Too Much Joy is Like Too Much Fun
Chinese medicine organs can become diseased in different ways. If we eat too many cold foods we can damage the Spleen. If we are exposed to Wind and Cold, we can suffer symptoms of Taiyang Shanghan Syndrome. Also, Chinese medicine organs respond in a poor way to excessive mental-emotional states.
The Lungs are affected by grieving and sadness, the Spleen is affected by overthinking, brooding and rumination, the Kidneys are affected by fear and shock, and the Liver is affected by resentment, anger and irritability. The Heart is an interesting organ in Chinese medicine when it comes to how it is affected by emotion. Firstly, the Heart feels the emotions of all other organs. Any emotion that affects another organ is directly felt by the Heart. Also, the emotion that affects the Heart is Joy - which makes little sense. While all the other organs have negative emotions, why is it that the Heart has a positive one? Having too much Joy is like having too much fun or too much money - it’s often thought to not be a bad thing at all.
For a moment, let’s change the language. Since Chinese medicine is a language game, it’s important to explain concepts properly. In my humble opinion, I do think that ‘Joy’ is a bad translation. I like to use ‘overstimulation’ instead when explaining what happens to the Heart.
When we wake in the morning our Shen awakes. The Shen then goes about the day interacting with other people’s Shen. The Shen is affected by what it sees and hears, and feels. When we return to our bed at the end of the day, our Shen returns to our Heart, anchored in Heart Blood.
If our Shen is affected by what it hears, sees and feels, imagine hearing some very exciting news, or having a very fun experience - a person would naturally feel joy. Now, imagine this happening over and over again in a short amount of time. What occurs? Well, some might say anxiety, or, rather, overstimulation and agitation. This is exactly how the Heart is affected by Joy. Videogames or an action movie right before bed are also good examples of agitation of the Shen. Blue light glasses are a nice thought, but it’s the actual content - the flashing scenes, loud sounds, and the adrenaline that is affecting a person’s ability to call their Shen back to their Heart.
Seeking too much fun can also be a detrimental thing because it can lead to a kind of addiction for stimulation. Having too much money, such as winning the lottery, can be bad as well because a person can spend to excess and be in debt again shortly thereafter. We can think of feeling over-joyed and having over-fun and over-spending as a type of agitation, which is not a healthy way to think and live. And, in Chinese medicine, it affects the Heart.