Mapping energy
One of the greatest tools of knowing sits right under your own nose. In fact, your nose is a part of this system. Our bodies provide a tremendous amount of knowledge to us, if we simply listen.
As we sit at the precipiece of the second half of the year, it’s the perfect time to check in and see where we can direct more energy in a way that adds wholeness to our lives and remains congruent with what we really need.
Energy Mapping
To engage in this practice of investigating where your individual energy needs to go, find a comfortable space with a degree of quiet and stillness. We’re going inward, y’all.
You might ask:
What do I want to tend to this summer and fall?
What feels life-giving to imagine?
Where might I need to slow down? Where might I need to speed up?
What rhythms or rituals are calling to me?
If you could set a mantra for this current season, what would it be?
Notice where there is excitement, contentment or relief or other good-feeling emotions in your body. Sometimes nervousness is an indicator to embark in a direction! This practice is just a way to gather more information about yourself and your life and to harness the current of where our energy actually wants to go.
You can even sketch this out in your journal or planner—not as tasks, but as seasons of intention. Maybe July is for lightness. August for connection. September for quiet structure. Let your body and inner voice guide you more than the calendar. Your brain might interrupt with ideas of how you should be spending your time, probably influenced by outward messages of efficiency and production, or Tik Tok trends.
““”Be water, my friend.””
Your brain might try to convince you to do something that sounds good on paper, but doesn’t excite you, like decluttering your bathroom. Is this a worthy task? For sure! But if you’re not energized to tackle this project, it might stand in the way of spending your precious energy on something that feels inspiring. And these “should” tasks the brain sends us can even masquerade as energy-giving items, like stepping up your yoga practice or adding a daily meditation practice.
The real question is, how does the intention/project/task feel in your body? For some folks, contemplating a weekend decluttering the bathroom fills them with excitement. That’s great! To notice that is where your energy wants to go means you’re headed in the right direction. But remember that there is no moral evaluation on what intentions make us feel good, it’s simply a neutral barometer to understand in what direction we put our energy in a way that works for us. Getting jazzed up about cleaning the bathroom or adding a meditation practice to your morning does not make you a better person, it simply means you are a person who is capable of receiving important information from your body (and that’s good!).
And remember: you can shift your focus at any time. We haven’t identified a deadline—we’ve found a doorway.