are sympathy and worry. Worry, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with earth. Earth constitutions sympathize with others easily. Burden is associated with the earth element. Feeling burdened by life or feeling like you are a burden to others can create an imbalance in the earth element. Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and weak digestion are diseases that can stem from an imbalance in the earth constitution. When an earth constitution becomes stressed, she can seek sympathy for herself. She can divert attention toward herself in the fear that she will not receive sympathy or attention from others. When an earth constitution is stressed, life's daily tasks can feel heavy and burdensome. Production and consumption fall under the jurisdiction of earth. An earth constitution may find herself over-producing and over-working in an effort to gain sympathy and attention from others. When we over-work ourselves, we have to compensate for that by over-consuming. Earth constitutions can crave sweets and sugar as their body's way of compensating for the over-producing. This may lead to seeking what makes them feel comfortable in the short term rather than seeking something truly nourishing. This can apply both to food and life experiences. When earth becomes weak, she can focus more on other's lives than her own. She can give beyond what she is capable of giving creating exhaustion, depletion, and fatigue. She may defer attention away from herself. This can lead to being overly devoted to others and their work. Self-sacrifice can become habit for a weak earth. She may orbit others leading to co-dependency. This can lead to physical exhaustion and feeling burdened by life. Physical exhaustion can lead to lethargy, but even in an exhausted state, an earth constitution may find her mind racing. Boredom and a fear of boredom can also motivate an earth constitution to over-work and over-produce. The virtue of earth is integrity. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance.Other synonyms for integrity are honesty, sincerity, unity, truthfulness, trustworthiness, solidarity, strength, and stability. Earth constitutions tend to have a resilient and strong nature within them. Practicing integrity can help earth constitutions discern when and where to dole out sympathy and energy toward others and when to receive sympathy and energy from others. In his book, Nourishing Destiny, author Lonny Jarrett also adds reciprocity as a virtue for earth constitutions. Reciprocity can give earth an evenness about her daily routine. Having an even sense of give and take in life can assist the earth constitution in having a steady rhythm without needing to over-produce, over-work, and consequently, over-consume.
• 4.
  Metal

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  Metal is the time of autumn. In autumn, nature begins to go inward. The sap recedes from tree leaves and branches and descends inward to the trunk and eventually settles in the roots where it stays through the winter until spring. Prior to our modern age, in the autumn, people would organize and inventory their harvest, making sure they had enough stores to get them through the winter. Autumn reminds us that everything changes and everything has impermanence. Metal constitutions are methodical, efficient, and orderly. Metal constitutions are uncomfortable with chaos and prefer precision and proper procedures. It is often when we have to say goodbye to something or let something go when we see its true beauty and value. Metal constitutions enjoy bringing beauty and value to life. There can be a regal and stately aspect to bringing beauty and value into life for metal. Sacred ritual and purity are important to metal. Metal constitutions tend to have high standards and moral principles. The organs and body systems associated with the metal are the lungs, large intestine, skin, and mucous membranes. Metal rules the sense of smell and the nose. The color associated with metal is white. The sound of metal is weeping. The emotion associated with metal is grief. Grief, and its sisters longing and regret, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with metal. Our sense of smell often evokes memories and longing of the past. The lung and large intestine are in charge of taking things in and letting things go. The lungs take in air and let it go 15-20 times per minute on average. The large intestine takes in the waste from the digestive tract and lets it go everyday. This cycle of birth and death is ever present in our lives. Impermanence is the only constant in life. This is a recurring theme for the metal constitution. When a metal constitution becomes stressed, the grief that comes with the truth of impermanence can create an attitude of needing to hold onto things. These can include material possessions and relationships. But when inevitably those objects or people begin to lose their luster or shine, the reaction to grief can be a need to acquire more things to hold onto. In an effort to deal with the grief associated with impermanence, a metal may become involved in a dogmatic belief system to which she also may hold tightly. She may only feel comfortable in relationships with people who also share the same dogmatic belief system as she cannot assign value to anything or anyone outside the dogmatic belief system. When metal becomes weak, she can have a hard time taking in a deep breath or eating a full meal. She may feel she cannot fully take in life. She may become like a renunciate giving away possessions not knowing how valuable they are to her. A great loss may make her feel as though nothing can be held onto, so grief and longing take over creating a sense of "what is the use". She may have a difficult time forming new relationships as she cannot see the value in having someone new in her life. She may become overly critical of herself unable to see value in herself. This can show up as perfectionism. Uninspired and frail, she may lack vitality and luster. The virtue of metal is righteousness. Each element has a virtue associated with it which helps to bring an out-of-balance constitution back into balance. Other words that help us have a better understanding of the word righteousness are worthiness, saintliness, decency, morally correct, upright, leading a life that is pleasing to God, the moral disposition to do good, and intuiting the right action in any given situation. Value is a theme for the metal constitution. Realizing that value is inherent, meaning that we have value just as we are, can be healing for metal. Understanding that value does not have to be acquired can also be helpful for metal. Doing spiritual practices like meditation and mindfulness which work with the feelings that come up when we face death and impermanence can also be helpful to metal constitutions.
• 5.
  Water

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  Water is the time of winter. In winter, all of nature, including our human form, goes within, is quiet and introspective. Water covers about 70% of the earth's surface and makes up about 50-65% of the human body. Water exists in three physical states: liquid, solid, and gas. We can see the power of water when we see an iceberg that can sink a ship or a tsunami that can devastate or steam that can power a locomotive. When we contemplate the vastness and depths of the ocean, we have a sense of the unknown and the mysteries of life. Water constitutions are wise, contemplative and introspective. They take their time thinking things through and observing. They enjoy deep thought, seeking the truth, and solitude. Water constitutions value knowledge. They can be cautious in what they choose to invest their time and money in. Water is comfortable spending long periods of time on their own. Like a philosopher, water can seek deeper meaning in life. The aspect of will is housed in the water element. There are two aspects of will according to ancient Chinese philosophy: our free will of choice as humans and heaven's divine will for us. The water element is also the place which holds our vital resources and reserves. Our vital qi, yin, yang, and jing, all vital resources that give our body strength and energy, are governed by the water element. The organs and body systems associated with the water constitution are the kidneys, urinary bladder, spine, bones, adrenal glands, teeth, feet, knees, brain, marrow, and nervous system. Water rules the ears and hearing. The color of water is black or deep blue. The sound of water is groaning. The natural direction of water is inward. The emotion associated with water is fear. Fear, when experienced habitually over long periods of time, can injure the organs and body systems associated with water. Our autonomic nervous system's response to fear is freeze, fight, or flight. Water can often feel herself in one of these states. Just like water covers 70% of the earth's surface, fear can be a predominant emotion. When a water constitution becomes stressed, she can become frozen or paralyzed with fear. This fear may be dealt with in a subconscious way by holding onto reserves like money or her time and energy. The water constitution may become frugal and feel the need to hold tightly to the reserves she has. In this scenario her reserves become like a frozen stream, nothing can flow easily or freely. Another way a water can become stressed is to overpower others like a tidal wave or a locomotive powered by steam. This overpowering may feel like a way for the water constitution to insure her reserves are always abundant. The irony is that she drains her reserves in the effort that comes with the overpowering. When a water constitution becomes weak, she can feel a sense of futility about her own power to manage her reserves and resources. She may feel overpowered by others and thus squander her resources away by working too hard, again draining her reserves in an effort to conserve her reserves. She may fear that she will never get ahead or feel that she has sufficient reserves, so she pushes herself to work harder to acquire more which ultimately drains her vital qi. The virtue of water is wisdom. Wisdom is what allows us to face fear and the unknown. Life is full of unknowns. We do not know for sure what will happen an hour from now, tomorrow, or next year. If we choose to employ wisdom when dealing with fear and the unknown, we have a tool to help us recognize the fear and work with it rather than just reacting to it. In nature, water sinks down and settles into the lowest point possible. Similarly, in life, if we use wisdom as a means to working with fear, we have the potential to sink down and settle into the truth and vastness of the unknown of life. Wisdom can help us relax into the fear and the unknowing. This is one of the tenants of meditation practice. In meditation, we focus concentration on our mind, gently reminding our mind to come back to the present moment. Wisdom shows us that all we really have is this present moment. When we embody that concept, we can relax with fear and the unknown. This relaxation is the most efficient way to insure that we don't expend or squander away our vital reserves.