Fire is charming, warm, and attractive.  A campfire, fireplace, or even a humble flame from a stove, all give happy customers a place to gather, mix, and blend.  The fire process has an aroma that is hard not to be drawn to, as this element naturally uses its energy to provide a sense of anticipation, encouragement, and promise to all things in its proximity. 

As the growth phase of the lifecycle process, this element thrives on excitement, compassion, and happiness.  Fire is empathetic.  Nothing makes it happier than seeing other people happy, and nothing makes fire sadder than seeing others sad.  It seeks to meet, greet, and expand its social network in quantity, quality, and diversity, and takes on the social responsibility for that network thriving.

Fire's extroversion is often the center of attention, the life of the party, and the excitement behind gatherings and social events.  It loves to talk, be the center of attention, and engage the thrilling aspects of their environment.  To keep things exciting, it loves to mix and blend people, processes, and tools to generate novelty experiences, establish new paths, and keep a sense of expectation high.  Maintaining a backlog of entertainment is important to this process as it consumes and thinks to itself "Ok, so what's after this?".  Our ambition and passion burn like a fire for the things we love to do, and fire loves to keep doing them.  

While public speaking, being in the spotlight, or drawing attention to ourselves is avoided by most, it's in these kinds of environments that fire truly shines.  Healthy fire listens well, speaks gracefully, and is overall an excellent communicator.

Excessive Fire

Excessive fire consumes everything in sight indiscriminately.  This can come in the form of being overly talkative, overcommitting, or exaggeration in their storytelling.   While it thrives in the attention of others, without a balance of restraint, it doesn't know what else to do with the reward of attention, but consume it further.  A fire out of control will expand dangerously causing not only confusion, distrust, and harm to those its trying to stimulate, but also bring about overheating through insatiable erratic behavior.

Deficient Fire

It is critically important for fire to burn bright, be attractive, and be adored by others.  The loss of that fondness, translates into anxious contemplation of invalidity and incompetency.  The same way a weakened torch reduces the visibility of a path, a deficient fire can bring about a feeling of being lost in the dark, bringing about heightened senses, increased reactivity, or sometimes even an almost paralyzing sense of fear.  In a desperate attempt to regain that excitement, fire will seek out unconventional methods to either stoke the fading flame or numb itself to the dull.  

Balance of Wood and Water

The fire element does not operate in isolation.  Its health rests in the balance of relationship that exists between other elements.  It needs enough wood (newness & change) to spark interest, and enough water  (knowledge & truth) to be constructive and useful.  A healthy fire attracts, transforms, and innovates, which plays a big and important role in finding fulfillment in life.  It also is the social courage we have to reach out and connect with people in our most supportive and edifying way.  As an excellent communicator, fire is not afraid to say all the right things at the right time, and doesn't hold back its light when it senses the presence of darkness.

Nourished by Wood

Wood keeps a fire burning.  It feeds it with ideas, concepts, and meaning, while fire blends, mixes, and heats up those ingredients to develop intriguing news worth looking forward to. 

Too much wood can generate a fire that is out of control, burning up everything it comes in contact with.  Perpetual and almost exhaustive excitement.  The absence of wood's individualism, change, and newness starves fire of the energy it needs to fill others.

Restrained by Water

Water cools fire.  While fire is very aesthetic, appealing, and attention-getting, water on the other hand is very scientific, fact based, and informational.  This relationship between fire and water are opposites, so when they are balanced it ensures that once someone is attracted to the exciting flame, they are actually nourished by it. 

Over-restraint by water comes in the form of being water-logged by data, facts, and information, which creates a painfully boring atmosphere.  However, fire without the restraint of water has no useful direction or purpose.  People who are dazzled and drawn-in by the charm of fire only to realize there's not material relevance behind it, will feel tricked, lied to, or taken advantage of.

Nourishes Earth

Volcanoes erupt, and out comes new earth.  Fire gathers, blends, and changes, as earth transforms that resource into a sustainable construct with a design appropriate for all things in their diversity and likeness.  

Facilitating the diversity of the world is a big and dynamic task for earth.  Over-nourishment of fire generates an unbalanced customers/workers ratio. This causes a backlog, exhaustion of resources, and leaves no time or space for replenishment.   At the same time, the absence of fire means the absence of a crowd, which can be a lonely combination for a vacant facility prepared by earth.

Restrains Metal

Fire melts metal.  Where metal is about taking care of business, fire is about having fun.   Where metal has a tendency to overwork, stress, and exasperate, fire has the power to relax, reform, and condition metal.

Over-restraint of fire can stall the formation of metal, leaving it in a lazy, passive, and in an indifferent condition.  Too much casual fun, can void life of things that are sacred.  At the same time, a lack of recreation, excitement, and novelty can feel numbing, robotic, and labor intensive.