Someone recently asked this question on Quora, so I felt compelled to add my two cents. Today, I share my answer with you. Hopefully, like all of my posts, it serves as food for thought and gets you thinking about the important things in life.
The question:
How Do We Waste Our Energy Without Realizing It?
And my answer:
By resisting reality.
If you stop and think about it, most of us go about our lives resisting every little thing that happens in reality - the weather, the slow driver in front of us, a rude coworker, a declining stock market.
When all is said and done, we’re spending the vast majority of our energy simply resisting reality. Resisting what is.
Logically, I think we can all agree it doesn’t make sense to resist something that already happened. But we do it anyway, because most of us are asleep.
Most of us think, “Of course I’m mad! It rained on my wedding day! This driver cut me off! I didn’t get a raise at work! How could I not be mad!”
We think that it’s normal, and that we ought to get angry at these things. Some of us even think anger fuels us.
But most of us don’t realize the broader truth of what’s happening, which is that we’re fighting with life instead of harmonizing with it, and that constant battle is draining us of our energy, 24/7/365 for our entire lives.
Lately in my life, I've been paying attention to where I'm resisting, especially when there's no benefit. For example, when certain coworkers get on my nerves, I try to relax inside. I remind myself that there's absolutely no benefit to getting worked up inside. Only the cost of suffering.
So I learn to relax inside. To notice my frustration, and to smile at it. To watch it arise, and hopefully, soon after, watch it dissipate. That's different than what I'd do years ago, which is latch onto it, and take it around the office with me (okay, sure, that still happens sometimes, but this whole thing is a life-long journey.)
In your life, how are you resisting what's in front of you? How are you causing yourself unnecessary suffering?
Live with substance!
Gabe Orlowitz
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