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wangxiandecoded · 4 years

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Episode 4 (& Wangxian Meta)

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(Spoilers for the whole show ahead!)

Cultivation Partner

Episode 4 opens with shots of the Lan clan’s rule books that drowned Wei Ying the night before. As explained in this amazing observation by a fan, the only rule that is visible in the shot is the one which states a Lan clan member should not take off their forehead ribbon unless in front of their parents or cultivation partner, despite the show using the word “wife”. This is a strikingly gender neutral change for a show that is going above and beyond to establish that the heroes are in love without being allowed to do so explicitly.

Wei Ying is Whipped, Lan Zhan is An Ice Prince

Wei Ying is like a puppy in constant need of love and affection from Lan Zhan, isn't he? It is so important to him that Lan Zhan forgive him, befriend him, laugh with him, spend time with him. Oh Lan Zhan, if only you would look past who you are supposed To Be and admit how cute he is.

There are only two people who can make Wei Ying wear this "guilty 5-year-old who stole the candy he wasn't supposed to touch" expression, and that's Lan Zhan and his Shijie.

Wei Ying earned my respect with the number of times he tried to get the attention of his crush in the initial episodes. A true inspiration!

Look how excited he is to see Lan Zhan! And look how gorgeously framed they are to once again remind us they are soulmates in life and the battlefield.

Lan Qiren and Wei Ying’s Disagreement Is The First Seed of his Downfall

Wei Ying angers Lan Qiren in this scene by suggesting they harness resentful energy the same way they use spiritual energy to his hypothetical question, when such a thing is unheard of, unnatural and contemptible in the cultivation world. He gets kicked out of the lecture for his answer, foreshadowing his fall from grace.

The interactions between Wei Ying and Lan Qiren are always strained, and understandably so. He is no stranger to the grim consequences of demonic cultivation after having raised two kids who were caught in its crossfire. Lan Qiren follows the traditions he values above all else down to a T. Wei Ying's method, be it now or when he actually starts practising demonic cultivation, is something that strikes him as being almost perverse. But are him and the other cultivators right in classifying Wei Ying as corrupt for going down that road? Wei Ying simply considered a logical but forbidden path people have not dared to think about. His ideas are out of the box and definitely not the orthodox thing to do but should he be labelled a villain for it? The cultivation world and Wei Ying just have two vastly different approaches to the same problem. The line of thought separating a genius and megalomaniac is pretty thin after all, and Wei Ying's heart has never been guided by anything but pure intentions and an unwillingness to sit back in the face of injustice.

But Lan Qiren's generation and all of the cultivation world would not understand that. And what they do not understand, they fear. The order of their world is sustained only by the stratification of black and white. This is indisputable and there is no other variable to it. Heck, it even takes Lan Zhan a long time to accept it is Wei Ying who is right and the rest of the world that is wrong.

Lan Qiren represents the ancient "natural" order of the world and Wei Ying's disrespect for what reveals itself to be a suffocating system leads to the new, better, inclusive order with revised perceptions of right and wrong that Wangxian end up creating. Even if this new world comes with a great cost. The story leaves us with the questions, who is right and who is wrong, after all? Who are we to dictate that and set them in stone?

(On a less serious note, I don't know if it's because I've seen this trope in many Asian dramas, but I found it funny how Lan Qiren is questioning Wei Ying simply for the purpose of belittling him by finding a blind spot in his intelligence. Even though Wei Ying is easily the smartest guy in the room, whose heart of gold and morally grey choices paint him as a villain. It gave me "mother-in-law who despises the woman who's going to marry into their family" vibes. Lol!)

Is The Untamed A Tale of Righteousness Or A Queer Romance? Both, Always Both

Somewhere in this war that will happen between Wei Ying and the rest of the cultivation world, between what can be considered right and wrong, honor and disgrace, the natural and unnatural ways of life (which are all codified into an absolute, immovable binary), there is a metaphor for being different in a world that is hell bent on excluding you for being thus. And you know what Wei Ying’s whole journey reminds me of? Of our heroes being queer. If you haven’t thought about it, the parallels do exist in the story, becoming obvious when Lan Qiren punishes Lan Zhan for questioning the fallacy in the same rules that made him lose his lover, and culminating with Lan Zhan irrevocably taking Wei Ying’s side in episode 42. He chooses to be on the “wrong” side with Wei Ying, orthodoxy be damned. (I’d hate to be Lan Zhan's uncle who is implied to be homophobic and ends up having a son-in-law.)

It might be early in the story to bring this up but The Untamed is at its crux, a story about two different guys who come together for the same cause and fall in love on the path of justice, while struggling to safeguard the definition of morality they know in their hearts to be true. Their soulmateship is woven inextricably with living with a clean conscience and doing the right thing even when the world tells them they are grossly incorrect. (Eat that, Romeo’s and Juliet’s! What life-or-death challenges did straight romance ever face?) That’s how Wangxian’s upright lifestyle (which only they know to be just and others frown down upon) doubles as a metaphor for their relationship. Some people support it, some don’t, some even deplore and oppose them for it because they think they are committing a crime. Doesn’t change the fact that we, the audience, can see that they are right (and that they’re in love). In fact, it is precisely because they chose the single log bridge together (because they fell in love) that led to balance being restored in their morally corrupt world.

It’s the many little things like this about our two heroes that make the world of The Untamed undergo a transformation for the better. We don’t talk enough about the fact that Wangxian together overthrow ancient, draconian laws that decreed what is black and white, by swearing an oath to protect the powerless together but also by swearing an unspoken vow to be together forever. And one can hope, especially if you’re a queer person who fell in love with this story, that the world and most of Asia will see the light about the LGBTQ+ people one day, like the other characters realized Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were not criminals but the best of human beings who simply lived life the only way they knew as being honest with themselves and true to their hearts. They need not spend their lives on the lonely bridge of darkness, and deserve a wider path of acceptance built by and shared with the rest of the world, one that shines under the broad daylight, because they have always, always been in the right. Like Lan Zhan and Wei Ying have been. It’s that everyone else is slow to catch up with them.

It Is Doubly Hard For Lan Zhan To Do The Right Thing

Lan Zhan in this scene recites the rules he has learnt verbatim and his uncle beams. It is clear he takes pride in Wangji being his prized student and the perfect example of who a duty-bound clan member should be. The person Lan Zhan used to be makes it that much harder for him to rebel against his own uncle later. I cannot imagine the courage it took him to unlearn the principles he had centered his life around after they turned regressive, and acknowledge that they did more harm than good by viewing an expanding universe through an achingly narrow vision.

Wei Ying was born free-spirited and defiant so his choices are not totally unexpected. But Lan Zhan's choices make him lose his reputation as the unwavering bearer of light, along with the respect of his uncle who had placed him on a pedestal and vice versa. Once again drawing the comparison that turning his back on the world and ensuring his conscience was clean is the same as siding with Wei Ying, the man who he loves and was wrongfully denounced by everyone.

In summary, Episode 4 shows us the polarity between our heroes and the lives they lead. And after all, it is the most basic rule in the book that opposites make the perfect formula for a romance.

What Gay Messages Is The Show Sending?

In the new world order Wangxian write by themselves when no one else can, for Lan Zhan to choose Wei Ying means to choose an honorable life, and to choose Wei Ying also means to choose love. Their love for each other is the last standing untarnished virtue in the contaminated world that is already unravelling when Lan Zhan declares his love for Wei Ying in public and the first virtue in this new world that came into existence all the way back when Lan Zhan and Wei Ying launched the lantern together, deciding to stick together and be the voice that speaks out for the voiceless. It is Lan Zhan and Wei Ying’s love for each other that redeems the sorrows of the past, and paves the way for a greener future in their world. Their love story is undoubtedly the most extraordinary part of The Untamed and we are privileged to have seen it in our lifetime.

It is groundbreaking, if this metaphor for their gay love story was at all intended in any way. Even if it wasn’t, Wangxian are the queer heroes that have been sorely missing from our history. Their story propagates that people like Wangxian are liberated only when we realize we have to foster and feed the very thing that makes us different. The odds are we are the only ones capable of knowing that we are right, even if everyone else condemns and invalidates something as vital as our existence. For the sake of our clean conscience, we go on living life the way we see fit because that’s what living an honest and honorable life entails. That’s what Lan Zhan and Wei Ying would want us to do. We are all ridiculously ahead of a time that is running to keep up with us. So..

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personalcoachingcenter · 5 years

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Are You Highly Sensitive Person? Here's How to Thrive in an Overwhelming World - FinerMinds

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/are-you-highly-sensitive-person-heres-how-to-thrive-in-an-overwhelming-world-finerminds/

Are You Highly Sensitive Person? Here's How to Thrive in an Overwhelming World - FinerMinds

Back in the early 1990s, psychologist Elaine Aron began her research on Sensory-Processing Sensitivity, informally known as high sensitivity. Her work has tremendously influenced contemporary psychology, helping define a new area of research dealing with a distinct personality trait: the Highly Sensitive Person.

Dr. Aron describes the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) as someone who “has a sensitive nervous system, is aware of subtleties in his/her surroundings, and is more easily overwhelmed when in a highly stimulating environment.”

Whether you’re entirely new to this concept or you’ve heard of it before, whether you think you might fall within this category or know someone who does, Regardless, you’re probably reading this because you know a thing or two about emotional overload – and how sensitivity can make coping all the more difficult.

Read on to find out more about the HSP, why it’s not a bad trait at all, and what Highly Sensitive people need to do to live in harmony with their innate nature.

What are the most common characteristics of HSP?

Most commonly, Highly Sensitive people more easily experience overwhelm and stress by things such as:

sensory information (loud sounds, lights, strong smells, busy environments, etc.)

multitasking

situations when you feel rushed

violence in movies and TV shows

the physical effects of sugar, caffeine, and hunger

In layman’s terms, you could say that Highly Sensitive People have a more intense relationship with the outside world, and they perceive their surroundings more intensely than the average person. That’s why an HSP will usually plan ahead to avoid an overwhelming situation; they pick up on other people’s emotions more easily, and notice details in their environment that others might easily overlook.

As a consequence of this rich perception, things are a bit more exhausting for them. Their alone time is sacred, and they’ll be in dire need of it after a busy day or after being surrounded by people for a couple of hours.

You’ve probably anticipated the next part: these people will often be mislabelled as “overly sensitive” or simply shy by others who don’t understand their sensibilities.

If somebody falls within the category of Highly Sensitive People, but isn’t aware of it, and is told that they need to toughen up or that they’re just “too sensitive,” that’s a real problem. They’ll be struggling throughout their life to change their wiring (which can’t, and shouldn’t, be changed) and completely overlook the things they need to do in order to achieve happiness and success.

1. The first step: acknowledgment

Source: unsplash.com

Adding on to our previous point, the first step to navigating life successfully as an HSP is actually recognizing that you are. Leave out the guesswork – you can do Dr. Aron’s test here.

If the answer is positive, before we head on to the vital strategies you need to thrive as an HSP, there’s just one more thing you need to acknowledge: that being highly sensitive is not, by any means, a bad thing.

Sure, it can make things a bit more challenging. But when you accept yourself, strive to understand yourself better, and apply specific strategies, it will be a lot easier.

2. Recognize your strengths

It’s also crucial to embrace the good parts. Highly sensitive people often have a rich, deep inner world – complex imaginations and impressive creative potential. Just as the outside world profoundly affects them, they have a tight connection with their inner lives. Their strong intuition and ability to empathize with others make them not only great thinkers but beacons of light to those who have them as friends.

There’s a bunch of other great things, too, that come with these colorful, all-in personalities. Their conscientiousness and attention to detail make them great scholars, employees, and leaders.

3. Take care of your body and mind

Because Highly Sensitive People have very intense reactions to the stimuli around them, both the body and mind need to recuperate daily. You really need to take self-care and mindfulness seriously if you want to cope with the challenges. It all starts with proper nutrition, physical activity, and rest.

Source: unsplash.com

Aside from getting enough hours of sleep each night, structure your days so that you also allocate time for relaxation and just completely switching off. Make a ritual of taking a long bath, meditating, or taking something like CBD oil before bedtime to calm your nerves and recharge your system.

4. Identify and track your triggers

Take a couple of days to really get to know yourself. Pinpoint the things that drive you to a state of irritation and stress. These will be some of the things that we’ve talked about near the beginning of this post.

Ground yourself in the moment and practice mindfulness so that you can catch your reactions as they’re sparked.

For example, if you arrive at a cluttered house and experience a feeling of unease, take note of that. Clutter and mess are likely to be one of your triggers.

Take note of the things that make you mildly uncomfortable as well as the ones that trigger more intense feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm.

Source: unsplash.com

If need be, keep a log or diary for a couple of days to help you keep track and get to know your triggers better. Once you know them, you’ll be able to plan ahead in order to avoid them wherever possible, or better prepare to face them when they’re unavoidable.

5. Learn to say no

Sometimes, choosing not to do something will be the most important thing you do for yourself – the kindest decision for your body and mind.

Learning to say no is something everybody needs to do, and Highly Sensitive People especially. If somebody invites you to participate in something that explicitly involves one of your triggers, don’t feel pressured to take them up on their offer – and don’t feel bad for refusing.

For example, you might have to refuse socializing with coworkers after a busy day when all you need is some quiet alone time. Don’t feel the need to lie – your feelings are legitimate. Let them know what’s going on and make arrangements to hang out another time when you have more energy for people.

The takeaway

Source: unsplash.com

The concept of a “Highly Sensitive Person” is still widely misinterpreted. That’s mostly because a lot of people aren’t aware that when they hear someone use this phrase, they’re not merely referring to a gentle, emotional soul (as is the common interpretation), but rather to a very important term drawn from contemporary psychology. That makes it all the more difficult for the Highly Sensitive People, who are already battling being misunderstood and pushed by the conventional lifestyle.

That’s why it’s crucial that we spread awareness – and that those who find themselves within this category or know someone who is an HSP, seek to understand their unique connection to the outside world. By better understanding our innate energy, emotional structure, and unique wiring, we gain the means to better navigate life.

Go To Source

#coaching #coaching business #coaching group #coaching life #coaching life style #coaching on line #coaching performance #Coaching Tips #Coaching from around the web

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personalcoachingcenter · 5 years

Text

Are You Highly Sensitive Person? Here's How to Thrive in an Overwhelming World - FinerMinds

New Post has been published on https://personalcoachingcenter.com/are-you-highly-sensitive-person-heres-how-to-thrive-in-an-overwhelming-world-finerminds/

Are You Highly Sensitive Person? Here's How to Thrive in an Overwhelming World - FinerMinds

Read on to find out more about the HSP, why it’s not a bad trait at all, and what Highly Sensitive people need to do to live in harmony with their innate nature.

What are the most common characteristics of HSP?

Most commonly, Highly Sensitive people more easily experience overwhelm and stress by things such as:

sensory information (loud sounds, lights, strong smells, busy environments, etc.)

multitasking

situations when you feel rushed

violence in movies and TV shows

the physical effects of sugar, caffeine, and hunger

You’ve probably anticipated the next part: these people will often be mislabelled as “overly sensitive” or simply shy by others who don’t understand their sensibilities.

1. The first step: acknowledgment

Source: unsplash.com

Adding on to our previous point, the first step to navigating life successfully as an HSP is actually recognizing that you are. Leave out the guesswork – you can do Dr. Aron’s test here.

Sure, it can make things a bit more challenging. But when you accept yourself, strive to understand yourself better, and apply specific strategies, it will be a lot easier.

2. Recognize your strengths

There’s a bunch of other great things, too, that come with these colorful, all-in personalities. Their conscientiousness and attention to detail make them great scholars, employees, and leaders.

3. Take care of your body and mind

Source: unsplash.com

4. Identify and track your triggers

Ground yourself in the moment and practice mindfulness so that you can catch your reactions as they’re sparked.

For example, if you arrive at a cluttered house and experience a feeling of unease, take note of that. Clutter and mess are likely to be one of your triggers.

Take note of the things that make you mildly uncomfortable as well as the ones that trigger more intense feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm.

Source: unsplash.com

5. Learn to say no

Sometimes, choosing not to do something will be the most important thing you do for yourself – the kindest decision for your body and mind.

The takeaway

Source: unsplash.com

Go To Source

#coaching #coaching business #coaching group #coaching life #coaching life style #coaching on line #coaching performance #Coaching Tips #Coaching from around the web

0 notes