Life Energy (Vitality) Mapping
Mapping your life energy can be a very fulfilling and informative activity. It will help us realise a whole lot about ourselves and make positive changes. All you need are a bunch of papers and a pen, or a text editor and a computer. Of course, and some free time where you won't be disturbed.
What is Life Energy?
Before we begin the activity, it would be worthwhile to explore what is meant by life energy. Your life energy, or life force, or vitality is the power within you. It is the inner light you have. It manifests as your Aura. Think about the people you respect, or the person you want to be like. Chances are, they are overflowing with good vibrations, vitality, enthusiasm, courage, inner peace and joy. In other words, they are high on life energy.
If you want the same for yourself, you would want to liberate your life energy and let it flow through you freely as well. In this activity, you are going to examine where all your life energy is going - if you feel like you have no life energy in you, wouldn't you like to know what happened to it? Maybe you would want to know where it all went and how to get it all back? Then this activity would help you. Ready? Then here we go.
Mapping Your Thoughts
Take the first paper you have, and write the title "Thoughts" on it. Then divide the rest of the paper into two columns. Title the first column as "Givers" and the next as "Takers." Givers are those that give, or increase life energy. The items in this category rejuvenate you. Takers are those that take, or feed on life energy. The items in this category drain you - so watch out for them.
Now, what are the thoughts you have everyday? You would need to identify them and divide them into the categories of "Givers" and "Takers". Of course your thoughts would vary from day to day, but there are some common "thought patters" that remain the same day after day. It is the thought patterns that you need to write down. I will explain.
For example, suppose a huge part of your day is spent worrying about what your children are up to. These thoughts cause you a lot of strain and make you irritable, sad, angry and/or helpless. Those go into the category "Takers." Suppose you worry a lot about the down payment on a house loan. Goes straight to "Takers." Abusive relationship thoughts? Easy to fix their category. Work pressure that keeps you awake at night? Definite Taker. Messy house worries? Again a Taker. And so on and so forth. Suppose the thought of your loving partner makes you happy. Off it goes to "Givers." Or maybe a thought about taking dance lessons makes you feel energized. Easy to put it to "Givers." And so on and so forth. Thoughts that rejuvenate you and help you progress in life are Givers. Thoughts that drain you and pulls you down in life are Takers.
A word of caution though - some thoughts mask themselves as "Givers" while they are actually "Takers." Sometimes you may feel good only when you think about watching TV. Now, I am not saying that you should never watch TV, but if it makes you feel so good that you spend all your evenings in front of it, wasting away precious life energy, it is actually a Taker, trying to mask as a Giver. In that case, it should go under the category Takers, as TV Addiction.
Now, take a long, deep look at your list. Are Takers way too long compared to Givers? Now you know why you feel so drained, frustrated and unfulfilled all the time. Now what do one do about it?
Dealing with Takers
We cannot ignore or stop all the Takers. We cannot simply stop thinking about our children or our home loan. I will come to handling such Takers in a moment. But there are some Takers that we can simply ignore. Like for example, worrying about things that have very low likelihood of happening, like an earthquake or flood or accident (unless of course, if you live in earthquake/flood-prone areas and drive like a crazy fellow). When these thoughts come, observe them and let them go. Do not feed them. Let these thoughts and worries go. If you cannot stop it at all, seek help.
Now about the Takers that you can't just ignore. These ones need special attention. From your list of Takers, choose one such Taker - say down payment for a home loan. Now, you need to change this thought from a Taker - or drainer of life energy - to a Giver of life energy. For this, think about how you can morph this thought so that it will generate energy and enthusiasm and open up new avenues. For instance, if your Taker thought is "At this rate, we will never have enough money for our down payment," then change it to a Giver thought by rephrasing it as "What would be ways to increase my income so that I can make that down payment?" Now write this down in the Giver section. Now, when you change your thoughts like this, a powerful shift happens. You put your brain on a "Find Solution" mode, in stead of a "Despair and Give up" mode. Now all the time that you spend on this thought will go into finding creative solutions for making money. You will generate ideas. Don't sit on those ideas. Write them down. Discuss them with people who give you life energy, who will listen and encourage. Put them to action. Use the creative life energy generated from the rephrased thought pattern to motivate you into putting the thought to action. You may want to start off small and practice this on small issues, and move to bigger ones as you become really good at it. In this manner, take each Taker in your list and convert it to a Giver thought, and write it down in your Giver column. Simply doing this activity will generate a whole lot of enthusiasm and vitality.
Mapping People
Now, take one of the other papers, and do the same activity - only change the title to "People" in stead of Thoughts. Write down those that help you move up in life as a Giver, and those that pull you down as a Taker. No need to resent the Takers - they are just being themselves and there is no point in getting all worked up about it. There is no need to place blame either - a whole lot of people in this world are Takers, mostly unknowingly so. If any thing, you can feel sympathetic towards them and send them some good will.
Now, make it a point to associate more with the Giver people and associate less with the Taker people. When you do interact with the Taker people, do not let them pull you down to their level. Be calm, listen to what they say if you must, and let go of it if it drains you. If they are people you can avoid altogether, so much the better, but if you can't do so, at least realize they are Takers and don't give your life energy to you. Remember: if you yell at them or resent them or blame them or fight with them, you are still giving them your life energy. You need to be calm and collected, and don't let them emotionally get you. If you can't find enough Givers in your circle, join clubs/online forums etc where positive people meet and discuss progress, personal development, growth and success.
Mapping Objects
Another paper can be titled "Objects." The objects that make you feel drained or unhappy is a Taker. Those that make you feel at peace are Givers. Look around your home or work desk, and identify the Givers and Takers. If a messy sink is a Taker, then clean it so that it will now be a Giver. If yesterday's meat roll pieces on your desk are Takers, put them in the waste basket. Take out the trash. Light candles or incense. Decorate with flowers. Add a wind-chime to your home. Rearrange the drawers till they become Givers. Use air-freshners. Wash those dishes. Turn as many Takers to Givers as possible, and then give away the rest. Remember everything in your surrounding can influence your life energy, as objects have an energy of their own. Do some cleansing!
Mapping Colors and Numbers
The next paper can be titled "Colors." Colors are very powerful and can make you feel good or bad. Fill your life with colors that rejuvenate you. Wear such colors, decorate with such colors, paint your room with such colors. Buy objects in those colors.
You may also want to do the same with numbers. If you feel powerfully drawn towards a number, or have a "lucky number," you can fill your world with it. If your lucky number is seven, put seven pens in the pen holder, seven soft-toys in your bedroom, seven beads in your bracelet, seven books on your desk and so on. If you like things in pairs, pair up the objects in your surroundings too. And so on.
Using these techniques, you can effectively identify the life energy givers and takers. Add more givers to your life, and reduce the takers. Soon you will fill up with wonderful life energy, spirit and enthusiasm!
Good luck!
This article was featured in Debra Moorhead's 137th Carnival of Healing.
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