Cherry Plum vs Impatiens
Impatiens snaps. Cherry Plum is afraid of what it might do. If the problem is the temper itself, that is Impatiens. If the problem is that you no longer trust yourself to hold it, that is Cherry Plum.
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Why they get muddled
Both turn up at the end of a long day with somebody who is moving too slowly or shouting too loudly, and both can produce the same regretted sentence. Bach put one in the fear group and the other in loneliness, which is the clue. One is irritation and one is fear.
The differences
What the feeling is
Cherry Plum
Fear, aimed at yourself. Part of you is watching, waiting to see if you snap.
Impatiens
Irritation, aimed outward. Everything is taking far too long.
The trigger
Cherry Plum
Pressure with nowhere to go. Tiredness, noise, a day that will not end.
Impatiens
Pace. Lines, slow talkers, anyone doing a job you could do faster.
Afterwards
Cherry Plum
Frightened by how close it got, and reluctant to tell anybody.
Impatiens
Over it long before the person you snapped at is.
What worries you
Cherry Plum
What you might do.
Impatiens
How long everything is taking.
Which one to pick
Choose Cherry Plum if
- You are not sure you can hold it together
- There is pressure building and nowhere for it to go
- You have not said this out loud because it sounds worse than it feels
Choose Impatiens if
- You finish other people's sentences
- Your jaw tightens in a line that is barely moving
- You would rather do the job yourself than watch it done slowly
What if both sound right?
A long run of Impatiens irritation is one of the ordinary routes to Cherry Plum, particularly for parents at the end of a very long day. Both sit in the anger blend. If you recognize the short fuse and the fear of it, there is no reason to choose.
Common questions
Is Cherry Plum an anger remedy?
Not exactly. It is a fear remedy that happens to turn up around anger, because what it describes is the fear of losing control of yourself rather than the anger itself. That is why Bach filed it under fear, and why Holly and Impatiens are the ones that describe the anger.
Which one for road rage?
Impatiens, almost always. Bach described exactly this state, a quick person stuck behind a slow world, and driving concentrates it into half an hour twice a day. Cherry Plum belongs in the bottle only if what frightens you is what you might actually do about it.
What if I have already lost my temper?
Then take it and carry on, since nothing here works retrospectively or is meant to. Cherry Plum is traditionally taken through a stretch where the pressure is high rather than in the moment itself, and the crisis formula, which contains it, is what people reach for on the day.
Keep narrowing
The pairs closest to this one, if neither of these two turns out to be it.
Rock RosevsCherry Plum
Rock Rose is terror at something happening to you. Cherry Plum is fear of what you might do. The question to ask is whether the danger feels outside you or inside you.
ImpatiensvsBeech
Impatiens is irritated by how slowly things move. Beech is irritated by how other people are. One is about speed, the other about habits.
ImpatiensvsVervain
Impatiens wants it done. Vervain wants you to agree. One is irritated by pace and the other is driven by a cause, and they wind down in completely different ways.
MimulusvsRock Rose
Mimulus is for fear you can live alongside. Rock Rose is for the moments fear takes the controls. If your body got there before your mind did, that is Rock Rose.
Still not sure?
Read both profiles in full, or start from the feeling and let the quiz narrow it for you.