Too much?

I like to do lots of things. I love lots of things and I am good at lots of things. I also get lost in doing things and I always have. I don’t know when to stop and at times I don’t want to stop. I am in the flow and loving it. 

Is this in any way familiar to you?  

Whilst activities that I so enjoy i.e. work, reading, learning, making things are harmless in themselves these activities have no ‘end’ and when done in excess they set things off balance for me.

Sitting down all day my body gets stiff, I can trigger a migraines by poor posture, screen viewing, and irregular eating. Overdoing tends to result in poor time management and me finding myself behind schedules, letting others down, feeling overwhelmed…..

In truth, this not knowing when to stop, stops me from doing many other things that are also important to me. 

When I am driven by a compulsion and stay with a task utill this is done, or I am too tired to continue, the activity becomes in control of me rather than me in control of what I do. This is at odds with my love and my greatest value - freedom. I am giving away my power.

Way of life

As much as this is my personal weakness it’s very much a reflection of how we have come to live as a society.

Access to the global market via the internet allows us to see the endless array of things that may make our eyes long, mouths water, and our hearts desire. This, compounded by the pressures of daily living, unresolved feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, loneliness, envy etc are a perfect ground to turn this information into ‘I want, I need or I must be more like…’. We have come to mistake the marketing ‘offers’ and luxuries as our necessities,  entitlement even rather than an occasional treat.

When we are not connected to knowing what’s enough there is no reason to stop at any point. 

This may show up in acquiring possessions like clothes, shoes, bicycles, artwork, collectables of any kind, money. It can be eating more food than we need, consuming alcohol, medication or drugs, working long hours and only stopping when we run out of money, when fatigue or pain prevent us from continuing. The same could be said for inactivity, resting or sleeping in excess. Time spent on social media and on screens in general.

We live in times of abundance yet with the greatest of feelings of scarcity. 

And it’s not just the world around us that is boundless. Our bodies too, they have stretched to adapt to the excess -  our skin, muscles and other tissues grow as we eat, exercise more, take more steroid.. As our adrenals fire harder, our lungs, heart and other organs have push harder….. 

It’s often not until we become seriously unwell, perhaps even receive a sinister diagnosis that we begin to look at how to recreate a more helpful balance and reverse our habits.

Too little 

It’s interesting that a lot of the behaviours discussed here are triggered by feelings of not enough. So many of our actions are based on the fear that we will miss out on an opportunity to have, keep, to be if we don’t get, do, …

Homeopathy and psychology of enough

This issue is very well described in homeopathy through miasms and related remedies. 

Miasm are an inherent energy, ‘weakness’ that we all have and which predisposes us to certain pathologies in life. There are different miasm in which each one has affinity to different areas of the body which in ‘ripe conditions’ will give rise to specific conditions. This involves physical, emotional, mental and spiritual sphere.

For each miasm we have hundreds of remedies to choose from and these are selected by the homeopath upon careful study of the individual’s presenting problem inclusive of the mind, body, spirit, individual’s character, and modalities (what makes it worse, better). 

Here are just some examples how we may overcompensate for our ‘weakness’ through acquisition, compulsion in our behaviour as understood in homeopathic medicine:

Scarcity

The underlying miasm for that of ‘scarcity' is psoric miasm. No matter how much a person has, they will live with a feeling of ‘poverty’/scarcity. This is very much the root chakra weakness.  Someone needing a psoric remedy will present with issues related safety of their physical home, food resources and or family not being there to support them. They are likely to be hoarders, keep money stashed away just in case.…yet feel poor, there is likely to be mistrust of this being taken away from them. For them, the resources are a question of ‘survival’. There is a lot of fear around dying and for that reason fear of getting ill.

Excess

We also see accumulation and overdoing it in Sycotic miasm, but for different reasons. On a physical level we see overproduction of growth - from warts to cysts, fibroids, etc. There is a feeling of inadequacy, low self worth and they compensate for this by ‘covering up’. They may cover up for feelings of inadequacy by acquiring lots of qualifications, polishing up their work to perfection so as to make a good impression. They give a lot of attention to how they look to disguise the feeling of ‘something is wrong with me’, ‘I am ugly’. They too will have a lot of possessions but these are not about ‘survival’ as in psoric miasm but that to beautify themselves and their surroundings in order to look the part. 

Need to be in control

People needing remedies belonging to the Cancer miasm look to establish some kind of order where their world feels out of control. There is a history of a lot of suppression of who they are, can be by overpowering individuals, abusers even, although this is not always the case. Exercising control may be in regards to their relationships, work, environment. The traits seen here are those of being a perfectionist. OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder) tendencies are very likely. Rather than go for lots of cheap stuff they seek more exclusive, expensive things and their homes are more likely to be minimalist. Because they don’t like to feel out of control they will be less likely to get addicted to drugs or alcohol. They too have fears of getting ill but more out of fear of being out of control than dying (psoric maism).

Connection 

Those benefiting from the remedies of Tubercular miasm seek soulful experiences as they connect with the world around them but in essence to themselves. When not stimulated they may feel bored. They thrive at a fast pace because they feel as if they are running out of time. This intensity is short lived and they burn out quickly. On the physical level there is weakness in the respiratory system. They are often travellers seeking wonder, connection with new, exciting people, places and their ‘excess’ will be around travelling, books, friendships, buying ‘experiences’. 

Addiction 

Whilst we may see addiction in any of the above to the cause as described, the quality of Syphilitic miasm is that of self destruct. These people are very creative, they will drink, take drugs to express their often deep but somewhat dark depth. We see deeper pathology here such as tissue of the bone. 

Please note that there are articles upon articles and books written on this subject that this is a very ‘rough’ guide to miasms. Also note that there are remedies that fit more than one miasm. 

Fulfilment 

When we seek happiness and fulfilment in material things, status or approval from others we are likely to always need more.  It’s like getting a fix, we like how it makes us feel, then we come back to what we are, what is and we don’t like it so we search to fill the gap. Chemically this is influenced by dopamine and it creates a bit of a vicious cycle (in view that dopamine also plays a role in getting us out of our beds in the morning to get things done). 

Enough as we are

You may wish to listen to the meditation that I have for you here. 

Different needs through different stages in life

I’d like to acknowledge that as individuals we need different things and also different things at particular stages of our lives.

Working with connecting with what is ‘enough’ requires an ongoing effort as we establish our boundaries and adjust these as appropriate to meet our changing needs and situations.

If we don’t know what, when or how much is enough we can’t know when to stop ‘getting/having/doing’ something.

This time of Change could be our opportunity to stop and consider who’s life are we living  as we look inward and ask those difficult questions of how to be.

The world of too much has turned many towards opting for ’Small is beautiful’, ‘Less is more’ and ’Slow’, homemade, handmade and voluntary simplicity movements.

What do you do with this information?

If this is an area that you want to work on by yourself you may wish to read more in ‘Finding Enough’ alongside compulsory Goldilocks and Three bears reading.. If this is something you want some support from me please contact me for more information. 

Thank you for reading my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. 

If you think that this material would be of help to anyone else you are welcome to share it.