Bringing Your Energy to It

Daily responsibilities and obligations can gradually take a toll on energy flow, making it feel at times like there's no room to use your energy in the way you want to. This experience can be hard to go through, and the physical effects that often result such as fatigue and sleep issues can make things feel worse.

Even though chronic fatigue is commonly thought of as a cluster of physical symptoms, much of fatigue starts out on a mental-emotional level and then spreads to the whole body. Energy may actually be available in the body, but it can be difficult to use when it's been blocked from coming out. Energy can then become stagnant or stuck from lack of use. It's there, but it can feel very out of reach.

In today's busy busy world, this is a common challenge. We may have certain uncontrollable factors that define how and where we use most of our energy. Still, it's important to remember that being able to bring your energy to something you care about helps keep energy flowing in the body and through daily life. Wherever you can create a pocket for yourself, bring your energy to it.

If you enjoy playing music when you're done with the day's work, bring your energy to the notes. If you have ideas on a different type of work you'd like to do in the future, bring your energy to those ideas. If you're a writer, blogger, or talker, bring your energy to the words you use. Enjoy exercise and sports? Bring energy to your movements. If you're in very busy and demanding period of life, however, do what you can and when there's more time to rest you'll have more opportunities.

Your energy matters. Find ways to keep it burning for yourself.

Is Happiness Your Truth?

In today's world, happiness has moved beyond an emotion and is almost more like a discipline. There is now peer pressure to be happy all the time and this message gets reaffirmed by commercials we see and songs we hear on the radio. A recent song on the radio repeats words such as "Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth" for four minutes straight. The question is:  what's the crime in experiencing other emotions too during life? It's worth it to explore whether happiness is your ultimate truth or whether going through life honestly through a spectrum of different emotions feels more truthful.

It's a lot of pressure to feel happy all the time. When there are moments in life that don't feel so happy, you have to act counter to your true feelings in order to enforce happiness. Ultimately, the high that comes from uninterrupted happiness can lead to crashes of mood afterward. Extremes can form between alternating feelings of happiness and those of depression. These extreme and unnatural fluctuations in emotion can also disrupt the balance in other areas of health, both physical and mental-emotional.

More than a crystallized ideal to strive for, happiness is a natural part of life that comes alongside other diverse experiences and emotions. We don't need to force it in order to experience it, and forcing it actually works against being able to feel it naturally. Next time you feel like you should be happy, ask yourself whether it's a natural urge to feel this way or whether there's an external expectation for you to be happy. When there's a natural spark to happy moments, you'll know it.

There's nothing wrong with happiness, but it doesn't have to become a rule that overrides everything else in life. Life is more flavorful when you can go through the good times and the bad times, and not always with an unconditional smile pasted on. Is happiness your ultimate truth, or is there more to it than that?

Worth Your Time

What is worth your time?

There is so much out there in the world today, and there isn't enough time to do or see it all. Supporting health involves picking and choosing which pursuits are worth spending your time on. It might seem urgent to attend to everything all at once, and it's also a subliminal message of the fast-paced world we live in. Being stretched in many different directions has its limits, however, and can ultimately lead to more stress than you need. It can also hamper enjoyment in what you ultimately spend your time doing.

Being busy is okay, but it's helpful to prioritize what's worth busying yourself over. Are there certain areas of life where you've been craving more action, versus other areas where you'd like to feel more calm and less stress? No need to whip out a big To-Do list to prioritize what you want:  it's helpful to feel it first. Relax and try to picture what types of pursuits you'd like to bring more of your energy to. Leave the doubts and worries out of it for now. Let it be a simple exercise that helps you consider the possibilities of how to spend more of your time, your way.

Time may feel like it's against us sometimes, but often it's asking us to make choices regarding what matters to each of us the most. Time is more than just a number. So, what's worth your time?

Satisfaction in the Simple

We often seek satisfaction from the biggest and the best in life. We imagine that the bigger and better the experience, milestone, and reward, the more value it will add to our days. Then we look at a cat, happily preening herself in a sunny spot on the carpet, and we wonder how that small action can provide her such satisfaction. Is the cat weird, or are we sometimes out of touch with the satisfaction inherent in the simple?

Simple avenues of enjoyment are all around us, yet we often ignore them while chasing after the big stuff. Why? Sometimes we don't even know because bigger and better seems written into the trends of culture. But if you pay attention, you can feel the body and mind tugging at you to reward yourself with more simple moments like the cat does.

Instead of seeing it as a bummer when you don't have plans on a weekend, it's a perfect opportunity to relish in simple activities. If you enjoy cooking, pull out that unique recipe you've had stored away for months in a kitchen cupboard. Let the process of cooking and eating your food deliver as much reward as you imagine a "big" experience would.

If you want to try your own form of preening, soak your hands in warm water for 15-20 minutes, then massage lotion into them while watching T.V. or listening to music. You could do the same for your feet. Practice a new hair do for no reason at all, that no one will see but you. Re-arrange your closet and notice how your taste has changed over time. Write a short story, even if you've never done it before. Play piano or learn how to play. Make up a new song.

Daily activities like making coffee, washing the dishes, or walking the dog are all simple moments that offer not only satisfaction, but also an anchor during strange or stressful times. Just because you don't get a blue ribbon or trophy for creatively stacking the dishwasher doesn't mean it's an unimportant or useless part of your day. How you approach the simplest moments can influence how you approach other experiences in life, large or small.

This week, let yourself find satisfaction in the simple.

The Blank Page

Imagine pulling your resume up on the computer---and deleting it. Did your brain say "ouch" at the very thought of electronically crumpling up the piece of paper that claims to know everything you're good at and that you should be striving for?

The resume is a handy tool to get a job, and it's also a confining piece of paper that can spark feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, and dissatisfaction. Even without the paper itself, you can see "resumes" metaphorically in how they affect life.

Each of us has roles that we can pressure ourselves to perform perfectly, and sometimes unrealistically. The roles and tasks performed can become larger than the person. The person can drown in the resume. It can feel like nothing's ever enough.

Again, imagine deleting all the lines on the resume page. The lines that talk about being the perfect business person, parent, daughter or son, teacher, worker, student, athlete, human being, and so on. What's left?

A blank page. It may seem like just an empty page, but it stands for a lot more than that. It's potential, free and ready for you to use. How would you fill it if you didn't have to stick with 12-point font, employment history, years worked, qualifications, education, and skills?

There are probably things that you imagine doing from time to time, fleeting thoughts in your mind. Maybe after you imagine them, you're habitually used to scrapping them because there are more important things to do on your resume. Of course the resume is bible...or is it? Maybe you do have space to do the things you've imagined doing. As long as you do them your way. The blank page may not come with directions, but it frees you to go where you've never been.

Just because we use resumes, doesn't mean we have to become them. Try pulling out a blank page, and see what happens.

If a Tree Falls and No One Hears It...?

The question goes, "If a tree falls and no one hears it, does it still make a sound?" I'll shake this question up a bit and ask, "If you experience or see something, and no one else responds to it---did it still happen?"

At one time or another, each of us faces a situation in which we strongly experience something that no one else responds to. Know the feeling? Without anyone else echoing what you saw or felt, you may wonder whether you imagined it all. Throughout life, it can be challenging to hold onto your true experience when you're getting the message from others that it's better or more convenient to dismiss it.

You're like the tree (without the falling part necessarily). The tree still falls even if no one is there to witness it happening. That's what's most important. In your own life when you go through something that's important to you, it bears the same significance regardless of whether other people acknowledge it or not.

It can feel frustrating to know your experience and then to doubt it because you feel alone there. The experiences you have that don't fit a formula or can't be categorized can feel like that the most. What's most important, however, is that it really did happen---for you. The tree doesn't care if anyone heard it fall or not. For humans, it's more complex than that. Still, we can learn from the tree in keeping the integrity of our experiences even when there isn't a witness to them.

This month, take in those moments that no one else but you responds to. If you make a joke and no one else laughs, you can still enjoy the joke for yourself. If you see or hear something crazy and there's zero reaction around you, remind yourself that the event still happened for you. If you see a hummingbird zip in front of your face, a lady bug appear on your clothing just when you need a little luck, or an unexplainable occurrence...it's okay if no one else is there to see it or react to it but you. Sometimes the coolest moments are like that.

Perfect: The Enemy of Good

Why is perfect the enemy of good? Think about it. The message of "perfect" is that you'll someday attain a status beyond which there's no point of trying, or learning, or growing. If you're perfect already, what's the point of interacting with life and getting something out of it?

"Perfect" tricks you into believing that there is a solution and an endpoint.  Do you think that any individual in the history of mankind created something unique by aiming for perfection? It seems to me that more innovative results came from casting perfection to the side in favor of creativity, autonomy, and doing the best you can. If you aim for perfection, you're placing yourself in a sterile bubble by default.

In a bubble of perfection, of course you can see the exact results you want to see in your health, social sphere, family, finances, and personal goals...by omission. You'll have to omit all the stuff that's not going perfect. What does this mean? You'll have to omit a part of yourself in order to reach perfection. Human beings aren't meant to strive for perfection, they're meant to adapt. By adapting to the world around us and the unique events we're each going through, we stay open to possibilities. Perfection doesn't leave room for possibilities. Why? Because it's too perfect.

Next time you're aiming for perfection, ask yourself what your mind, heart, and body are really rooting for. Are they seeking adventure? Are they seeking to break out of a bubble of certainty in order to taste what life is offering? Are they asking you to push yourself beyond previously held limitations to get to know yourself better and what you're really made of?

It doesn't help to seek answers outside of yourself and from other people. Is it worthwhile to get down on yourself because a bunch of people who don't even know you don't believe you can reach your goals? Who knows you better than yourself? These are questions to ask yourself when the dazzle of perfection starts glittering stronger than your true desires.

Perfect is the enemy of good. Remember that when you're asking yourself to jump out of your skin to be something you're not. Is the effort worth the risk?

Playfulness and Health

What is playfulness? If you're reaching for the dictionary on this word, toss it aside! Playfulness can't be described with words. It's a feeling, and it's one that can easily be neglected in this world and in health. How is playfulness good for your health?

When you're playful, you're appreciating the lightness that can be experienced in your life. This lightness naturally supports a balanced body and mind, gets you looking forward to new experiences, and helps you enjoy interacting with yourself and the world around you.

Naturally when stressful times arise it's not always possible to bring out your playful side. On the other hand, how many days or weeks go by for people in today's current lifestyle that aren't riddled with stress in some way? Let's be realistic and say that playfulness can sometimes appear on the endangered feelings list.

Don't forget to enjoy your personality along the way in life. Playfulness isn't all about how you appear to the outside world. It's more about the lightheartedness you allow in your own life, even when life presents you with a regular reel of challenges and missteps. It's a secret joke exchanged without words. It's that laugh you share with yourself or someone else. It's watching yourself, someone else, or your pet do something unexpected and memorable. Playful moments aren't frivolous, they last for a long time.

Handle the daily routines, responsibilities, work, duties, and bills. Just don't forget to play sometimes too.

No Such Thing as Perfect Health

Is there such a thing as perfect health?

Well, is there such a thing as a perfect person? The answer to both questions is:  NO. Human beings go through real life, real challenges, unexpected events, and uncertainty. During this lifetime, there is no such thing as perfect health.

The way health is depicted in the medical community and media can sometimes be misleading in this respect. You see perfect specimens of health running down the beach in a commercial or health magazine, and you're led to believe that every single day unfolds this way for truly healthy people. Commercials depict people who are happily on medications that bypass the need to look deeper into existing health imbalances. A woman eats a container of yogurt and her healthy weight and slim figure are set for eternity. While many of these tactics are marketing strategies, you still have to resist health propaganda out there in the world when the message doesn't fit you as a person.

Do you want to be a perfect person? Or would you rather approach yourself and your health from where you're at in life? This is a tricky question. It's undeniable that the shiny tune of the word "perfection" beckons each of us during life. Striving for it can lead to frustration, disappointment, and feeling stuck. Striving for perfect health is no different. Unless you approach your health from a realistic and approachable standpoint, it can always seem so far away, running away from you as you run toward it in its perfect fantasy form.

Ever heard of "wabi-sabi"? Wabi-sabi is the Japanese view that accepts imperfection as a form of beauty and balance. To acknowledge wabi-sabi is to see that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. By accepting the wabi-sabi in your health, in your personality, and in your life, you can really appreciate what makes your health and your life tick each day. You can also respect the journey that you take as an individual to feel health in your life amid the very real challenges that come your way. Your health has strengths and it has weaknesses, it has room to grow, and it's human just like you are.

Don't strive to put yourself and your health in a picture perfect bubble. In a bubble, you can't move around and you can't learn. When you take care of yourself outside of the bubble and still work toward health in an imperfect world and body, you're getting somewhere real. Here's to your wabi-sabi, and here's to your health!