A close friend recently shared an observation with me that she heard from listening to the Abraham material. It's one of those simple-sounding, yet profound distinctions: We experience the sense of being overwhelmed when we attempt to manage our actions in lieu of managing our energy.
This distinction rang true for me personally, yet what does it really mean to manage our energy? I don't have the benefit of knowing the context from which this distinction was made in the Abraham material. I am well acquainted enough with their ideas to open up the discussion. I ask you to jump in and broaden this conversation - tell us what you think and if this resonates for you.
Here's what I do know. When I do not follow where my energy goes, I find myself dealing with internal resistance that slogs down my external actions. Abraham calls this swimming upstream. And we all know that swimming upstream requires more work and exertion.
When you feel enthusiasm to do something, it means you've lined up the Energy, and you are being inspired to take action from that point of alignment. When you don't feel like doing it, don't push yourself, because your effort is not worth it. But, when you line up the Energy, the feeling of procrastination goes away.
- Abraham
The first thing that hit me when I heard my friend make this distinction involves my business. We are developing a new business model that involves additional revenue streams to ensure greater profitability. However I realize my involvement in one of these sidearms isn't working. I hate it so much that I have to work hard to do it, and feel both overwhelmed and disheartened. Worse yet, it distracts me from what I do well in the other part of the business. I gotta pay attention to that and make a different choice. I gotta manage my energy.
Here's an example that just occurred a few days ago. A 5-day trip back to Ohio to see friends and family was canceled, literally at the last minute. My bags were packed, the car loaded up with goodies and favorite CD's to listen to, when I received a phone call from my college roommate at 6:45 a.m. She told me that a major snowstorm was due to hit Columbus within 24 hours. [Later Ohio was hit hard with up to 16" of snow!] We agreed to cancel and reschedule for later.
Having planned to leave on this trip, I had already clocked out of work mentally. I felt quite dismayed. I needed a break, and wanted to see everyone. The thought of resuming work felt tortuous. I wasn't in the mood!
I consciously paid attention to my energy. I decided to schedule a playday for Friday. After working in my office for an hour, finishing up some email and phone calls, I turned off my cell phone. A girlfriend drove up and we went out to lunch and to a movie.
Taking this time off for fun lifted my spirits. I found myself actually motivated to go into my office Saturday and clean it up. In addition I got caught up on other necessary paperwork. Doing these work-related actions Saturday didn't feel like work, oddly enough. I felt drawn to doing them because of where my energy was.
Please jump in with your ideas on managing energy. What do you think about this distinction? What has been your experience?
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