(Part one of a two part series on Earth Out of Balance)
Original art by Cindy Black
What is over-thinking really? What does it really mean?
I have read this term many times throughout my study of Chinese Medicine. Over-thinking is woven in with the Earth Element. I’ve seen the term associated with the emotion of Earth, usually paired with worry. This state of over-thinking – worry arises when the Earth Element is out of whack (imbalanced). Defining it has eluded me probably because the sensation has been a part of my days for seemingly all of my life.
Here is what it sounds like inside my mind:
“What if the light turns red before I get there? What if the car ahead of me doesn’t see the green light and sits there too long – should I honk? What if I honk and they get annoyed – does that mean I now have bad karma? Why am I thinking about my bad karma when they are the ones not paying attention? What is this karma thing anyway? Does it matter that I didn’t know about karma for most of my life? In my ignorance, do I get a free pass for my previous bad behavior? I hope so, because if not, I’ve got a lot of bad karma.
“And now I’m going to be late for my yoga class because the guy ahead of me is texting and hasn’t seen the light turn green. Now the car behind me is honking at me as if this my fault. What if the car behind me is a rager and decides to shoot me? I saw a whole program on TV about road rage incidents that started just like this. I can’t believe I’m going to be late to yoga! What if the teacher thinks I’m a slacker because I’m late. They won’t know how much I have been thinking about and anticipating this class. I want to come every day for the next three months so I can release all my negativity and learn yoga really well and be a good student so I can have a healthy life and harmonious energy flow.
“Ah, the guy ahead of me saw the green light. Finally. OMG! OMG! I hope there is a good place in the back of the room for me and my mat. I want to be in the back, but I want to be able to see. I hope I get there in time. I hope they aren’t doing head stands, I hate head stands….”
As an Earth-girl also, having my feet firmly planted in the ground and my head swirling in a cloud of thoughts, I keep hoping that qualifies for balance!! (-:
Sounds like a great way to work it out
Did you make that cool drawing Dr. Black? I’m thinking you did
Yes, that is an original piece!
And…. when will you publish part 2 of this Earth out of Balance story? I’m worrying I will miss it, you know, because I am thinking all the time about so many things and I might be so distracted I’d forget to check your facebook!
Definitely fits my Earth dominated temperment.
Hi Suzanne,
It’s coming out this Thursday – just a couple more days! Unless something goes wrong with the automatic publisher on WordPress, or the Internet goes down due to hot weather, or what if…