Life Fuel
The word “energy” is familiar enough, but what we might not realize is just how present (or absent) it is in our daily lives.
Houses and cars have veins of power running through them. Grocery stores and coffee shops fuel us for the day. Computers and phones notify us when they have dangerously low energy and are about to shut down completely.
If only our bodies could be so obvious.
Well, in fact, they probably are. We just choose to ignore those messages. When we have low energy, we down another cup of coffee. We commit ourselves to yet another thing. We numb ourselves by turning to things that promise us connection but can often leave us feeling more restless and fragmented than ever. (And just to be clear, I do this, too.)
The OED tells us that energy is power, strength, force, the ability or capacity to produce an effect. Energy can also imbue our words and our lives with a passion and a power, and it can be experienced as a sort of dynamism.
In almost every definition, energy has a sense of action in it. A puddle has little energy. A creek is filled with energy when it flows (and possesses overwhelming energy when it floods). Over and over again, the dictionary uses the phrase “a quality of” to help us understand what energy is and does.
We experience energy in our bodies, minds, and spirits in all kinds of ways. Sometimes, it can feel like this steady and beautiful glow stoking our inner fire. Other times, it can be a buzzing. Or make us feel twitchy. Or fragmented. Or flooded and overwhelmed. Anybody else get that agitated energy when you are so exhausted you can barely stand, but as soon as you try to sleep, your mind is off and running like a espresso-fueled hamster on a wheel?
It’s taken me a long time to figure out energy is like balance and health. The very thing that brings us energy one day might exhaust us the next. This might not seem like good news, because it means just one more thing demanding your attention. That’s why it’s far easier to grab the caffeine or a phone and be done with it.
And it’s scary to hear what the body has to say, because if we listen, it means we might have to change.
We might have to change what we are doing. We might have to change what we are not doing. And while we might want things to be different, we might also experience a whole lotta I don’ wanna.
That’s fine. Because change is hard and scary and uncomfortable.
And change can leave us feeling renewed and reinvigorated, filled with good and fresh energy.
As ever, one good way to proceed is to be curious. To be filled with wonder—actively investigating how and why. How do you feel? Why might you feel that way? What could you do to create more directed and powerful energy in your life?
Whether you are after laser beam or candle glow, see what kind of life fuel feels right right now, and take some time to pay attention to what nourishes that.
For instance, today might be a great day to be a sparkler, sending out a cascade of delightful sparks and seeing what happens next.
Live light.