The Four Dimensions of Our Energy

Each of us has limited time in this world and a finite number of hours in any given day. Each of us has a number of things we need to or want to get done in our time here. And sometimes the list of things to do keeps growing, in fact, on a personal note this seems to be the case more often than not.

Yet, doing more and more and more in each day leaves us feeling drained and exhausted. I find that when during the week I have been working very hard, I need a 'rest day' on Saturday or Sunday just to renew my energy level.

I also find, and I think many others do too, that on days where we feel overwhelmed or we feel like we have a lot to get through or a tough day ahead, we tend to eliminate other 'non-essential' things from our list. Things such as exercise, breakfast, meditation, healthy packed lunches. Instead, we pull through long hours at work, or spend hours stressing over things that we have to do and skip the other things that we think 'get in the way'. But the thing is, these other 'non-essential' things matter not just for our long term health, they in fact also matter for our short term physical and emotional stability.

We think "today I don't have energy to do exercise" or "today, I don't have time to make lunch". We also tend, perhaps subconsciously, to put off waking up a bit earlier to get fit in these things when we know we have something difficult or unpleasant coming up that day. This kind of attitude is bad! In fact, on days where we feel particularly bad or have it particularly difficult we should wake up that bit earlier to do exercise in the morning or make a conscious effort to be more calm and centred. This is because doing such things actually helps us to fill up our energy reserves.

Our energy, unlike our time, is not limited. It is not finite. Yes, it gets used through our daily tasks and our work, but it can also be replenished. A Harvard Business Review paper I read says that we have 4 different types or dimensions of personal energy - Physical Energy, Emotional Energy, Mental Energy, and Spiritual Energy - and there are various rituals that we can have to replenish each of these dimensions of energy.

I'm going to try to work on these 4 dimensions over the course of the next few months to see how it affects my own energy. Energy to work, play, spend time with my family and my friends, and of course energy to blog!