FLOWER RXS HOME

AGRIMONY
ASPEN
BEECH
CENTAURY
CERATO
CHERRY PLUM
CHESTNUT BUD
CHICORY
CLEMATIS
CRAB APPLE
ELM
GENTIAN
GORSE
HEATHER
HOLLY
HONEYSUCKLE
HORNBEAM
IMPATIENS
LARCH
MIMULUS
MUSTARD
OAK
OLIVE
PINE
RED CHESTNUT
RESCUE REMEDY
ROCK ROSE
ROCK WATER
SCLERANTHUS
STAROF BETHLEHEM
SWEET CHESTNUT
VERVAIN
VINE
WALNUT
WATER VIOLET
WHITE CHESTNUT
WILD OAT
WILD ROSE
WILLOW

The remedy Heather, together with Water Violet and Impatiens, belongs to Bach's group of Loneliness. These remedies help those suffering from inner loneliness as a result of being too centered within their own selves and losing the connection with others. Heather treats an increased urge to talk about oneself, stemming from the need for attention and care.

In the Heather state, the mind is overly concentrating on personal affairs and attaches much importance to experienced hardship and dilemma. One believes the own concerns to be so paramount as to have to be shared at all cost with others who then, so it is expected, will give understanding and caring insight. There exists a self-centered view of life, and one holds the assumption that one deserves sympathy and regard.
There is great inner urging to share through words; talkativeness is an important characteristic of the Heather state. Inner pressure of loneliness and self-related worry needs to be expressed; the craving for attention and sympathy needs to be stilled.
Should words alone not have the desired effect, other attention-getting behavior is added to this dynamic, either consciously (factitious) or unconsciously (somatoform), such as feigning sickness, hypochondriasis (cf. Chicory, Mimulus), or other expressions classified under factitious and somatoform disorders (see Chicory, Chestnut Bud); or verbal flow centers increasingly around obsessively fixated themes (cf. White Chestnut).
Oftentimes, the cause of the Heather state is true emotional need, coupled with the inability to find an appropriate partner or avenue of expressing the internal suffering. In case of injustice received or if one was undermined in one's honest efforts, there is an even greater need and internal pressure to find sympathetic listeners who give support. In the Heather state, one craves to find understanding of one's inmost self. One needs the connection with others. This Heather state can show itself even when talkativeness has not come forth yet; the internal pressure to share oneself and find a sympathetic listener is enough indication to prescribe this remedy.

As compared to cases of deeper emotional hardship, there appears the emotionally lighter case of Heather, where talkativeness over seemingly unimportant details is prevalent. Here the talking serves to gain attention, feel special, and vent self-pity. In case words alone do not get the desired effect, these people more readily resort to pretense and other manipulative ways of expressing their needs for attention, such as by feigning sickness. The true underlying emotional challenge, however, is not so much to find sympathy for hardship but to open the view to the needs of others and de-emphasize preoccupation with personal affairs. This new experience would fill the inner isolation more deeply than the misleading attempt to bind others' attention and sympathy to one's own self.

To open the mind to the needs of others and reduce preoccupation with self. Specifically, in regard to talkativeness, to learn to be a good listener.