Energy

What is worth your energy?

What is taking your energy?

What is fueling your energy?

I read a quote from Swami Vivekananda. He was a spiritual teacher and leader who helped bring Yoga to the western world. He said, “In a day when you don’t come across any problems, you can be sure that you are traveling in a wrong path.”

When we walk our path, we come face to face with challenges. It’s normal and it’s also to be expected. In order to face the challenges, we have the have the energy within.

Energy is everything. The amount of energy that we have is precious. In Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements, he explains “Every day we awake with a certain amount of mental, emotional and physical energy that we spend throughout the day. If we allow our emotions to deplete our energy, we have no energy to change our lives or to give to others.”

I think this is a great time for us to recognize where, who and what are we giving our energy to.

Whether it is physical, emotional or mental energy, our relationships, jobs, obligations, responsibilities, hopes and dreams all require energy. Your energy is currency. What you give, you give. What you get in return should feel worth it. I’m aware that not everything in life is going to work out the way we wish. So perhaps we can start taking inventory of our energy and where it goes. If there is something in your life that you can change in order to feel better inside and out, then I say YES. If you notice that your emotions are draining your energy, ask yourself why. What can you do to change it?

We have to learn how to release what we no longer need and be real on what is taking up our energy. One of the best ways to release something is to remove your attention to it. The yogis believe that where your awareness goes, your energy will flow. Once we understand what is eating our energy away, we do what we can to protect it.

How? We learn boundaries. We watch and become aware of our distractions. We take note on where our mind dwells. What we stop feeding will eventually disappear. Even if it takes a long time, what you stop feeding will stop growing. If you think that your daily actions don’t matter, they do. Big time. They create your life. They set the stage, tone of your play, energy in your life. If you are doing the same thing, over and over again and expecting something different to happen, you need a new strategy.

Start to imagine the life that you would love to live, from location, vocation, partnerships, responsibilities. Get excited about all the endless possibilities that await you. Imagine that you have a treasure map embedded in your mind and consciousness. If you were to follow your gut, your intuition, your heart, then you would be following that treasure map. No one else can really tell you where your treasure lies or what kind of life you should live.

In order to follow our own path, we have to be willing to transform and be open to change.

If we can start to imagine the change, the blocks that our mind create could then turn into stepping stones. What if all the obstacles that are laid on the path are just here to make you really think. That’s why yoga is great. Yoga creates the space for us to refuel, listen and love ourselves. It’s not about removing the challenges or injecting energy as a quick fix. It’s about building awareness to the process of it all and being brave enough to look within.

We all have the ability to create beauty, love and compassion. What we pay attention to in our life will grow. If you feel that your energy is depleted, it’s okay. A very good friend reminded me to do one thing, even if it’s tiny, to get my mind focused. Believe that you can build the momentum you need, just by taking the first step.

Inch by inch, life is a cinch. Yard by yard, life is too hard.