Insufficient Interest in Present Circumstances
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| Clematis | dreaming of the future without working in the present |
| Honeysuckle | living in the past |
| Wild Rose | drifting, resignation, apathy |
| Olive | exhaustion following mental or physical effort |
| White Chestnut | unwanted thoughts and mental arguments |
| Mustard | deep gloom for no reason |
| Chestnut Bud | failure to learn from mistakes |
Clematis is for people whose minds drift away from the present into fantasies of the future, or into alternative versions of the present. Often their dreams are of great future success, creative endeavour and achievement, but the danger for people in this state is that their dreams will remain fantasies because the Clematis person is not sufficiently anchored in reality to make them happen.
The remedy helps to bring these people back to earth and back to themselves so that they can build castles in life instead of in the air.
Sometimes the Clematis state is confused with the Honeysuckle state, but in fact the two are quite different. In the Honeysuckle state the person is living in nostalgic fantasies of the past or reliving old regrets; but the Clematis person's thoughts drift away to imagined futures.
Clematis is one of the ingredients in Rescue Remedy, where it is used to help the fuzzy, light-headed feeling that can come at times of emergency.
Honeysuckle is for people who live in the past instead of the present. They feel that their best days are behind them and that there is little to look forward to, and as a consequence they prefer to dwell on past happinesses (or past misfortunes). At a more minor key, homesickness and nostalgia are also Honeysuckle states.
The remedy helps the person in this state to learn from the past without needing to relive it, so that the person can progress on into the present and take joy from today and tomorrow.
Wild Rose is for people who have accepted all that life throws at them and have given up the struggle for fulfilment. Instead they have resigned themselves to the way things are, to the extent where they don't even complain or seem particularly unhappy. Instead they shrug their shoulders - there's no point complaining or trying to change - and seem happy just to drift through life.
The remedy is given to reawaken interest in life. The positive Wild Rose person will still be a happy-go-lucky type, but instead of apathy will feel a sense of purpose that will bring increased happiness and enjoyment.
Olive is the remedy for tiredness and exhaustion after an effort of some kind, such as hard physical or mental labour, or the long struggle against illness. It can be usefully contrasted with Hornbeam, which is the remedy for tiredness felt even before an effort has been made.
The remedy is given to restore feelings of strength and the faith needed to continue.
White Chestnut is the remedy for unwanted thoughts, worries and mental arguments, which intrude into the mind and stop people from concentrating on things that they should be doing. White Chestnut thoughts are repetitive and go nowhere, simply circling round and round in the head like a stuck gramophone record.
The remedy is used to help people control their thoughts again so that they can deal calmly and rationally with any underlying problems that might be causing the trouble.
Mustard is the remedy for deep gloom and depression that descends for no apparent reason out of a clear blue sky. People in this state often list all the reasons they have to feel happy and contented, but still everything looks black and hopeless to them.
The remedy helps to dispel the clouds so that the person can once again find joy and peace in life.
Chestnut Bud is for people who fail to learn the lessons of life. They may repeat the same mistakes over and over - for example, taking a succession of identical office jobs and being surprised to find each one unfulfilling. In other cases, they see others making a mistake and the results that arise, but then fail to apply this lesson to their own lives and go right ahead and make the same mistake themselves.
Dr. Bach said that it was good to move on and leave the past behind, but people in the Chestnut Bud state are almost doing this too readily. They give so little thought to the past that they fail to learn its lessons and so are doomed to repeat their failures. Chestnut Bud is the remedy to help them learn from the past and then move on to genuinely new experiences.