How to avoid mid-summer burnout
High summer is the Fire element at its zenith, symbolising the heart and small intestine in Chinese Medicine. Up until the solstice on the 21st it’s a time of expansion, of peak socialising and spontaneity. The sun is hot and channelling a lot of energy into our bodies. Over and over I’m reminded that I’m a solar-powered being: on greyer days I have much less fire in my belly. It’s light from about 4am to nearly 10pm in the UK, so we get up earlier and go to bed later, lured into packing more into each day… and can end up burning the candle at both ends. It can be fun, crazy — a bit out of control and unpredictable, like flames.
The shadow side of this is the potential for burnout — roaring fires burn out more quickly than modest slow-burners. I see it in my acupuncture clinic each summer: clients exhausted by the short nights and not being able to switch off and go to sleep, being irritated rather than uplifted by the dawn chorus, unable to enjoy nature’s precious summer gifts but busy wishing their diaries weren’t so full. With so much heat and stimulation, the heart can become unsettled and hyper. This might manifest in palpitations, insomnia, dull headaches, agitation, flare-ups. Our systems and skin also quickly tell us when we’ve been out in the sun too long, if we’re tuned in enough to sense the warning messages.
For those of us who find social commitments tiring, or who prefer solitude, the party invitations and expansive energies can feel overwhelming. We feel the need to retreat, to slow down. Good instinct! Our struggles always show us where we need to put more attention, where we need to find a bit of space to calm down and come back to ourselves and our own needs. The heart is happiest when we use its intuitive discernment to filter out those commitments that don’t feel meaningful or truly bring us joy. It’s agitated because it is not being nurtured. The heart needs stillness for us to feel centred.
Quiet contentment instead of manic joy
Spending a few minutes in the early mornings consciously soaking in the gentler sun’s rays and sending it gratitude, or going for a walk in a cool woods (Wood energy as counterbalance), or swimming (Water counterbalance), or going to bed with a good book while it’s still light and enjoying the sunset from your bedroom window, can all help. And grounding yourself by lying in the garden (Earth), or just giving yourself space to meditate or contemplate (Metal) are all ways of bringing the five elements back into balance in your body.
Most of all, learning to say no to too many social gatherings (sensing your own limits) all help the heart settle again. And its paired organ, the small intestine, whose job it is to filter out the “pure from the impure” is happy when its filtering function is supported by our own intuitive filtering. It doesn’t have to work so hard to digest information/food if it isn’t thrown too much small-talk or processed party foods.
We know when we’ve attained a better balance because we start to feel a more elongated sense of contentment and appreciation rather than brief spikes of joy and euphoria. As I’ve got older, I’ve realised how much I prefer this softer, more steady feeling of happiness — the kind of contentment that nature constantly engenders in us when we are present to its ever-changing wonders. The kind of deeper peace that embraces the dawn chorus when we wake at 4 o’clock in the morning, rather than reacts with irritation. Soon enough the songbirds will stop singing, as we move into the next season, and we wouldn’t want to have wished away their beautiful tunes, would we?
Acupuncture can really help ground us again and calm the heart’s agitation at this time. On a deeper level, is your heart telling you it’s time to get off this merry-go-round and reassess your life choices? A Golden Path face reading with me could be a wonderful way to discover your deeper life purpose and set you up for the next part of your journey.
With love
Saffron
3rd June 2023