A whole day of energy

You can be more effectiveness in your work, with your family and in your relationships if you have energy all day.

by Michell Brown — 

What would you do today if you had unlimited energy? Energy is invaluable. Kids naturally have it in abundance, new moms crave it and working people cherish it. You may know those people who flow through their days with high energy, others who experience really low points, and still others with moderate energy that might hit a high point or two. What if you could have a high-energy day and come home to find you have just as much energy at the end of your day as when you began?

Having energy all day is not a myth. The ability to move through your day relaxed and responding to life’s situations in a way that boosts your energy, rather than being drained and depleted, is a valuable, learned skill. Developing greater energy is a process, just like developing stronger muscles and outstanding fitness via your exercise program. Here are a few tools that can set you on the path to having greater energy all day.

1. Breathe — You may have read or heard that it is healthy to spend a few minutes during your day focusing on your breath so you can breathe more deeply and relax. Another suggestion is to vary your breathing by taking a few breaths in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. If you do this periodically throughout your day, you will achieve a different result than if you just take deeper breaths. Breathing this way for a few moments will help calm you so that you can better respond to stress and fatigue.

2. Move — Energy is movement and movement is energy. Everyone has energy, but if you allow more movement in your body, you will be able to access more of your energy. Just like building muscles in exercise, building your energy “muscle” takes repetition. Embrace both the part of you that does not want to move and the part of you that finds movement easy. Start with the easy part, and bring that movement to the other parts. Give yourself the gift of moving to some music you enjoy for as little as 10 minutes at a time, a few times a day.

3. Take a few minutes for a diversion — Do you constantly work, even though doing so may cause pain or fatigue? Even the best workers can use a few minutes to refresh, rejuvenate and regenerate. The quality of your work will improve if you give yourself a well-deserved change of scenery throughout your day. Schedule a few extra minutes into your PDA or planner for a five-minute movement session or a creativity session. Dance around the room; calm your mind by taking a few breaths; or spend a few minutes drawing, doodling, stretching or doing anything that enables you to regenerate. Taking a few minutes to renew three or four times a day could add hours of energy and productivity to your week.

You can double or triple your effectiveness in your work, with your family and in your relationships if you have energy all day. To give yourself extra energy, experiment with some new habits. Learning and maintaining any new habit is a process. Do not expect to make a total change overnight. Give yourself the freedom to add just one of these new concepts to your life. Try it on and see how it works for you. Allow yourself time to repeatedly incorporate it into your day.

You may want to align with a friend who also is interested in having more energy, so that you have support. Give each other the gift of developing greater energy all day long.

Michell Brown is a wellness educator in Phoenix., who teaches “The Be True to Yourself Process,” a movement-based body-mind system. 602-617-3141 or [email protected].

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 1, February/March 2008.