Spleen-supportive lifestyle, random thoughts. Any advice???

[Guest guest]

Been fumbling it through in my head.... I'm beginning to see some

things, perhaps someone could add some advice??

 

A couple things occured to me; first, a Spleen supportive lifestyle

is probably only helpful if you are actually stressing your Spleen

with stuff; alien concepts, strange environments, greasy food, new

friends, or lots of change in general. If you aren't, it seems as

though a Spleen-supportive lifestyle would end up backfiring, and the

drabness would end up becoming overwhelming... boredom, restlessness

and depression, random acts of violence, bizzare behavior, etc.,

seems like it would result, as the pericardium struggles to deal with

the overwhelming blandness of the lifestyle. (Just my guess. Still

trying to understand the pericardium...)

 

Secondly, just because it involves mental work, doesn't necessarily

mean it stresses the Spleen that much. Familiar concepts I would

suspect put little stress on the spleen. Also, when the concepts

don't need to be understood; in school, for instance, quite a few

things simply involve rote memorization and regurgitation, without

understanding. Although I have heard this attributed to the Spleen,

it seems as though it would not be as taxing on the Spleen as

actually having to understand something. (Does this seem right??)

Ideas or concepts which are alien and must be understood and absorbed

into one's intellectual framework seem as though they would stress

the Spleen the most. (Like first learning the Chinese framework for a

Westerner. )

 

Also, I would guess that greasy foods that are familiar, while still

Spleen stressing because of their physical nature, would be less

stressful than equally greasy foods of a foreign nature.

 

It seems like the best way to support the Spleen is to try to make

the rest of your life outside of the challenging mental work (or

other Spleen-stressing stuff) as comfortable, and familiar (and some

might even say dull) as possible. Eating meals at regular times, of

familiar, easily digestable foods. Keeping a regular timeschedule,

waking and sleeping around the same times each day. Trying to get the

bowel movements regulated to the same times each day, taking the same

routes to work in the morning, etc. and so forth...

 

Does any of this seem to be correct? Am I heading in the right

direction with my understanding?? (And most importantly, if I am or

am not, can anyone recommend some text sources for me to go read, so

that I can quit bugging you guys with superfilous questions. )

[Guest guest]

> It seems like the best way to support the Spleen is to try to make

> the rest of your life outside of the challenging mental work (or

> other Spleen-stressing stuff) as comfortable, and familiar (and

some

> might even say dull) as possible. Eating meals at regular times, of

> familiar, easily digestable foods. Keeping a regular timeschedule,

> waking and sleeping around the same times each day.

 

These are definitely things that help the Spleen and doesn't weaken

it. (Voice of experience here.)

 

Add to this list not eating when stressed or angry. Not eating when

on the run. Not over- or under-eating.

 

Over-work also damages the Spleen. Obsessing damages the Spleen, and

people with a weakened Spleen tend to obsessing more than those with

a healthy Spleen.

 

Avoid Dampness in the environment. If you get caught in a rain

storm, change those damp clothes as soon as you can.

 

Speaking of Dampness, we have had I believe 11 straight days of damp,

overcast weather. Right now it is raining hard. It has been since

last night. All this dampness is starting to get to me. I welcomed

it at first, having spent so many years in the desert. But this is

too much.

 

" Women are particularly prone to exterior Dampness especially at

certain times of their life, i.e. during each period and after

childbirth. " (Maciocia, The Foundations of , p. 241.)

 

The Spleen hates Dampness the most, but it also hates Cold. The

Kidneys are the most vulnerable to Cold, but the Spleen is vulnerable

to Cold too. Every time the temperature drops sharply, my Spleen and

Kidney problems get worse. Cold hurts Yang too. Cold Dampness is

particularly hard on the Spleen in a one, two punch.

 

The Spleen likes heat and dryness. Avoid excessive consumption of

cold and raw foods.

 

Long illnesses will damage the Spleen. Maciocia reports that the

reason catarrh is such a prominent symptom in cases of longterm

illness is that the illness weakens the Spleen Qi, it can no longer

perform its function of transforming and transport fluids, and then

Dampness and then Phlegm develop.

 

Speaking of the spleen (as well as the Spleen), what disease are

college students with their excessive studying, late nights,

irregular meals of junk food, eating on the run, worrying and

obsessing about grades, etc. prone to much more than the general

population? Mononucleosis. (Glandular fever.) The spleen often is

sore and swollen when one has mono.