Does Analyzing Work?
There is a vortex that we enter into as our efforts to make more sense of ourselves, life and our experiences with our rational mind increase. As our access to the information and suggestions offered by Psychology becomes easier; Especially considering that nowadays we turn to screens in order to "fix" our psychology this puts as in a paradoxical situation; with the "instant" information we acquire we are able to question, understand and analyze our lives but when it comes to applying, we are not able to make it.
Psychoanalysis is a revolution for this world, it has opened up space for the human being to be even more valued as a subject, perceived as a complex nature, and to the belief that it is an endless resource to be researched. Whether we love Freud or not, he started a huge act of notion in this life.
Moreover, even when we say the science of psychology (it is also possible not to consider this as a science), we are talking about a huge garden, and not every flower in this garden speaks the same language. We can think that there are as many different flowers as ecoles, and even as many different flowers as the practitioners of those ecoles. It is not an easy pick to understand which flower to smell will benefit us (not that it will cure us, but that it will benefit us). Considering that we have the images of all the flowers in front of us right now. Which we probably not able to smell.
We tend to constantly analyze and evaluate ourselves based on the images these flowers reflect to us. “Over-analysing”, “over-thinking”, that is, the state of constantly analyzing, appears as a salvation, especially in a life with a lot of traumatic experiences. The benefits of this analysis are quite remarkable; when carried out with an expert, it can truly transform our lives and support us. On the other hand, if we are insatiable towards analyzing ourselves, our environment and our lives, that is, if we only analyze; If we do not transfer it into a functional and actional transformation, we are just giving our minds a bait.
Why Do People Constantly Analyze?
People try to make sense of anything. They search for ways to rely on a meaning and establish a bond with life. This is a very simple and natural process for all of us. Sometimes we establish this with the values we have already been taught. Sometimes we search meaning by destroying those values ourselves and recreating them ourselves. We lose, we search, we find, we stop searching, we find. An important issue missed here; Creating meaning does not depend solely on analysis. Being free from the idea that we need to analyze something in order to understand it or make sense out of it can reduce the pressure on the mind.
There is also a misleading side to analysis; When analyzing others or ourselves, there is a high probability that we will fall into an illusion and live a fiction. The mind likes to play with fictions and ideas. It can spend all the energy on creating stories and extracting meaning from them, and it is quite talented in this regard. Especially some minds; Due to their structure, they can produce a lot of energy and pay the price for with fatigue.
So there is always a margin of error in our analysis.
Let's say we made a completely correct analysis, we really found the reason behind an attitude, for example our mother's behavior towards us. And let's say that this is a really painful situation, a big wound within us. We understand this, but we continue to analyze it. We want to give more meaning, go into more detail, understand every corner, every problem. We think, we think, we think.
So, what can we do to solve this?
And is understanding something the same as analyzing it? Is that all there is to it?
The Body; as Support for the Vortex of Analysis
It’s not just our problems that we analyze; we often apply the same mechanism to our actions as well. Naturally, we question our behaviors. Yet, we frequently assume the outcomes of our actions—how we will feel afterward—without taking the action itself.
Instead of moving, we spin potential scenarios endlessly in our minds. The mind moves so fast that even while we sit still, it races at incredible speed. In the face of such velocity, the body can freeze, unsure of what to do, locking up, numbing itself… I’m not saying we can balance the speed of mind and body; thoughts can travel with a momentum even faster than the speed of light. (And we still haven’t fully defined what the mind is; for now, we say the brain produces the mind, and the mind is the communication between our neurons.) The body will never reach that speed in movement. The body will always feel more limited to us.
The truth is this: our minds are just as limited. It only dazzles us with its speed.
Especially if we’re the type who dreams, who thinks, who makes plans but struggles to translate those plans into action, we might consider dedicating some of the time we spend analyzing toward tangible actions. We cannot dismiss the power of thought, but neither can we deny the margin for error in thinking. For a thought to move beyond our assumptions, it must transform into action, blend into life, and create an echo. Instead of exhausting ourselves with assumptions that never reach the world, we can choose to engage actively.
Like everything else in life, we’ll practice this. First, we need to train our bodies to move. This doesn’t necessarily mean hours of strenuous exercise; it’s about incorporating the body into life, finding a natural balance. To do this, we need to increase the moments when the body speaks, consciously inviting it to dance to give it back its power. Through improvisation in dance practices, the body first learns to listen, then to speak. Day by day, it will speak to us more clearly.
And in time, we may find ourselves experiencing moments when the mind flows through the entire body, when it circulates within us. Perhaps then, all this analysis will finally serve a purpose.