Energy Crisis

January should be a month of zestful adventure. After all, we’re at the start of a 365 day marathon and we should be feeling in fine form.  We’re shaking off the old year and ringing in a new one. People, being as weak and fallible as they are, find change difficult to negotiate so preparing for high achievement is a task in itself. It’s a battle, the mother of all, between spirit and flesh. The little voices within us get into a heated debate about all manner of decision making. Good and bad resolutions are in combat and the victor of these will be the predictor of your life path in 2012 – be it rough or smooth.

When we make poor choices we suffer the consequences all year and sometimes even longer than that. Our whole life seems a compromise, a guilt trip, a mish-mash of hopes and dreams, a sacrificial lamb. Often it appears that we have sacrificed our time and efforts for no fruitful purpose other than to please people. We are adept at keeping everyone happy except for ourselves! If only we’d invested so much in the pursuit of our own ambitions.

Our energies -  physical, mental and emotional -  are valuable resources. Emotional labour we expend in each moment and it’s too bad that we can’t charge by the hour. We carry our emotional labour to the office when we show initiative and due diligence in the performance of our professional duties. Just blindly following the job description does not get the job done, it takes oomph to go the extra mile. So we work late, take work home, neglecting our families, never take a break from our electronic gadgetry and rarely feel up to an evening of socialising. 

Yes, we deplete ourselves on every level so much so that we lose out on spiritual connection. We sit in gloom filled offices with our weary colleagues bemoaning the state of world forgetting that we’re part of the problem – its our world and we’ve turned it into a hot mess! We burn out for the sake of efficiency and dedication. We’re not machines that can be easily repaired.

Never mind oil prices in the Gulf we have a crisis right here on our doorstep – mind, body and soul. It’s an energy crisis that doesn’t have a quick fix. We can’t just stick on a few solar panels and feel rejuvenated.;though a few ultra-violet rays do provide a lift. 

Spending time nurturing yourself will greatly alleviate symptoms in whatever shape or form. To start with switch off the phone and let everyone think you're away on holiday. Sit listening to the rings but don't jump to answer it - whoever it is can wait but your life can't! Avoiding the negativity of our fellow planet sharers can be like getting through an obstacle course especially when gossip makes the world go round.

Make - not find - time for unique past-times: star-gazing, bored games, nature watching, day-dreaming, holding a pen and writing with it across a clean sheet of paper, looking up a poem from your childhood, playing the “glad” game, reading a hand-held book (not an electronic reader), making music not just listening to it and the best one of all – doing absolutely nothing….aaahh!

If the first month of the year is for renewal then stop. Recharge your batteries and take a walk down easy street. Go slow and make time for thinking. Be alone but not lonely. Be happy but not for any particular reason. Put up a sign: “Mind Maintenance” and close the door. 

Be kind to yourself; drink in the silence and let tranquility wash over you. You're not frazzled; you're calm and in (reasonable) control. Breathe, sigh and breathe again.

When you’re ready to face it all again believe that a positive year awaits. I promise you that you’ll feel perked up and ready to go….. I’ll race you to the finish line in December where I'll be waiting for a progress report.