Earth Out of Balance: The Manifestation of Over-Thinking

(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 or worry arises when the Earth element is out of whack (imbalanced). Defining it has probably eluded me 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 I’ll 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….”
(Link to part two)