This brief writing is about your energies and levels of energetic health. The reason I wrote it was because I worked alongside a very expressive, energetic motivational speaker for a couple of days. At the end of those two days she looked shattered to me and when I asked her why that was, she said she didn’t know, but that it happened every time she worked and she didn’t know what to do about it. She then said that, in contrast, I felt calm and peaceful to her, so could I give some coaching; and this writing is part of the advice I gave to her.
We all know there are differences in physical, emotional and mental/psychological energies regarding our health and well-being. Sometimes, religious or spiritual health is included, sometimes not. Over the years I have met various people and groups who consider their energetic health – i.e. the health of the energies they process day-to-day – but not too many. Some aspects of Tai Chi, Aikido, Chi Gung, Acupuncture, Feng Shui, and similar philosophies (usually originating from the East) deal with some aspects of it; mainly how those energies appear at the physical level and, sometimes, the mental level. So, how can we approach energy levels if we haven’t practiced one of the areas above?
For me, for decades, it’s been important to look after my health and well-being at all the levels; physical, behavioural, mental, psychological, emotional, and religious/spiritual. One of the ways I think about it is to start with three levels of energy, then I can have an idea what might be going on with me and what levels to deal with it from.
I’ll try to explain my thinking about it and, hopefully, it will make sense. I’m not saying this is definitely the way energies work, I’m saying this is how I think of it. It has helped me make sense of what goes on in me and around me and helped me keep myself intact and resilient.
Level 1 is the Easy Come-Easy Go level; the level of General Habitual Living. Nothing substantial happens at this level, and so there’s no real energy gain or energy drain. It’s the kind of energy expenditure and exchange we might have with a person working at a hotel reception desk; general gossip and chit-chat with neighbours and friends; maybe a passing conversation or two about the economy, or taxes, or about how youngsters today don’t seem to have the same communication skills you had when you were their age; chatting about what was on tele last night; the antics we got up to as a teenager; discussing what holiday to go on or what car to buy; etc.
In other words, it’s much of what we spend our energy on most of the time, most days – absolutely necessary and essential because it makes everything more pleasant, friendly and easy to get on with. I tend to think of it as like a low-calorie drink: lots of fizz, an immediate taste hit, but no calories or protein, so no nourishment either; just lots of gas.
Most of us can deal with all this easily, so our personal energy bill is very low. It doesn’t tend to make us feel tired or worn-out. It may get tiresome if that’s all the person you are with at that time talks about but it’s not costly and not damaging, but it’s not really constructive either. An example could be if you’ve ever been to a seminar or workshop, this level is the settling in period where we’re greeted, asked how our journey was, what kind of work we do, if we’ve been on holiday yet, told where the tea, coffee and biscuits are, etc.
Many years ago, I used to work alongside someone who later developed their own philosophies into a system called SUMO (nothing to do with the Japanese sport), and he had, what I think, was a lovely, but hard-hitting, phrase that summed certain aspects of this level up: he used to say, most people live their life by accident and spend more time thinking about where they are going on next year’s holiday, than they ever do thinking about where they are going with their life.
Level 2 is the On Purpose level. This takes more effort and thought because what we think and do here, we do on purpose and not really by accident. It can be reactive or proactive but it’s been thought-through. That means though, we use more energy at this level and it costs us more than Level 1 because we need to think, consider consequences, outline benefits, spend time upskilling, change our responses or behaviours, clarify and integrate into our lives different aspects of what we want and where we want to go, so that most aspects of us are pointing in the same direction (like ions in a bar magnet). In here, we’ll talk about, what to us, or what to society, are more serious/important matters.
So, you may open up a conversation with someone about why you both chose a particular career; about sustainability in the environment or business worlds; what your goals, aims or aspirations are, for yourself or your family or your community; how important certain mind-sets are to you; what your more thought-through views are about anything – world affairs, how to stay positive, how to raise children, what you would do if you were in charge of the local council, how to improve your career or grow the business, how to improve your skills, develop your ideas, communicate better, what we believe life is about and what we think about the deeper questions – like religion, reincarnation, is there a God, is there life after death, what is a moral/good life, does life have a purpose, how can we be a good person and keep getting even better, etc.
In this level we make the effort and expend the energy needed to deliberately learn, grow, improve, increase our skills, broaden our perspective, think differently, learn the steps/techniques to improve whatever we want, get motivated or inspired, perhaps improve emotional intelligence or mindfulness, meditation, stress management, become a healer, see auras, etc.
At this level, I make a distinction between knowledge and learning, which isn’t necessary at Level 1. For me, knowledge focuses on passing across information to increase someone’s fields of reference. Learning, however, is when knowledge is used to change behaviour. So, if someone asks me a question at this level – for instance, about improving emotional intelligence - I try and work out, or ask the person directly, are they asking for knowledge or for learning?
If it’s knowledge, that’s easy as long as I know the subject matter concerned. If it’s learning, the knowledge I give them focuses on helping them make different choices, or on helping them think differently, change their mind-set, manage their emotions better, upskilling, giving techniques, improving already existing skills, or whatever seems to be needed to help that person change their behaviour.
Passing across knowledge uses more energy than general Level 1 chit-chat, and working with people to change their behaviour uses more energy again – so, if you work with someone (or a group) to help change behaviour, you could well be tired at the end; but a hearty meal, some Level 1 interactions and a good night’s sleep fills the energy store very nicely to go at it again the next day.
However, staying at Level 2 for longer than your tolerances can handle, gets to be very tiring and leads to stress so, time off is needed to recharge, refresh and re-invigorate; exactly what happens to us on our two-week summer holiday, at least I hope it does!
Level 3 is your Essence level. This is the authentic you, the one most people don’t get to see or know but which is the real driver and motivator for what you do. It tends to be the area people call being authentic and is often summed up by someone telling you to, just be yourself; or, just follow your heart. In Level 3 are your primary motives; your life’s purpose (if you have one); those thoughts, feelings, mind-sets, values that, if any were taken out of your life, would lessen your life; the feelings you have for those special people in your life; what really drives you on and gives you the energy to put up with the difficulties and set-backs; the core values you choose to live your life by; those values, mind-sets or attitudes you would like everyone in the world to adopt because you wholeheartedly believe it would improve the world, empower people and solve problems.
If you work with people to help them, at this level you have to work out why you want to help people and what you are trying to help them do; plus, you need to put energy into accumulating the skills, competencies and sensitivities that will allow you to help people change their behaviour.
It’s almost inadequate to call what drives you motivation at this level, it’s far better thought of as inspiration because it is life-affirming and lasts throughout your life, and can be seen as the nuclear generator for the energy that really does drive you in your life and towards your aspirations. And when anyone has this level settled in themselves, we tend to say they have charisma, or there is something about them, or they radiate a peace and calmness – and sometimes, just being around them affects your mood, your thoughts, or what you want to achieve, etc – they seem to give you energy.
I call those type of individuals near-by people, because most of us want to be nearby them and their nuclear generator; and if you want to develop into a near-by person, this is the level, I believe, you need to think through thoroughly and live at for large chunks of your life.
However, talking to other people about this level with passion (passion being the emotional energy attached to these deeper levels), or letting people paddle in your Level 3, is mostly costly because it's rather like when you give that energy away, you give some of your personal energy away, and it then needs replacing in you by that nuclear reactor process. Unfortunately, a gourmet Italian meal accompanied by a quality bottle of Barolo shared with friends, then a good night’s sleep, won’t replace that energy at Level 3.
The way I look at it, Levels 1 & 2 can make us tired and low on energy but that’s easily fixed: it may take a couple of weeks to recharge those levels but it’s very doable and often very enjoyable – and a gourmet Italian meal along with a quality Barolo can help do it! But, low energy at Level 3 is far better described, I think, by the word, fatigue – in other words, you are low on those core energies that drive the nuclear reactor in you. And, in my experience, when we try to motivate or inspire people and do it from what inspires us at Level 3, that’s when we get fatigued and drained. I’ve found that a far better approach for my energy levels, is to try and help people find their own inspiration, rather than give them too much of mine.
If you’re fatigued for whatever reason, just like you do cool-down exercises after exercising, do whatever your energetic cool-downs are – and these will probably be what you would use to recharge at Levels 1 & 2. For instance, some of mine are listening to dance music, loud; or watching low-calorie programmes on tele I don’t need to think about (no University Challenge here!); having a piping hot Americano and some chocolate; and flopping down in a chair or on a bed and letting my body fully relax.
Then, once you’re feeling more yourself, if possible, jump in the shower because running water starts to clean the aura and re-invigorate us physically. Then, rest as much as you want (if you can); talk to those special people in your life; listen to music or audio that makes you feel good or inspires you; read inspiring literature; take the dog for a walk and feel the natural worlds; go for a jog (if that’s what you do) to re-invigorate yourself, take the tension out of your muscles and slow down your mind; do a little meditation or mindfulness; talk to people you trust about what for you are important values or subjects, but without getting emotionally wound up; in other words, whatever makes you feel good.
And crucially, try not to give people you meet or interact with, any more of your energy and passion from that particular nuclear energy power pack until you’re feeling re-energised and refreshed.
As I said at the beginning, these are some of my thoughts on energies: I’m not saying this is how the world works, or even how it works in anyone else, but the key point is, I’ve thought it through and figured out what works for me, so that I can better manage those three parts of my life.
My invitation to you is to think things through if it is not as clear in you as I have described. If it is as clear to you, or even clearer, my invitation to you is, deliberately help one other person clarify Level 3 for themselves – or put another way, help them learn and change their behaviour.
