Energy Management (Part 1): How to create a beautiful mind

Happy Friday World!

We are energy!

From the electrons gravitating around the nucleus inside our atoms, to the feeling that we project on others, we are energy.

We consume energy and we radiate energy.

How do we manage it though?

It is not surprising that 45% of Americans lack energy during their day * when all that we encounter in this society is aiming to suck all the love and happiness out of us. There are all kinds of energy consuming monsters... like job pressure, money management, health risks, faulty relationships to name a few. But how can we manage it all without feeling the burnout or collapsing in the middle of a Zumba class (Yes, it happened!)?

Busy schedules have a devilish way of making us forget the most precious of our gifts - our own energy distribution. We forget how to take care of ourselves and prioritize all other ambitions at the risk of neglecting the one, the only... T.H.Y.S.E.L.F.

This is a four part post on how to manage our energy a.k.a. how to live stress-free, look irresistibly hot and create the most attractive, sexy and sharp mind on the market ;)

"It's time for some mind sex,
We ain't got to take out clothes off yet
We can burn the incense, and just chat
Relax, I've got the good vibrations,
Before we make love, let's have a good conversation" - Dead Prez, Mind Sex

Enter Part 1 of Energy Management - The Beautiful Mind

Doesn't it seem like everywhere we turn, there is somebody shooting at our brain?

Telling us things...

Things like "You are too skinny!", "You are too fat!", "You can't eat bread!", "Leave your job!", "Get married!", "Have kids!", "Live a busy life!". I don't know about you, but when I see all of this nonsense, I think about my dogs barking for no reason. I can't listen to it anymore because all I hear is Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! It's just too much, too general, too disturbing, or as one of my favorite singers so dearly suggests, "It's just the same things that we don't know, it's just the same things" (Jaime Cullum- The Same Things).

Yes, it is important to know that we are the heaviest we have ever been in the history of homo sapiens, that we have eating disorder problems, our jobs are for the most part a stressor, finding that person we want to wake up to for the rest of our lives will complete our spirit, watching our children take their first steps is a miracle, and filling our days with meaningful things to do will create everlasting memories.

Or maybe it's not that important. Maybe it's nonsense... to you. But our society thinks a certain way, and points its' arrow our way by telling us what we should consider to be important and thus, what is worthy of our energy. We panic, overload on fears and act upon a feeling of insecurity. 

The good news is that we have the power to block it all by focusing on building a strong and beautiful mind. We can drift away from them evil and into the mystical powers of knowledge. 

Some food for thought: the same way our bodies are designed to move, our minds are created to absorb knowledge. I am a firm believer that we are born tabula rasa (without build-in mental knowledge), so naturally, our minds are a white piece of canvas onto which WE must paint the brightest, most vibrant colors. The brightest, most vibrant colors are painted with effort. Effort requires our energy. Energy requires proper management.

Allow your energy to be recycled by these four mind power generators i.e. the energy that you output comes back to you in the form of knowledge:

1. Books

Luckily we surpassed the age of ideograms and pictograms, where knowledge about our past would lie in front of us, engraved on tall stone walls where symbols would translate into stories of our ancestors. We now have books, with hard covers and pretty laminated overcovers (is this even a word?). Oh, and let's not forget about the tech savvy versions of electronic and audio books.

We have made books so accessible these days, they fit any pocket, any gadget, any mind.

Why should we read books?

Books engage our sense of imagination, vision and perspective. When we read, our neurons fire up an entire movie scene inside our brain and create a virtual life- it all happens in our head as we are reading. It is important to pick and chose the books that we read because it trains our mind to think a certain way. If all the books we read are fluff romance and teenage love, that becomes our reality and we start living our lives according to what the books say. As great as it is to escape onto a land of science fiction, too much of it affects us. Variety is always great, and I'll tell you why. While "The Notebook" teaches us that true love can rebound people if they both give into their feelings, Matthew Hussey's book "Get the guy" shows you how to find the man that is worth a dream life with you. 

I found that reading multiple books at the same time challenges my mind to escape the tendency of acting upon one book, and also talking about one book. In the morning I would read something inspiring like an autobiography, or a motivational book, then during the day I would tap into something more challenging, while before bed I would delight my senses with a mellow, no fuss book that puts me to bed instead of making me want to jump buildings and sleep upside down hanging off a spider web. 

Currently, my mornings are started by Steve Jobs Bio. The afternoons I spend with Susan Cain Quiet. And bed time find me reading The Art of Seduction by Robert Green. I dedicate 30 mins to each book, and so can you. If you are en route, get the audio version, and if you are always commuting, have the electronic version on your Kindle.  

2. Workshops/Programs/Seminars/Conferences

A great transition from books to practical energy exchange for knowledge would be attending what I call live books a.k.a. workshops, seminars, conferences. It is a great way to dive into a wealth of knowledge coming in addition to an infectious energy from the speakers. Practising knowledge as we learn it creates instant change in your behaviour, and it settles smoothly in your brain. It's the difference between reading a million reviews on a great wine, and drinking it. It's the experience of knowledge that expands our brain.

Start by thinking about yourself. 

Think about all the knowledge that you have and how it serves you. Conferences on topics such as business, cooking, fashion, technology etc. allow you to update on the latest, which implies that you already have a fundamental understanding of how stuff works. Maybe you have always wanted to start your own technology magazine, but never knew where to begin, nor how to create a business and marketing plan. Attending seminars and conferences will allow you the chance to learn about the latest in the specific industry, interact with the best and connect with like minded people. You never know where you will meet your business partner, or investor. Knowledge is the new sexy. Usage of your knowledge is beautiful! 

Now, reverse the scenario and think about all the knowledge that you would like to acquire. Learning about topics that spike our curiosity is what creates a beautiful mind, and a beautiful mind translates into opinions. In other words, our opinions define our character, while our mind swims in the depths of collective wisdom, which is a fancy word for shared knowledge. Workshops and transformational programs do exactly that: share knowledge. In addition to serving you a main course of good information, workshops place you in the front row of the action, where you actually get to practice and experience what you are learning. The end result is, of course, perspective and understanding that life is complex and empathy is necessary in most cases. Putting our energy into workshops and transformational programs helps us move away from a black and white perspective of life into the trillion shades of grey, which is what beautiful minds practice. 

3. Meditation

Here is an interesting agricultural practice we should all get into the habit of doing: weeding out negative thoughts and seeding in positive practices. Meditation is the ultimate make-over of a beautiful mind; it is the liposuction, breast augmentation, booty lifting and whatever other procedures there are, of the mind. 

What we say to ourselves becomes our reality. 

Why? 

We speak to ourselves at a rate of 200 to 1000 words per minute! 

It could become clicheic these days to hear that our thoughts control our lives, but it is the purest truth we have ever discovered. Did I mention that some of us talk to ourselves a 1000-words-per-minute lot? If you could see the traffic jam inside your brain... It's packed, cluttered, congested and stressful. It creates mental and physical stress, and it is the opposite of a beautiful mind. 

Positive thoughts must be controlled before they become automatic and mirrored in our behaviour. The first step to creating a beautiful mind through mediation is via breathing. Focusing on the breath itself, how your nostrils feel when taking the air into your lungs, your ribcage moving with the breath, the heaviness of your body in its stillness, is the first step to controlling your thoughts. The first few times may feel like you are not making any progress because your thoughts invade your concentration, however, all we are doing is really becoming more aware of how busy our minds are. But, practice makes perfection, and the more you practice your beautiful breath, the more you will find that inner peace does not come from external conditions.

Practice breathing meditation for 10 minutes every day and your beautiful mind will experience a calm and spacious place where many of the "impossible" problems will fade away. Difficult situations will instantly seem easy to deal with, the mood swings will disappear, and it will be just "another day for you, you and me in paradise".  Once your heart desires more, take a class or find workshops that will bring you to the next level. 

4. Conversations

I remember enjoying a beer in a pub downtown Toronto, and around 2 AM this guy comes through the doors and asks for a beer. If you've asked me, he looked like he already had too much and could use a couch to crash on rather than another beer. The bartender then grabs him a beer and he sits next to me and my friend at the bar. He seemed lost in his thoughts, his head down and between his raised shoulders, he takes deep breaths. Stares at one corner of the bar and blinks heavily, his hand on his right temple brushing through to fist his hair at the top of his head. 

I turned around, placed one hand on his shoulder and asked him if he was okay. 

He replied...

"I just need a friend!"

Sometimes we have all of these racing thoughts and assumptions inside our head and the only thing we need is someone we can talk to. When our mind is poisoned with troublesome thoughts and our heart aches for closure, the only medicine is a pair of tender ears that can simply listen without judging. We do not need to know another opinion or piece of advice - Google has us covered for that. We just need to say it out loud, as many times possible, and trust that we will find the solutions we are seeking. 

Having conversations with prejudice-free friends, family and mentors is key to a beautiful mind. Leaving the guilt out of discussion and focusing on the reasons why we feel a certain way allows us to see what the real concerns are. It is kind of an outspoken meditation strategy... 

Allow the focus of your conversations to be grand. What does that mean? Acknowledge the negatives in your life, but choose to give your energy and focus to the positives that make your life a piece of heaven. Find that person who believes in change. Find that person who believes that lost battles are not a lost war. Find that person who loves your vision of the past, present and future. Find that friend who loves you as much as you love yourself, and chat. Tell them yours, and let them tell you theirs. 

Indisputably, there probably are other ways one can create a beautiful mind, but I believe that these are the pillars of a beautiful mind. 

Books feed our desire to escape to an imaginary land where no one can touch our tender minds. Workshops and conferences create the ultimate learning experience to expand our thinking. Meditation brings awareness and clarity to our head, while conversing with a thoughtful friend holds our mind in that beautiful place we want it to be. 

When our energy goes into books, workshops, meditation and conversations, the four mind power generators, there is nothing standing in the way of our strong, sexy and empowering mind!

oxx,
Andrina

P.S. We should all thank Marigrace Accessories for this post. She asked me to write a piece on energy management, and she is the reason why you have read this, and will read the following two parts on energy management.