Hi lovely people!
Today I’m writing about managing your energy!
First a little background on energy and its relation to us. We are made of energy; we are energy! Also, if you didn’t know yet, the whole world is made of energy. (If you don’t believe me, click here.) That’s why we must take care of ourselves and be aware of our energy levels, at all times.
What does that mean? I will give an example. All humans and animals have emotions. When we feel sad, angry, or frustrated we are usually in an “energy-depleting” mode, which does nothing but consumes our energy. So that’s why we feel tired and fall straight asleep after crying for a few hours. On the other hand, when we are feeling happy or any positive emotions, it is usually adding to our energy level, and we feel more dynamic and energetic. So, people like to say, “stay happy” or “be happy”, it’s because when you’re in a state of happiness, your energy level is “charging” up, and when we are “charged”, we see everything with clearer perspectives, and simply perform better in our lives.
So how to “charge” your energy battery, and not deplete it? Continue reading to find out! 🙂
I just want to point out before I begin: some things might work for some people, while others might work better for other people. So feel free to pick and choose the methods you resonate to, as long as they work for you!
Charge Your Energy: 8 Ways
Leisure Reading
Reading is such a relaxing activity (of course, when you’re reading non-intense books). Choose a book on your favorite topic, but also something that doesn’t twist your mind and keep you up all night reading. Read before bed, when you’re snuggling in your pajamas; or with a cup of hot, relaxing tea in the afternoon, during your break from work, or school. Reading takes away your intense thoughts from during the day, and thus has a relaxing effect because your mind is no longer tight and anxious from worrying about things.
Listen to Music
Listen to music anytime, preferably calm and relaxing music such as these, spa music music, or yoga music). You can listen to them before sleep, while you read, or during the day when you need some private alone time to relax.
A side note on music listening: make sure it’s not at a high volume. Lots of people, especially teenagers that like to listen to loud pop songs have some hearing loss already, without them even knowing. At 85 decibels, human ears can listen to music up to 8 hours a day. If you go higher to 88 decibels, listening period will have to reduce to around 4 hours. (learn more here). Hearing is very important, and once it’s lost, it lost forever. So take care of your ears while you take care of your mind!
Meditate
Meditation(or dhyana) is an essential practice for some religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. It calms your brain down, and you shift your focus from anxiety in life, to the truth in life. It can take several practices before one can feel the inner peace of mind through meditation, but it is definitely do-able, and very refreshing and calming at the same time. You could be meditating on a specific event/thought, or simply relaxing your mind to flow, while you observe your thoughts, until there are no thoughts left. Meditation is much wider than what I’ve just talked about, which is only small part. Click here to learn more about meditation, and meditation techniques.
Do Yoga
Yoga is an ancient practice that originated from India, and yogis used it to find inner peace and enlightenment. Nowadays, it’s often treated simply as another way to exercise, but it’s a lot deeper than that. Yoga incorporates mediation, physical postures (asanas) and breathing regulation (pranayama), and focuses on strengthening on one’s life force (prana). Learn more about the origins and concepts of yoga here.
Do Tai Chi
Tai Chi is a type of Wushu (of Chinese martial art) from ancient China. It has a lot of health benefits and is also a type of active meditation. In Tai Chi, you perform a series of movements that are related to Yin and Yang, and these movements require focus on your body, but at the same time relaxation in the body while performing these movements. It is specifically designed for the body’s Qi to flow smoothly to every body part, or to release the blocked parts of the body and restore the natural flow of Qi, or energy, in the body. This is an efficient way of spending time and boosting every because it relaxes both your body and mind, and also heals physical problems, and strengthen your body! Learn more here.
Eat Less (or no) Junk food
Believe it or not, junk food has a big negative impact on your body. It’s more than just eating, digesting, and coming out. There are lots of artificial flavorings, and toxic chemicals used in the process of making those chips, snacks, and candies. Junk foods require more efforts from the body to digest, and to spit out the toxic ingredients afterwards, and it’s not always possible. It’s a process that does not add any nutrition to your body, but wastes lots of energy. And often times, lots of the toxic ingredients are not even digestible, and they simply stay in your body, messing up your body, and your emotions. You might feel good while you’re eating your favorite chips, but that’s only a short period of time. The impact of junk food stays in your body and continues throughout your whole life; and the happiness vs. the negative impact= not worth it.
Sleep Early
“Sleep earlier, sleep earlier!” Many people have probably heard this a dozen of times from dad and mom. Well, they’re right, and there is reason why. Sleeping early (before 11PM) is especially important to your body, because 11PM-1AM is the crucial period when your body goes through the process of repairing itself. You can sleep later and still have the same hours of sleep, but the body will not fix itself, and it will continue working with the body from the previous day that needs to be fixed or oiled up each day. Imagine a machine not oiled/repaired when it’s supposed to happen; the machine would not work anymore, or even if it did, the machine would be making lots of squeaky noises and then die-off sooner or later. Sleeping early will allow your body to repair itself, and thus you will wake up feeling rejuvenated and ready for the whole day! Treat your body with care and love, and you will receive its blessings too.
Wake Early
This is just as important as sleeping early. Your body is programmed to sleep at night, and to do work and wake up when the Sun is up! You don’t have to wake up at 5 or 6AM when the sun rises, but wake up some time close to that. Our bodies have a hormone called melatonin, and it rises in the evening and stays high throughout our sleep. It regulates our sleep cycles, and it is affected by light. So when we wake up early in the day when the sun is up, our body will know it’s daytime, and the melatonin level will decrease. If we stayed in bed until late in the morning, and without the sun telling us to wake up, our sleep cycle will be confused and that will just result in drowsiness and low-productivity throughout the day. Also, when you wake up early, you have “more time” to complete things, with much higher efficiency! Why not? Laziness is not an excuse.
This is a short list of potential things you can do to be aware and manage your energy everyday, but there is definitely a lot more that can be added to this list. Most of them can be done at any time during the day when you have short breaks, and they have great positive effects to both your body and mind. Remind yourself everyday to be aware of your energy levels, and find peace anytime throughout your day with these simple methods!
I hope this was helpful, and feel free to comment below if you like any of these activities, or have more to add!
Charge up your battery, and be the best you in life! xxxx
Some Happiness, Some Fun 