Year of the Fire Horse - Choosing Joy on Purpose
The Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Fire Horse - a combination that is bold, expressive, creative, and a little bit untamed in the best possible way.
Horse energy moves.
Fire energy radiates.
Together? They don’t tiptoe into the year. They gallop.
And in East Asian Medicine, Fire corresponds to one central emotion:
Joy.
Not hustle.
Not achievement.
Not productivity disguised as worthiness.
Joy.
The Fire Element - More Than “Happiness”
In the Five Elements system, Fire governs:
The Heart
The Small Intestine
Our circulation
Our sleep
Our ability to connect
Our capacity for delight
When Fire is balanced, we feel:
Warmth in our relationships
Ease in our laughter
Clear communication
Restful sleep
A sense of being fully alive
When Fire is depleted or scattered, we may feel:
Restless or anxious
Disconnected
Overstimulated
Insomniac
Numb instead of joyful
Fire is meant to flicker and glow - not rage out of control and not burn down to embers.
Why Joy Matters (Especially Now)
In clinic, I see so many women who are “doing everything right.”
They are optimizing sleep.
Balancing blood sugar.
Taking supplements.
Working on mindset.
And yet…
There’s often a missing ingredient: permission for joy.
Not the performative kind.
Not the “I’ll feel joy once…” kind.
But the small, daily, embodied joy that lives in:
A slow cup of tea
Sun on your face
Music in the kitchen
A walk without a podcast
Laughing at something ridiculous
Joy regulates the nervous system.
Joy circulates Qi.
Joy softens the Heart.
And from a fertility and hormone perspective - that matters more than we sometimes realize.
How I’m Leaning Into Fire This Year
Instead of making a long list of resolutions, I’m asking:
Where does my heart feel warm?
For me, that looks like:
Simpler evenings
More music in the house
Protecting white space on my calendar
Saying yes to connection
Saying no to unnecessary urgency
But also saying yes to adventure
Fire thrives on presence. It does not thrive on chronic overstimulation.
There’s a difference.
The Fire Horse invites courage - not chaos.
Expression - not exhaustion.
Vitality - not depletion.
A Gentle Invitation for You
What if this year wasn’t about pushing harder?
What if it was about tending your inner flame?
You might ask yourself:
What lights me up?
Where am I overextending my Fire?
Where have I gone dim?
What feels playful?
What feels warm?
Joy is not frivolous.
It is physiological.
It is medicinal.
When your Heart is settled and radiant, everything else organizes around that coherence.
A Small Practice for the Year of the Fire Horse
Try this for one week:
Each day, choose one thing that feels genuinely delightful - even if it’s tiny.
Then notice:
Does your breath shift?
Do your shoulders drop?
Do you sleep differently?
Does your digestion feel easier?
This is not woo.
This is regulation.
Fire balanced is a steady glow - not a flash in the pan.
If this year feels like a big energetic shift for you, you’re not imagining it. Fire years amplify what’s already there. That can feel inspiring...or overwhelming.
If you’d like support tending your inner flame - whether that’s hormones, fertility, sleep, anxiety, or simply feeling more like yourself again - we would love to help.
Here’s to a year of courage.
Here’s to warmth.
Here’s to joy that is steady, embodied, and real.
And maybe, just maybe, a little gallop.
