Sustainable Service

Personal Energy Optimization (PEO) at Work and in Life

Avoiding burnout in the service industry is a high priority. Whether internal or external, customers often demand more than any one person has to give. Optimizing one’s personal energy resources is essential to avoid burnout and ensure long-term success.

PEO is a win/win/win

Going beyond win/win, taking care of one’s energy is a winner all the way around. Chronic low energy, on the other hand is a lose/lose/lose. The drained employee feels rotten, the customer receives low levels of attention (attention is focused energy), and the environment in which the employee inhabits ends up being the recipient of overflowing negativity.

Maintaining vitality in the midst of a demanding job starts with the employee. You can’t give what you don’t have, so step one is to learn how to keep your energy in check. Balanced energy leads to well-being, focus and creativity. This quality of presence directly benefits the customer through increased attention, creative problem solving and quality work. Further, energized people are more positive, resulting in pleasant air around them.

Emotional energy is contagious. All you have to do is walk into a room where two people are having a conflict to feel the palpable tension. So it’s safe to say that a few exhausted employees can infect a whole department, not to mention the well-meaning customers who are just trying to get their needs met. Positive energy is contagious as well. In a healthy environment, we feel free to express ourselves and do our best work.

PEO is a Continuous Process

While work is the focus of this article, managing one’s personal energy is ongoing. The choices we make can affect us for up to several days or more. Energy optimization is like dieting in this sense. It often takes three days of good eating choices before the number on the scale goes down. Managing your energy is the same. What you do today affects the quality of your presence tomorrow, and the next day…

PEO is also holistic. The human energy system is like any other system in nature, it is highly complex and interrelated. Losing energy in one area will affect the entire system. PEO requires that we take the whole person into account including: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of oneself, and also the environments in which we spend our time.

PEO Tips

Receive as much energy as you give. There is an epidemic of people suffering from chronic low energy. While life is easier in many ways, the ease does not always serve us. We are less physical, which proves to be an overall drain. Physical activity shakes off toxins and helps the energy system remain dynamic. In addition, multi-tasking is becoming the norm, as with having a phone in one hand while the other is on the steering wheel. Fragmenting one’s attention for long periods of time is draining. Focused attention allows energy to move in one direction, nourishing us in the process. In addition to our hurried, sedentary, and fragmented life styles, many of us are sleeping less, which research has shown to increase the onset of many illnesses.

Take Care. Adequate amounts of sleep, focused attention on the task at hand and regular physical activity can begin to reverse the chronic energy deficit many of us are experiencing. In addition, a morning meditation practice is ideal. It balances left/right brain functioning and provides a healthy dose of quality energy.

Breathe Deeply. The quality of oxygen has declined in most of our big cities. Additionally, stress and rushing leads to shallow breathing. It’s no wonder that many of us are living off stress hormones. The key to fending off the all too familiar fight or flight response – the equivalent to an energetic roller coaster ride – is taking consistent, full breaths. Proper breathing provides the physical benefits of adequate oxygen while keeping us present and grounded – overall, a big step toward maintaining consistent energy.

Disconnect from Negativity. While a juicy gossip session can put some bounce in an otherwise dull day, this type of communication is toxic. It leaves slime on all who participate. The same is true for all negative or judgmental communication in the workplace. Replace gossip and judging with discernment. Use common sense when dealing with others while setting the emotional attachment aside.

 Take Breaks. Learn to monitor your energy levels and take a break at the first sign of fatigue. Walk briskly to the restroom while taking deep breaths. Nosh on an apple – focusing only on the apple, or go outside for some fresh air. Little mini-breaks infuse one with vitality.

 Vitality and wellbeing come from the small choices we make throughout the day. All it takes is a little prevention along with mindfulness about your energy levels, so that you can make the choices that lead to optimal energy.

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Self-care through Personal Energy Management

Most of us do what we think we should do, thereby putting the mind in charge. This would be fine except one’s brain usually has its own agenda, which has nothing to do with cultivating feelings of well being and balance.

Thinking your way through decision making usually involves a bunch of “shoulds” given to you by your mother, teachers, spouse and society at large. Some examples:

I should spend time every week volunteering at my child’s school even though I don’t have time to exercise or relax.

I should have lunch with my long-time friend, even though she takes every last drop of my vitality with her when she leaves…

I should keep my job for the salary and benefits even though my boss is abusive and I hate going to that place every day.

Living this way is the opposite of personal energy management. Tuning into your body for answers is a shift in orientation that, once you get used to it, is addicting. What you get addicted to are the feelings of well being and inner peace that come from taking care of yourself impeccably.

Shifting your orientation from other’s expectations and your own long list of “shoulds” to the one point of reference within – the energy in your body – requires that you become aware of what drains you versus nourishes you. Everything from the food you eat, to the people you spend your time with, either feeds you or depletes you.

Once you spend a little time just observing how different activities and people affect you, you can begin making decisions on a moment to moment basis. It has to be this way, because eating a peanut butter sandwich might be marvelously energizing one day, yet zap you of all your vitality the next.

Simply ask yourself the question – Is going to lunch today the right choice for me? If you feel light and open inside, that’s your energy responding with a yes. If you feel a little tingling in your stomach, or if your shoulders droop with heaviness, that indicates that it might be an overall drain.

Between your newfound awareness of how your energy responds to your choices, and tuning into your body prior to making decisions, you will find that you are much more grounded, nourished, and peaceful inside.

If you’re like most people, you’ll feel a little selfish at first. But think about this: Is it better for your loved ones – and the world in general – for you to be fully present, energized and happy, or do you think they prefer you strung out, stressed and irritable?

Personal energy management is far from selfish. Rather it is self-love. We cannot give to others what we don’t have. In this time of frenzied activity, many people are burning themselves out and ending up with stress related illnesses, accelerated aging and addictions. Addictions are your unconscious attempt to capture energy – why not proactively manage it instead?

Energy in your body is life itself. When your cells are plump with life, you feel nourished. You have no need to find pseudo energy from unhealthy sources. You also benefit from enhanced intuitive abilities. Life energy is holographic. It contains information about all of life. Learning to tune in and let life lead you on a moment by moment basis is sure to be the most thrilling adventure imaginable.

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Heal Yourself, Heal the World (As seen in One Planet Magazine)

Are You Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?

“What the world needs now is love sweet love…” As a young girl, this used to be my favorite song. I would feel the truth of it as I sang along in music class. The world still needs love – nothing has changed except for the name of the most recent war. The current social climate mirrors the late sixties when my classmates and I innocently sang about love. Just as in the sixties, more and more of us are starting to stand up for peace.

Several years ago at a Mother’s Day brunch, my father asked, “Kimberly, what do we need to do to achieve world peace?” My response to that question even surprised myself. I blurted out something like, “Stop bashing George Bush.” Like now, there was a lot of political disagreement in the air and my parents were not shy about expressing their views.

I had never thought of my folks as capable of perpetuating conflict in the world, as they are among the most loving and selfless people I’ve ever known. But at some level I knew that having such strong contempt for anyone feeds division, no matter what side you’re on.

I went on to describe how inner conflict and division manifests in the world as outer conflict and division. Each one of us experiencing true inner peace is an open portal for love and light to flow into the world. Strong emotional rejection of self or others is an indication of a split psyche and love cannot flow through a mind at war with itself.

The fact that I had never thought of my parents or myself as part of the problem is the problem. We all see the source of conflict as “out there.” Recently I held a workshop on this very subject and the group started talking about different political figures that they see as the problem. I had to gently remind them that while their beliefs are valid and opinions important, that thinking in terms of “us” and “them” projects division and not peace.

Life is Pro-Creation

Life is pro-creation: in favor of extending itself. It is not personal, but the universal principle at the basis of our existence. Life extends itself through all living things. Pollination and procreation of humans and animals illustrate the most physical form of procreation. But in reality every genuine expression of spirit is a form of procreation. Every word that you speak, every piece of art created, every dish washed with love is energy moving outward, extending on and on. This is the meaning of life – for it to extend itself. If procreation was not the most fundamental purpose of life, we would not be here.

Action is not required for life to extend itself – a clear vessel is, however. Have you ever noticed a person so full of life that you want to ask them “What is your secret? How did you become so radiant?” Their secret is inner peace. They may not be doing anything except sitting in a chair or walking down the street – but you can sense the life flowing through them. You may even feel like sitting or standing next to them in order to soak in some of the energy they radiate.

We are nourished at the deepest level by the life or spiritual energy that extends through us. Think of a river running through the desert, the river bank is lined with trees. Sometimes you can’t even see the river, but know it’s there because of the greenery surrounding it. The same is true with spiritual self-expression, our physical bodies and surroundings are fed by the flow of our spiritual essence, if it is blocked you don’t get nourished – period. Many people feel cut off from their inner source of spiritual energy and are in need of a nourished soul to stand next to – an oasis in the desert – until they can connect to their own inner well.

The message is simple: Heal yourself, heal the world. We do not need to do the work of Mother Theresa in order to do our part. We need only be at peace within. Inner peace is experienced when we are able to see the unity underneath the apparent differences. The price of socialization is partial self-rejection. Every one of us, at some point, feels the need to push a piece of ourselves underground into the basement of our psyche. Perhaps it is emotion that is too overwhelming to process, or maybe a part of your personality that seems unacceptable to you, your mother, or a teacher. Regardless of the specific landscape of our individual psyches, anything buried leads to a split that is ultimately projected and played out in the world as conflict.

A whole, integrated psyche is necessary to project peace instead of conflict. This is a grassroots solution addressing the cause and not the effect. Self-acceptance becomes the first step toward lasting world peace. Every buried feeling, eccentricity, and desire must be looked at through the eyes of non-judgment. As we do this for ourselves, we do this for each other. One by one we see the beauty and love at the core of each of our brothers and sisters. We begin to compassionately see other’s hate as an extension of their personal self rejection. Compassion for self and others is a natural extension of reclaiming long forgotten pieces of oneself. As we mend our own internal split, we become clear, strong vessels capable of pouring a tremendous amount of nourishing life energy into a starving world.

This leads to our ultimate goal and challenge of being and teaching peace.

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