Personal Success: Managing Your Energy

Our world, our entire universe and, indeed, your own daily life operates like a big energy-exchange machine. Ground-breaking discoveries in the field of quantum physics has begun to confirm just how this energy actually works. But, for starters, we already know that everything is made up of energy. Superstring theory, which the CERN teams working on experiments with the Large Haydron Collider will, in time, be confirmed experimentally, states that the most basic components of everything in the universe are superstrings of energy. You’ve got trillions of superstrings of energy that combine into particles, molecules and cells which, all together, add up to what manifests as the physical you. To quote the physicist Brian Greene, your superstrings are like violin strings. When they are all in tune, your life is like a beautiful symphony. But how often does that happen? How often do you feel completely in flow, that all is well, that you’re completely content and that all is simply falling into place for you? Isn’t it more often the case that some of your strings are out of tune and your daily life sounds more like a second-rate school brass band!

The funny thing is that, even though most people have no idea of superstring theory or, indeed, that we are simply comprised of energy, the ordinary man-in-the-stress (or, obviously, woman!) even uses common expressions that describe the physical results of our superstrings being ‘out of tune’. Strangely enough, these everyday expressions generally refer to the energy centres in our body which ancient mysticism describes as the primary or key energy centres, known as chakras. Let me explain what I’m talking about by way of example. If you’re nervous, you might have what we describe as butterflies in your stomach – the direct physical consequence of a state of mind. If you have something difficult or unpalatable to say or some bad news to impart, you might experience a lump in your throat. If you’re feeling down you might have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Indeed, the pit of the stomach is a key energy centre often referred to by successful people when they talk about gut instinct or gut feel. And how come that tension and nervousness can lead to a ‘tense nervous headache’? One thing is for certain, many people actually use expressions to explain that they’re ‘drained’ or that that their ‘energy is low’.

The simple fact is that, whether you’re aware of the scientific explanation or not, you are aware that your state of mind creates these physical knock-on effects. What’s the point of all this? Well, the normal state of mind, which psychology has concluded tends towards the negative, is the starting point for of all manner of ills and, crucially, is the source of discomfort in our everyday lives. The normal subconscious mind turns our energy in on ourselves – and, as a consequence, produces these physical effects – so that we end up sabotaging ourselves, having been left, quite simply, with too little available energy to put into that ‘energy-exchange machine’ that I mentioned earlier. We may be only too well aware of the consequences of a negative state of mind: low self esteem, lack of self confidence, a general feeling on unease in certain circumstances, stress and depression. But these are extreme examples of a more subtle and deeply-rooted problem.

The inward focus of our energy means that we don’t have a sufficient amount of energy available to invest in what we’re supposed to be doing right now and it is this ‘disability’ that keeps normal people within the psychologically self-created confines of their normal, not-too-bad life. And as our world and your life works on the basis of a return on the energy that you put into the act of living, with little concrete investment comes precious little return. Little wonder that people are unhappy and unfulfilled.

You’ve got to break this cycle of self sabotage. You’ve got to start investing more energy in your life, by putting more of you into living in the present moment. You’ve got to be interested enough in your own success to bother to actually turn up to the only place that life is lived – the here and now. You can start, right now, by taking five minutes, finding somewhere quiet to sit, closing your eyes and simply listening to the sounds that you hear. This silences the constant noise in your head and drags your subconscious mind’s attention away from its inward self-destructive obsession. Most importantly, it enables you begin to train yourself so that you can turn your otherwise inwardly-focused energy out into a world that is only waiting to respond to your presence, to your focus. In this way, by putting a little more is, you’ll get a lot more out of life – straight away.