The Other Energy Crisis

When we say the words “Energy crisis” immediately we think of rising fuel costs, global warming, diminishing oil reserves, etc. Almost everyone has heard of the global crisis in non-renewable energy resources and are rightly concerned about where we are heading in the future. However, there is another energy crisis that is affecting us much closer to home, than the Middle East.

I am referring to a virtual epidemic of previously unknown auto-immune and stress-related illnesses that are affecting alarming numbers of people at this time in our history, such as chronic fatigue, Epstein-Barr, fibromyalgia, allergies, cancer, repetitive strain injuries, burnout, depression, addiction, etc., not to mention rising numbers of children and adults afflicted by ADD and hyperactivity.

So what is going on here? What are all these statistics telling us? I believe that these conditions and diseases are pointing to an imbalance in the way we live and expend our personal energies in this modern day and age. We are squandering our personal life force just as recklessly as we are squandering our fossil fuels. We are always marching forward, expanding into bigger, better, newer, more hip, etc. – our consumer mentality (carefully fostered by advertising) has made us apply the same faulty reasoning to our own bodies and lives as we do to the Earth’s resources. We rarely take the time or trouble to adequately restore our personal energies.
Our culture expects us to perform at an increasingly fast pace all the time. However, unlike machines, people have limits to how much they can perform in a given week and under given circumstances—especially when deprived of rest, nourishment or exercise. And unfortunately, this deprivation takes its toll on both the business and on society as a whole in terms of health problems, disrupted relationships (rising divorce rate), drug and alcohol addictions, problem children (single parents can’t cope, daycare centers overcrowded), etc.

There is a better way. Fortunately for us, our vitality is a renewable resource. We have just forgotten how to renew it. Restoring our energy levels involves learning to live in harmony with the natural rhythm and balancing mechanism of our own body and life force.
Life energy moves in cycles—like everything else in Nature, we are affected by seasons, times of day, cycles of light and dark, warmth and cold. Like the moon and the tides, your energy waxes and wanes.

When our energies are expanding and increasing, we feel terrific, on top of the world and ready to tackle anything. Our minds feel alert, we feel physically energized—we are “pumped”.

During the waning, or contraction, phase, we may feel unfocussed and tired and want to escape into sleep or TV. We worry that something is wrong, that we are “losing our edge”, that we are getting old and other dire things, and we judge ourselves for not trying harder to keep on top. But in truth, what is really happening is that our energies are moving inwards to recharge.
In our society, everything is an advertisement for being “pumped”. But if our energies are waning and we try to artificially stay expanded, using drugs or caffeine, for example, we are setting ourselves up for an energy crisis. We look for a magic pill to make it all better. But the answer is not in this pill or that supplement, a different exercise program or self-help book or a new motivational guru. The answer is to begin to live in harmony with your cycles—to go with the flow, rather than trying to swim upstream. You just need to honour whatever stage of the cycle that you are in.

The best thing to do in a waning cycle is to rest and do more reflective things, rather than active things. It is a good time to meditate, journal, have a massage, tend plants, rest, enjoy Nature, and to nurture yourself in the form of healthy food, walks, loving companionship, fresh air, long hot baths etc. In other words, be very kind to yourself. You will find that going with the flow shortens the contraction phase and restores your energies much sooner (and in a more pleasurable way), so that you are ready to move forward with the next expansion.

The waning phase is where our creativity gestates, if we let it. This is the time when brilliant solutions to our problems seem to come to us suddenly out of nowhere. That is the gift of going inward.

Managing your energies is like surfing a wave, it requires sensitivity and a fine sense of balance. Fortunately, we all have inner mechanisms that drive us towards balance. Begin to pay attention to and follow those inner balancing impulses and you will soon have plenty of energy for all parts of your life.