Bach Flower Remedy for Laziness and Apathy — Wild Rose
This state of mind can be a personality type — a laid-back, casual, relaxed, curious and naive type, but excessively so, at the expense of themselves or their loved ones. However, anyone can fall into a state of apathy after a series of unpleasant and unsuccessfully completed experiences. These can be situations when multiple attempts to achieve something have been unsuccessful and even with all that effort we end up being even more hurt! In situations like these, ceasing any further engagement seems like the easiest thing to do.
This is the reason why surrendering to a situation is a typical strategy for this mental state.
There is one more characteristic — these people have surrendered peacefully, they are not suffering. Instead of suffering, they calmly and passively accept what is happening to them, letting things go with the flow. They feel and act helpless, weak and particularly unmotivated to attempt anything. ”What do I care,” ” That’s the way it is, what can you do about it?” or ”It’s all the same to me.”
At first, surrendering to the mundane brings about relief, but if the condition persists a series of practical problems emerge which, when piled on, bring on a whole new set of unpleasantries.
Characteristics of a negative Wild Rose state are lack of emotional reactions (joy, contentment, but also anger, sadness), lack of spontaneity, disregard of one’s own desires, interests, even vital interests, and a distinct lack of motivation, which in turn causes a complete absence of any action. Apathy, resignation and a lack of interest in things happening around them are also characteristics: a monotonous voice, ”flat-lined” feelings, nothing bothers them, nothing cheers them up, they expect nothing and can stay in a depressive mood.
When resignation is a defense mechanism, when its function is self-protection against hostile conditions, Mimulus (courage remedy) and/or Larch (confidence) should be added with Wild Rose to help a person find a way to confront and overcome problems, particularly when it comes to adults.
This negative state may not manifest in all aspects of life, it could be activated only in certain types of situations or only in communication with a particular person.
In addition, like other negative states or imbalances, Wild Rose people can also be a little or extremely out of balance. When their imbalance is small — it can be identified as laziness. Laziness and apathy are not the same, but in both instances there is a of lack motivation to either do something or to be something. Wild Rose is a great solution for lazy students because it sparks their curiosity, which is directly reflected on their level of engagement in school and indirectly, on their overall success in school.
In my professional experience, apathy is the hardest state of mind, harder than any pessimism. People in this state of mind will never ask for help, even when urged on by loved ones, as Gorse is sometimes known to do, nor will they attempt to solve their own problems. To solve this client’s problem requires a family member who is a affected by their apathy and at the same time motivated to help resolve this situation. It has also been our experience, when relying on a family member to regularly administer the remedy; the first changes in the ”revival” of an apathetic person are visible after about two weeks.
