Bach Flower - White Chestnut (Aesculus Hippocastanum)

Most of us have been in need of this Bach Flower Remedy at one or another.

While for some it becomes a chronic state, the temporary lapse into a negative White Chestnut state can occur after a particularly unpleasant exchange.

This may happen at home, at work or in a social organization meeting, when a person or his ideas have been attacked by adversaries - and especially if the attack has come from those he felt were allies. The situation may become resolved on the surface, but the inner turmoil and brain chatter remains.

This is not just an adult malady. Children in school or those with overbearing parents may be even more prone to fall into this state, due to the fact that they are not always allowed to speak up in their own defence.

After an exchange such as this, the sufferer may spend the rest of the day and night re-running the conversation over and over, and thinking about what he should have said in his own defence.

When the negative state persists, and a person falls into a chronic, extreme negative White Chestnut state, she would like nothing more than to escape from her own mind. She feels that it will never shut up and give her peace.

One young child described the feeling as his brain being like a hamster on a wheel, constantly moving faster and faster, but getting nowhere.

Many who suffer from this state experience chronic frontal headaches. Their faces will betray a great mental tension and they may unconsciously grind their teeth. Because the brain refuses to relax, they have trouble sleeping. Thus the body experiences physical fatigue as well as mental strain.

The Bach Flower White Chestnut allows the mind to discriminate between thoughts that should be accepted and those that should be rejected, and thus releases the need to keep replaying thought impulses which are not in its best interests.

After treatment, the mind once again becomes clear and balanced. The individual can connect with and hear the guidance from his Higher Self and use his powers of thought constructively. He or she is able to let go and get on with better thoughts.