In Zimbabwe, local tribes have an expression that perfectly sums up most modern psychological problems. This is the word kugungisisa, which could literally be translated as “excessive thinking”, either for the problems of today’s life or for the traumatic events of the past.
Among the Xonas, one of the peoples of this region, the tendency to do many turns of head is seen as a cause of unrest. This behavior is attributed to physical and psychological problems. Thus, for example, indigenous people believe that excessive thinking can cause depression or anxiety, but also other body-related ailments, such as fatigue and headaches.
- But is there any truth behind the concept of kufungisisa.
- Is it possible that thinking too much causes problems?In this article.
- We’ll look at the answer.
Throughout history human beings have boasted of their ability to think, unlike other animals guided by the institution, we can think about what is happening to us, however, this ability is actually a double-edged sword.
The rest of the species do not have the ability to feel as bad as we do and, as counterintuitive as it may seem, it is precisely our ability to think that also leads us to various types of problems.
The Xona tribe is not the only group that has highlighted this problem with its concept of kufungisisa, on the contrary, the basis of modern psychology lies precisely in this idea. Since the emergence of the cognitive sciences, the study of the mind has revealed that what makes us feel bad is not what happens to us, but what we think and how we react.
Albert Ellis, the father of rational emotional therapy, was the one for him. What affects us is not what happens to us, but what we say about what happens to us, but how can our mind make us feel bad?
Humans have developed in an extremely hostile environment, although we now live in abundance, our brains continue to behave as if we were in the Paleolithic, as a result, many of our mental functions have become obsolete today.
One is how we process information. Because our ancestors were always surrounded by dangers, it was essential that they take into account all the negative and threatening aspects of their lives, only in this way could they defend themselves against wild animals, solve food shortages, or seek refuge in case of need.
Due to the functioning of evolution, our brains continue to function in the same way, the Reticular Activation System (SAR) is responsible for getting our attention on anything that may go wrong, so we tend to focus on the negative.
As Xona knew when describing the idea of kufungisisa, it is this way of seeing the world as hostile that makes us feel bad, however, today changing things a lot only makes us worry, waste time and flood with discomfort.
The role of thought in our well-being is so important that almost all psychological therapies aim to change the way we see the world, in this sense, there are essentially two approaches that have been passed down over thousands of years:
Let’s look at each one of them
The first response to the discomfort caused by excessive thinking is simply to change what we say to ourselves, according to trends such as stoicism, which happens to us almost never matters, modern cognitive psychology uses this idea to teach us how to handle things with more perspective.
According to these currents, almost nothing that happens is so terrible, if we can have this idea in mind, much of our discomfort will simply go away, so, for example, worrying doesn’t make sense. After all, whatever happens, we can be fine.
Ancient philosophies such as Buddhism and moderate currents such as mindfulness are based on the same idea: the basis of suffering is thought, it is the same concept as in kufungisisa. For all thinkers who follow these ways of seeing the world, the key would be to silence our minds.
It’s certainly not a simple thing. However, with practices like meditation and yoga we can do, science has shown that silencing our minds has very beneficial effects on our physical and mental health.
The idea of kufungisisa, or that thinking too much creates discomfort, is shared by almost every culture in history, with a little effort we can all learn to avoid this problem, but if you think you need help do not hesitate to call a psychology professional. With your advice, the path to mental freedom will be much easier to follow.