Energy Batteries, Self-Awareness, and Resilience

A great way to use self-awareness as a resilience tool is to learn how to better sense your own energy levels. Sensing when your energies are low, medium or high allows you to manage your energy better, resulting in less exhaustion and a more sustainable energy flow in daily life.

Most of us (though not necessarily all) can sense our physical energy level, noticing when we feel tired, hungry, peppy, etc. Have you ever sensed your other energies? I bet you have. For example, have you ever been physically depleted but emotionally elated? Or mentally drained but spiritually on fire? Many combinations are possible.

I like imagining that we have four types of energy: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Each is like a battery, with its own level, rising and falling independent of the others. Just like real batteries, our energy batteries need to be recharged, and each one has its own optimal rhythm for discharge and recharge.

Being self-aware of my energy batteries has been a potent tool for increasing my resilience. For example, noticing that my mental battery often feels depleted has led to a larger insight that I overuse my mental energy. My default strategy for all challenges, apparently, is to “figure it out” with my mind. As a result, my mental battery is often close to depletion, which in turn makes me more vulnerable to frustration, overwhelm and burnout. Less resilient.

Knowing this about myself lets me make new choices designed to reduce mental overload. When I’m deciding how to do a thing, I now ask, what would be mentally easiest? I also engage more sides of myself in decision-making and problem-solving. I observe my emotions, try to sense my spirit, and listen to my body’s voice, as you may have read in another recent blog post.

How do you use your energies? Is one of your batteries often depleted? Which one and why?

Starting in May 2024, my classes, blog posts and emails will help you observe your energy batteries and learn how to manage your energies more effectively, in and out of class. You’ll get a great low-impact cardio workout and build your resilience in a whole new way. I look forward to dancing with you!