Managing Life's Energies

If I ask you where your energy comes from, you might immediately think of a few things.

Food, water, rest, oxygen, exercise, caffeine, adrenaline, even stress. These are all the source of your energy, right?

Not exactly.

While all of those things can aid in supplying the energy that moves you, are they actually the source? Or does your energy come from somewhere else?

Consider the following scenario.

You have a job that you really like. You've worked hard for three years to get where you are at this company, and you derive a sense of meaning from your work.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, your boss taps you on the shoulder and says your role is being eliminated as part of the company's efforts to downsize. Effective immediately, you lose the stable pay, familiar environment, and solid group of coworkers that you've built over the past few years. You become filled with rage and confusion.

But how?! I've been such an integral part of this company! I'm not going to let this happen. I'm going to get my job back! Let me talk to the CEO!

Suddenly, the valves open inside of you and now you're on a mission, albeit one driven by fear and rage. Your energy changed after hearing just a few words come from your boss's mouth, didn't it?

What happened there?

Now fast forward one week, when the immediate feelings of anger, confusion, fear, and everything else subside.

Now you're home, unsure what do do. It's becoming harder and harder to wake up. Your energy levels start to plummet. Stress eating becomes the norm, and the task of exercising gets more daunting with each day.

Three months pass by, and you've lost all motivation. The days feel like a blur, and you're barely getting outside. You're still subconsciously clinging to the job you had for three years. You still can't believe they let you go.

Now, what's going on here?

Where did all your energy go? Is it that you're not sleeping enough? Are you not eating enough? Are you not stressed enough? Are you not drinking enough caffeine?

Chances are, you're doing plenty of those things.

So, once again, where did your energy go? Is there something else at play here?

The truth is, energy wants to flow through you all the time, 24/7.

The reason we don't always feel it is because we're blocking it through internal mechanisms that we're not even aware of.

Here's what happens; we go about our days and experience a sequence of events, from the moment we awake to the moment we drift off to sleep. Some of those things are pleasant, some are unpleasant, and some are just downright painful - like losing your stable job of three years out of the blue.

When these things happen, we close up inside. Things get so painful, we're not used to dealing with them, that we don't let our emotions run their course. We use our will power to suppress, repress, or do something with our emotions that doesn't let them pass through.

Emotions are vibrational energies. When events happen, they stir up emotions that we already have stored inside of us because we never let them through in the first place. When those emotions bubble up and don't feel good, rather than relaxing and letting them pass through, we hold on, we push, we kick, we scream, only to reinforce the cycle.

When all is said and done, we do everything we're not supposed to do, forgetting the one thing we ought to do, which is relax and let go.

The more we can relax in the face of unpleasant emotions, the more they will pass through us and the less of a hold they'll have on our psyche. Over time, this will free up the energy flows within us.

This doesn't mean we don't experience unpleasant thoughts or emotions. Instead, it means we don't identify with them, or attach to them, or do anything to them other than recognizing them for what they are - temporary and fleeting. Just passing by. Not here to stay. Nothing more, nothing less.

The reason some emotions are so painful is because we consume ourselves in their energy. We're no longer even aware that we're experiencing an unpleasant emotion, because we're so caught up in it.

Essentially, it's about removing the blockages we have inside so that the pure energy of love, joy, and enthusiasm, can move through us so freely that we never need anything from anybody or anything.

We don't need to block the energy every time someone says something we don't like, or when events unfold that we don't want to happen.

With time, the world will unfold as it needs to, and we'll be perfectly fine with that.

That doesn't mean we won't do our best to make a positive difference and stand up for what's right. It just means we get rid of the part of ourselves that has its own preferences of how things should and shouldn't be. The part that whines when the weather's no good. The part that stops us from doing the things we know we should do because they're uncomfortable.

We can completely harmonize with whatever situation life presents us because we no longer push our emotions in all kinds of directions. We realize that our emotions and thoughts have a mind of their own (literally) and that mind, when left to its own devices, will run rampant and do us absolutely no good.

We need to learn to use the higher part of our mind. The part that enables us to solve problems, to dream big, to imagine, to be creative in solving problems. That's the mind we ought to use, rather than letting the personal egoic mind use us.

If you want to feel everlasting river of energy, start by letting go of the small frustrations throughout the day.

If it rains, let it rain. You can't control that. If someone cuts you off, notice your anger, don't get lost in it. When things inevitably happen in a way that bothers you, recognize it and relax. Relax behind your anger. Relax behind your fear.

Doing this over and over, day after day, year after year, will free up space for the pure energy of love, joy, and enthusiasm to pass through. Ultimately, we will find ourselves in the midst of a deep, inner peace.

I want to feel this energy every single second of every hour of every day, for the rest of my life. And I know it's totally within my control, if I commit my life to it.

I hope you will consider doing the same.

Live with substance!

Gabe Orlowitz