Bach Flower Database

Botany: Centaurium umbellatum
Production: Sun Method
Represents: Self-Determination

Centaury personalities are marked by a strong will and a deep sense of self. But they are also extremely sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others and can become upset easily. In a positive centaury state, these souls work extremely well with others. Positive centaurs are the workers every employer wants because they give 100% to everything they do. They are quick to understand others' expectations of them and rise to the challenge.

But in a negative centaury state, these souls can quickly fall under the unhealthy influence of others. Centaury personalities have a strong urge to please and this makes them easy targets for unscrupulous people. Negative centaury souls are the doormats, the abused wives, the mothers of spoiled children who refuse to leave home even after the children are well into adulthood.

In a negative centaury state, people have difficulty saying, "No" and often find themselves overwhelmed with responsibilities that they should have never taken on in the first place. Negative centaury people may find themselves being the "go-to" person--and unable to say "No."

Imagine a woman who has spent her entire life in the care of others. As a young child she never received validation and so never learned to trust in herself and her sense of self. Perhaps her parents, unaware of just how deeply her need to please ran, unintentionally abused her willingness to help out around the house. They ultimately burdened her with too many responsibilities at too young an age.

As she became a teenager, this woman knew she was being called to medicine. But rather than go into nursing school and become an R.N., she allowed her family to talk her into joining the family bakery. Now, instead of serving others, she serves fattening treats to strangers.

This woman is in a negative centaury state. Her heart longs to serve its higher purpose--nursing--but she lacks the confidence and sense of self necessary to make such a drastic life change. She is desperately afraid of disappointing her parents and they, perhaps subconsciously, realize this.

The Positive Centaury State

In a positive centaury state, a soul is aware of the exceptions of others but can also refuse to participate when it is appropriate to say, "No." Positive centaurs embrace their life's purpose and have developed the emotional tools to stay true to that purpose and true to themselves.