Living in the Western world, we all believe that the emotion of joy is a good thing. Even our songs exonerate joy, “Joy To The World, ”You Are My Joy“, ”Joy! Joy! Joy!“, ”Your Joy Is My Love“, ”Let's Dance To Joy Division“, just to name a few. According to Webster’s, joy is ”a feeling of great pleasure and happiness, and delight“.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there is a way different view to the emotion of joy. Joy makes the heart bigger, but in a different context than what we have learned about it. The emotion of joy can cause some serious damage to the heart. When one is excessively joyful, the spirit scatters and can no longer be stored. Joy refers to a state of agitation or over-excitement and over-stimulation. This can lead to problems of the heart and disturb the fire (yang), water (yin), and balance of the entire body, causing symptoms of insomnia, mania, palpitations, worry, tension and excessive consumption. Moderation is the key word here - not too hot, not too cold, not too dry, not too wet, not too fast, not too slow. If you think of someone who is manic, they have trouble sleeping, they may talk excessively and very fast, they may have trouble connecting with other people and it leads to depression, and they go up and down like a yoyo. On the other hand, too little joy can injure the heart as well. Cold-hearted people will have an excessive craving and can’t stop buying, eating or whatever they are obsessing on at the moment.
I know a fellow who can’t stop his mind. He is brilliant and quite successful in material things. He can’t sleep, can’t stop buying things, and is obsessive-compulsive. And now, the heart fire is causing problems with his earth element, the stomach and the spleen. This has put the poor guy on antidiabetic medicine for the rest of his life. From the outside, you would imagine that he has a great life, but the obsessive behavior is causing more health problems than you could shake a stick at. Overthinking is causing the sleeping problems and the tendency to over-consume. This is a form of mania and can go into depression, headaches, and dizziness.
The heart is fire and the kidneys are water. If the heart is excessive, the water of the kidney is depleted, bringing up the emotion of fear and worry. This situation can be a time bomb if not corrected. But it’s not hopeless. There are meditations, exercises and foods that will help bring the body and mind back into balance. I would start out by getting a copy of a few of my best-selling and most effective programs, ”The Internal Mantra Program" http://rechargingqigong.com/the-internal-mantra-program.html and “The Recharging Qi Gong Program” http://www.rechargingqigong.com/recharging-qi-gong.html. When practiced on a regular basis, you can live a long and happy life and eliminate a slew of health problems.
I wish you the best in your Health, Wealth, and Happiness.
Dr. Wu Dhi
P.S. If you get both of the programs, “The Internal Mantra Program” http://rechargingqigong.com/the-internal-mantra-program.html and “The Recharging Qi Gong Program” http://www.rechargingqigong.com/recharging-qi-gong.html, I’ll send you 2 of the unpublished meditation programs as a FREE gift.
