Why You Can’t Stop Overthinking Every Problem
The spleen and stomach are associated with the earth element and late summer. Each element has a “spirit” quality, and for earth that’s yi — related to the mind and thought.
Today’s culture is overwhelmed with constant information to process, which keeps our minds very, very busy. But the mind isn’t a bad thing. It gives us thought consciousness and a way to express ourselves.
Why Your Mind Won’t Shut Off
In kundalini yoga philosophy, the mind processes 10,000 thoughts in the blink of an eye. The trouble is many of us confuse those thoughts with our identity — because the mind’s job is to take past experience and project it onto whatever’s happening now, which can either help us or hurt us depending on where our intention and focus land. You’ve probably heard the phrase “you are what you think.”
The mind’s job is to always want to know…know what comes next..know the outcome…know how to figure ‘x’ out and know the meaning of everything. When we don’t know then the mind goes on a shopping spree of trying to collect data so it can feel safe. This is why the mind is synced up with the ego- the need to know. Because not knowing means death to the ego and the ego will always want to remain separate, special and often victimized to stay safe. There’s nothing wrong with ego. A healthy ego needs to be developed (individuated from the collective consciousness) in order to transcend to higher stages of development.
A lot of people shrug off meditation because they say their mind just won’t shut off. But that’s what minds are supposed to do. What matters is how you direct it. That’s why “seeded” meditations and mindfulness practices tend to be an easier place to start — they give the mind something to focus on, like a breathing practice, a chant, or the sensations in the body. With practice, people can move on to “unseeded” meditation: sit straight, don’t move, and don’t attach to the thoughts. Let them come and go without labeling them or getting pulled into the story.
Both approaches bring you back to the present moment. Over time, it gets easier to stop identifying with your thoughts and emotions as your whole identity, and instead relate to them as something being witnessed. That shift means even heartache and pain stop being a “problem” — they become something being experienced, with an intensity that rises and falls.
A Simple Question to Ask Yourself
One thing worth sitting with, alongside a meditation practice, is this question: What would this moment be like if I didn’t see it as a problem?
My mentor, Lonny Jarrett, presented this question for a course that I am taking from him. Needless to say it has rung deep into my bones as I recently experienced a sudden life transition, almost like whip-lash, that left my mind running in circles trying to figure what happened, why and how I could fix it. Meanwhile my nervous system was/is desperately trying to process the aftermath through a wide range of emotions and sensations commonly associated with a sudden heart shock.
However, during meditation, something begins to open up ever so slightly…the allowing and presence that arises from emptiness which results in not seeing all the intensity as a problem. My heart softens slightly more, the grip on the stories is still there but less…and in the background. Subtle hints of ease in the face of the unknown are revealed in different ways in my body. Younger, previously wounded parts of myself, feel more safe to be as they are even if they still feel hurt….but no longer in the driver’s seat.
Granted, for most people, especially me, it takes at least 15min for the mind to quiet. I often have to prep for meditation with either yoga, chanting and breath practices for about 30min before I even settle down to do an ‘unseeded’ meditation which requires me to sit straight, don’t move (ha!), and have no relationship to my thoughts-just allowing them to be. So if someone says they’ve tried meditation to quiet their mind and it didn’t work- it’s usually because they have distorted beliefs about what meditation is supposed to be and/or they aren’t meditating for long enough. The purpose is to not NOT have any thoughts. It’s more about having no relationship with your thoughts during meditation so they have a lighter grip on you when not meditating. And for those who are really serious about meditating, day to day life becomes on long meditation while doing simple daily tasks. This is along the lines of mindfulness meditation which is a bit different.
All this doesn’t mean avoiding, rejecting, or amplifying a hard emotion or sensation. It means observing it from the place in you that has never, and could never, be hurt. Every human has that place. You’ve likely touched it in the moment right before a big betrayal or hard event — often first in early childhood, before the mind had fully developed but while we were still deeply connected to spirit.
It isn’t easy. But with practice, meditation can bring us to a pause — a moment where choice becomes available, and where the suffering we put on ourselves and others can ease. For me, that pause tends to show up right before or during a moment of frustration, anger, or sadness — right when I’m about to say the one thing I know will land like a jab. I’ve noticed that even when what I have to say is true, it can come out blunt instead of clear, direct, and compassionate. Over time, with practice, the gap between who I want to be and the reactive part of me acting from an old, younger place — that gap closes. There’s more alignment.
What the Spleen Has to Do With Overthinking
The spleen in particular transforms nutrients into energy/qi and blood and transports them to different parts of the body, especially the muscles. However, when the spleen itself is being overtaxed with thoughts, overwork or improper nutrition symptoms can show up like a foggy head, diarrhea/soft stool, swelling in the abdomen or limbs, poor concentration and muscle spasms or weak muscles, reproductive/menstruation issues and more.
That’s what acupuncture can help do: bring the parts of yourself back into alignment, so what you do, say, and think move together, in step with wherever you are in your own development.
When heartache and pain show up, we can feel the full intensity of it and, at the same time, notice the part of us witnessing that this isn’t a problem — that life is unfolding as it should, even when we can’t make sense of it (and there’s a lot none of us can make sense of right now). The excess suffering itself is still optional. But easing it takes real work — the spleen and stomach are what metabolize life experience, and when we ruminate instead of digest, it’s the spleen and stomach that end up weakened.
So — what would it be like to experience life from the part of you where there isn’t a problem?
If overthinking and problem-solving feel like they’re running your life instead of helping it, this is exactly the kind of pattern TCM and Five Element Acupuncture work can address. Book a session today in Kingston or Gananoque, ON.
