Energizing vs. Depleting Interactions

Have you ever noticed how some conversations or run-ins leave you feeling tired or negative while other make you feel more alive? This could be due to a number of circumstances. Some of these factors may be in our awareness and others out of immediate view. Even the books we read or the media we ingest can have these effects. We can feel an expansion or erosion of our energy during all of these exchanges. Mindfulness is a key player in determining the why of the energy fluctuations and deciphering which of these things would serve us to have more or less of in our lives. We can choose to incorporate more activities that feed our spirits and less that drain them.

Sometimes we just click with people and our conversations come easily and energize both parties. Other times we may stumble in our communications and feel inadequate or question ourselves. These scenarios could have both parties feeling misunderstood and depleted but more than likely one is energized and the other is drained. I just re-read The Celestine Prophecy so I may be a bit biased and borrowing inspiration from the book, full disclosure. I do feel however, that what I'm describing is accurate. People, unaware that they can increase their energy from nature and appreciating the beauty of life, will fight for energy from others during interactions. The fear that there's a finite amount of energy to go around is typically subconscious. This fear is also what motivates individuals to intimidate or interrogate others during conversation leaving the other person possibly aloof or in "poor me" mode as a counter move. We learn these patterns during our childhood and without bringing awareness to them we will continue living them out indefinitely.

Let's take it a little deeper now. So, when feeling energized we are often talking with someone who sees our beauty or the beauty of all of life and in turn we feel respected, heard, and put at ease. These individuals are fully paying attention to the exchange occurring and can sense when their turn to add to the conversation arrives. It's likely they are consciously connected to something greater than themselves, whatever that may look like for them personally. Sometimes they might be in a good mood or in a good place in their lives. Whatever it is, they aren't trying to suck our energy like an energy vampire, if you will, to fill themselves up. This is not to say we never have our turn being on the other side of this. I'm not trying to "other" others if you will. We are all connected and we all have different phases in our lives. When we aren't "stealing" energy from others and we are both adding to it during interactions the energies of both parties grow. I also want to add that sometimes people are distracted and this can leave us feeling disconnected and depleted even though it may very ell have nothing to do with us.

I've said for a long time that all my character defects come from fear and my strengths come from love. For me, these are the two opposing forces. Fear and love are on opposite sides of the spectrum. I have to believe that none of us really want to harm others or leave them feeling down or bad about themselves. Fear creeps in and takes over. It distracts us from our connectedness to the whole and we go into survival mode. The every man for themselves idea stems from this very circumstance. Right now we have a lot of the worst parts of people showing up as well as those best parts. It depends where we are on this spectrum of fear to love. How connected are we with the source, God, others? What can increase this sense of connection for us and fill us with love? For people who pray I believe we can find it there. For people who meditate we can get it from there. Loving-Kindness meditations are a great example of this as well as others. Getting outside and enjoying nature. Moving our bodies through exercise, yoga, and yard work. Through reading books and scripture and watching media that fills us up with love, light, and hope. Right now, filling ourselves up and sending that love out is one of the most powerful and important things we can do. Being fully present in our interactions with others can also help send a cascade of love and connection along. Maybe we have extra energy to spare to help someone else get to a better place where they can fill themselves up and then we can return to an activity that feeds our own spirit to replenish. Let's be mindful of how we interact with others and our environment right now and always. Let's fill ourselves up and help each other get through this time.