Batteries
I've been looking at battery life today. My cell phone, my mp3 player...these devices give clear indications of the battery life left in them. Once the battery is low, you simply re-charge them. You stick them into an electrical outlet and in an hour or so they are fully up and running again. It's clear-cut and simple.
But what about a human's "battery life", and by that, I don't necessarily mean their entire battery life, or whole life, but these bursts of energy we have each day, before we must re-charge every night with sleep. We have multiple levels of "batteries", and multiple ways to re-charge them.
Instead of a clear-cut gauge, we can only guess when our batteries are low. We may feel tired, unmotivated, or groggy. Not only can we feel physically exhausted, but we can feel mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. This resembles those multiple ink levels on the printer. There's usually black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Some printers even have fancier colors, pinks, oranges, grays. But at least you can still go on your computer and check the levels. They usually all run out at different times, but you can have spare inks handy so you don't get caught out printing and all of a sudden have no blue tones in your photograph.
But our bodies, minds and spirits are not simple electrical devices, nor are they a specified set of inks. How do we know when our batteries need re-charging, and which ones need re-charging, and exactly how to re-charge them?
There's some simple re-charging techniques. Sleep. Food. Sunlight. Time with friends/family. Meditation/prayer. Exercise. Rest. All effective ways of coming out of a funk.
But the right combination of these is quite a mystery. Do we need more sleep, or more exercise? What kind of foods? How much meditation? Sometimes time with loved ones can seem depleting instead of fulfilling.
What about place? It's pretty clear you can plug your battery charger into any working electrical outlet (just watch the voltage in different countries) and it will do exactly the same job. But what about ourselves?
We have no clear-cut indicators of how, when, or why we need to re-charge. Sometimes, we won't even notice, say, how spiritually we are depleted till it hits us like a ton of bricks, or we go on vacation and by stepping outside of our usual routine, start to realize what we've been running without for a long time.
I felt depleted today. In almost all aspects. I tried to function, but all I could think of doing was lying down, listening to a soothing CD, reading, and eventually napping. Sometimes we don't have this luxury..we are at work and we have to summon something from our inner fortitude to keep us going.
Thus, there is not a single answer, or one battery charger, for every human being, or for every aspect of a person's needs. But there is some fun in this. It's a challenge. We don't have that luxury of ease because we are human. And this sets us apart from electronic devices, from inanimate objects. We have to use our feeling, intellect and ability to do what is best for ourselves.
Sometimes doing what's best merely means a nap. Sometimes it means grabbing a tea or coffee and muscling through. Sometimes it means making drastic changes in our lives so we may go on. In any case, it signals growth.
So when I feel tired, stressed-out, or drained again, I'm going to think of it as an opportunity to do something different, better, or new. And revel in the fact that I have a mysterious collection of feelings, thoughts, and spirit that may not be revealed to me in my lifetime, but are grand and profound and magical. I will wake up each day, re-charged, and keep on with the cycle of expending energy and creating it. And I'll enjoy each step of this process, again and again.
But what about a human's "battery life", and by that, I don't necessarily mean their entire battery life, or whole life, but these bursts of energy we have each day, before we must re-charge every night with sleep. We have multiple levels of "batteries", and multiple ways to re-charge them.
Instead of a clear-cut gauge, we can only guess when our batteries are low. We may feel tired, unmotivated, or groggy. Not only can we feel physically exhausted, but we can feel mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. This resembles those multiple ink levels on the printer. There's usually black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Some printers even have fancier colors, pinks, oranges, grays. But at least you can still go on your computer and check the levels. They usually all run out at different times, but you can have spare inks handy so you don't get caught out printing and all of a sudden have no blue tones in your photograph.
But our bodies, minds and spirits are not simple electrical devices, nor are they a specified set of inks. How do we know when our batteries need re-charging, and which ones need re-charging, and exactly how to re-charge them?
There's some simple re-charging techniques. Sleep. Food. Sunlight. Time with friends/family. Meditation/prayer. Exercise. Rest. All effective ways of coming out of a funk.
But the right combination of these is quite a mystery. Do we need more sleep, or more exercise? What kind of foods? How much meditation? Sometimes time with loved ones can seem depleting instead of fulfilling.
What about place? It's pretty clear you can plug your battery charger into any working electrical outlet (just watch the voltage in different countries) and it will do exactly the same job. But what about ourselves?
We have no clear-cut indicators of how, when, or why we need to re-charge. Sometimes, we won't even notice, say, how spiritually we are depleted till it hits us like a ton of bricks, or we go on vacation and by stepping outside of our usual routine, start to realize what we've been running without for a long time.
I felt depleted today. In almost all aspects. I tried to function, but all I could think of doing was lying down, listening to a soothing CD, reading, and eventually napping. Sometimes we don't have this luxury..we are at work and we have to summon something from our inner fortitude to keep us going.
Thus, there is not a single answer, or one battery charger, for every human being, or for every aspect of a person's needs. But there is some fun in this. It's a challenge. We don't have that luxury of ease because we are human. And this sets us apart from electronic devices, from inanimate objects. We have to use our feeling, intellect and ability to do what is best for ourselves.
Sometimes doing what's best merely means a nap. Sometimes it means grabbing a tea or coffee and muscling through. Sometimes it means making drastic changes in our lives so we may go on. In any case, it signals growth.
So when I feel tired, stressed-out, or drained again, I'm going to think of it as an opportunity to do something different, better, or new. And revel in the fact that I have a mysterious collection of feelings, thoughts, and spirit that may not be revealed to me in my lifetime, but are grand and profound and magical. I will wake up each day, re-charged, and keep on with the cycle of expending energy and creating it. And I'll enjoy each step of this process, again and again.
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