I’ve recently been blogging about how to Be a Wise Investor: of Your Thoughts and Your Time for your overall health and to get more out of life with less effort. Ours is a society of the overcommitted, cramming as much as possible into each day which can result in tremendous stress on your overall health and well-being. In addition to investing your thoughts and time more wisely, you can also learn how to invest your energy. Basically this energy is the life force that enables you to be physically active, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned.
You have the ability to maximize its quantity and minimize its waste.
Many of the performance demands of everyday work and personal life are tougher than those professional athletes face. Yet we are not trained as athletes are to manage our energy.
Our body/mind is like a vibrating string that needs constant tuning, much like instruments in an orchestra. Have you ever felt that your “life music” was out of tune? When you maximize your energy usage, you become fully engaged to put forth your best.
To be in tune is to be alive
To be alive is to consciously impose meaning on what you are doing. According to peak performance experts Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, authors of The Power of Full Engagement, the key to skillfully managing your energy is to build rituals and routines into your daily life, as athletes do when they train. When an activity is as routine as eating, sleeping and creating, you gain resilience and feel natural and in the flow.
Overcome energy blocks
Energy blocks and drains include negative emotions like anger and worry, and negative thoughts that pull you down. When you find yourself engaged in anger or negative thoughts, change the focus. Take a deep breath and ask for inner guidance to help you understand how to better handle the situation. Relax your face and say something to yourself that makes you feel supported and secure.
When I find myself getting into the worry mode, I ask myself, if the result of what I am worrying about is inevitable. Generally it isn’t. This defuses the power from worry and empowers me to come up with a plan. My energy expenditure is reduced, leaving me with energy to use for something more constructive.
Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Instead of fighting life or trying to force it to work, reframe your challenges into rituals or routines with which you feel more in the flow of the moment. Whether in projects at work, household chores or fitness activities, go beyond the force of willpower, discipline or stamina, and focus on maximizing positive feelings and minimizing effort. Align yourself with like-minded people who vibrate at a higher energetic frequency and bring out the best of who you are.
Make a list of energy blocks and drains and begin to create precise and specific behaviors as rituals and routines that you can practice on a daily basis. Over time these practices act like vitamins and nutrients to build the “muscle” that stores the energy you need to meet your daily demands.
Putting it all together
How you invest your thoughts and time affects your available energy. These are intertwined and require regular attention and taking ownership. Invest wisely by incorporating conscious mindful routines such as meditation into your day. You’ll feel healthier, more in tune to play your life music – more fully engaged in living the life you deserve.