When we go about our day, we are impacted by a variety of things. The most important being the quality of the air we breathe ... and how we are breathing in each moment. Another important element involves everything we put into our body: food, drink and the more subtle effects of things we can absorb through our skin etc. The final, and often least considered by some, are the various and continuous impressions we receive.
This last category of impressions involves the following: the impressions we receive from our own thoughts, words and actions; the thoughts words and actions of all people we encounter; the things we place our attention on all day long and the invisible (generally speaking), impressions in and around us at all times.
All of the above equates, ultimately and on the simplest of terms, to the energy we will either gain or lose through the interaction of us and the impression. We can learn to efficiently gather and conserve (store) energy vs. leaking and losing it. We will experience this as a result of the various practices we do, and in life every day.
Observe when you have an emotional high or low. Track your energy level regularly .... inside and around you. Ask yourself: How have I been breathing and what quality of air? How have I been eating and drinking and what has been the quality of that? What sort of impressions have I been around and/or entertained inside and around me for the last little while? So many things can be listed here; for example, the music you listen to, images you look at, things you watch on TV or otherwise, books you read ... interactions with others ... and on and on.
An extreme example, here, is the fact that people who simply witness a violent or traumatic event can experience severe symptoms of stress .... physically, emotionally and mentally - even to the point of requiring treatment even though they were not directly involved. In most cases, we do not experience this dramatic example; however, our energy is impacted continuously and we can develop the sensitivity to feeling this in even the simplest of daily impressions.
Learn to tell the difference between hysterical, driven, hyper, imbalanced highs and the highs which are the result of an energetic gain within the system as a result of Work. The artificial high, which often indicates addiction or artificial stimulation, will be followed by a predictable crash .... somewhat similar to what people will notice who observe themselves on sugar, certain foods, alcohol, caffeine or an emotional high. These artificial boosts of energy impact the organs and create imbalances - depending on the amount taken and the degree of the emotion. The low will usually come shortly after the high.
Learning to tell the difference can be tricky until you learn this yourself and experience it ... then when you know yourself well enough you can observe/feel this difference in others. One has to be cautious of judging others who have a high level of energy - to the untrained eye it may appear they are hyper etc, but they are simply full of vitality and energy ... outwardly it may look the same in some circumstances. They have the ability to be quite still inside and out for long periods and also the ability to move about dynamically due to their high level of energy.
One point to remember: As a result of doing some practices - especially when you push yourself and are growing, you may encounter periods of low ... this is not the same as the artificial low which comes after the artificial high. Emotional issues may surface, or you may feel tired for a while. All of this is to be expected at times. Emotionally, things surface in order to come to the light to be transformed; avoid distracting yourself from this ... go into it, see it for what it is without reacting ... bring light to it and know it ... see it ... accept it and let it go. If necessary, and you require assistance at this time, take a counsel session(s) for additional insight and guidance ... work through it and transformation will occur. As for the feelings of being tired, we develop wisdom and communication with the body through practice and time .... we learn when to push forward anyway and when to lighten up but keep moving. We come to see that this is a part of the later energy gain.
We learn, as we Work, to conserve and store energy in order to use it for our Work. It becomes like a feedback loop.... Work, gain and store energy ... use it to do more Work ... to gain and store more energy. Getting to higher levels of the Work is not possible without having higher levels of energy and health to work with!!! If we are losing energy on many of the other ways I have mentioned, we have very little left for the real Work. We will only be able to Work with what we have available.
This is why we study ourselves and our uses of energy. We eventually learn to master ourselves ... first by knowing ourselves well enough to determine WHAT IS THIS ENERGY HIGH OR LOW REALLY ABOUT in our daily life. Then with eventual mastery of ourselves, the choices we make and the lifestyle we lead reflects that we truly know how energy works. In this way, we learn to track our energy and manage it very quickly without spiralling down into significant loss of energy and eventual illness. We are so fortunate to be given so many wonderful tools which can assist us in being ... living our potential ... ultimately it is about being able to realize this for the truth it is ... and then to do it.
