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personal energy management—July 2008

by Joy Ayscue | Email me if you questions or comments | Back to List of Articles

Getting Started With Personal Energy Management: The Energy of Attention

Welcome to your personal energy management column! I am honored to be given the opportunity to share with you what I have learned (and continue to learn!) about our human energy fields and how we can best utilize them for personal growth and evolution. I hope to infuse you with the excitement and enthusiasm I have gained about our energies and their potentials. My personal journey with energy management has changed my life in such amazing ways, some of which I will attempt to intertwine in my writing from time to time.

I had been mentally wrestling with myself for weeks, trying to decide where to begin this column. "Begin at the beginning," I had been told. OK, where is the beginning? The first chakra...the root? Yes. No. The heart! Yes! Wait! In order to appreciate the energy of the heart, one must understand the energy of Love. But in order to understand the energy of Love, one must first know the energy of acceptance and surrender! On and on, my busy mind jumped from thought to thought, idea to idea. There seemed to be no perfect starting point. Everything is energy and energy does not begin at any certain point, nor does it ever end. It just is, always has been and always will be. And so I kept sitting and thinking instead of sitting and writing. Thinking can be a good thing, but as I will explain below, a lot of the time it is too much of a good thing. Sometimes we just need to be still and pay attention.

Finally, the answer came to me this morning as I sat outdoors in the pre-dawn. As I awaited the sunrise, my attention was drawn to the morning's first birdsong, a sound to which I love to start my day. Several months ago, when I started this morning routine, I had noticed that when the birds wake up, they do not immediately start flying around, hunting food and doing their birdly duties. They simply begin singing their songs. And they sing with such amazing enthusiasm and brilliance! If you pay attention, you will notice that the morning birdsong is greatly different from the evening song, which is calmer...quieter. The morning song seems to be an exuberant celebration of the new day, full of expectation and excitement.

As I sat quietly and attentively listening, the birds began waking up and I had an amazing personal revelation. Preceding the sunrise, it is as if a blanket of sleepy quiet is being pulled back. It seems Mother Earth is shrugging off her night covers in anticipation of the dawn. Where I sat, the birds were silent, but arising from the east, one by one each bird began singing. My attention was caught and held fast as I experienced the sweep of their sound in a slow rush as it approached. I found myself holding my breath, as I awaited "my" birds to join in the symphony of the day's dawn. When my immediate surroundings became engulfed in the harmony of dozens of songs, the answer came to me. Attention. The energy of attention is where we should begin our discussion on the management of our personal energy. Our energy systems are extremely powerful, but also subtle. Since we, as a general rule, are conditioned to only pay attention to that which our first five senses can interpret, if our attention is not developed, focused and pure, we will discover it not only hard to work with our energy, it will be almost impossible!

So, what exactly is attention? The word attention is derived from two Latin words, “Ad tendere,” meaning to stretch toward. And this is exactly what we are doing when we focus our attention on something or someone. We are willing our minds to focus our available energy exclusively upon that object or thing. Here’s an analogy:  imagine using a magnifying glass to concentrate the energy of the sun's rays onto a piece of paper. The resulting focused energy is sufficient to cause the paper to burn. If the magnifying glass is not used, the energy of the sun is the same, but it is scattered over a larger surface and the effect of its power is lessened so that the paper does not burn. Similarly, with our voluntary, or conscious attention, we are giving our concentrated energy to that which we are focused on. When we cultivate the ability to focus attention on our subtle energy fields, we are literally giving energy to ourselves. Where attention goes, energy flows. Also, attention magnifies and increases our powers of perception, allowing us to more easily perceive and thus control different energies such as healing, love, thought, and emotion.

Now that we have an idea of what attention is, how can we cultivate it to best understand, honor, and utilize our energy systems? Simply put, the best way to cultivate attention is to practice. Meditation is an excellent “attention training” tool. Even brief periods of practicing the soft, yet determined effort of focusing on your breath, gently (but firmly) bringing your attention back to your breath each time it wanders, can be extremely effective. The key word here is “practice”. Practice, practice, practice. In the case of meditation, I'm not sure if practice makes perfect, but it absolutely improves the experience. And, as many meditation teachers tell their students, “There is no wrong way to meditate, except to not meditate”. If you are a beginner at meditation, you might feel that when you meditate, your thoughts actually seem to speed up and become even more uncontrollable. They aren't and they don't. It is just that you are simply paying attention, maybe for the first time, to the mental noise that has always been there. Eventually, as you practice returning your attention to your breath, you will develop your mental musculature of attention. And as it is with any exercise, the more you practice, the better you will get and the quieter your mind will become. Goodbye monkey-mind!

Here’s an easy exercise in attention, and a wonderful way to strengthen your relationships at the same time:  each time you interact with someone, simply consciously give them your full attention. When they are speaking, do not let your mind wander off. Do not think about how you are going to respond, nor what you are going to say. Do not worry about your bills that are un-paid nor remind yourself that you need to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Keep your mind open and receptive to whomever it is you are with, and simply be there with them and for them. It has been said that the greatest gift you can give to someone is your pure attention. I'd like to suggest that to make that gift even greater, your attention should be non-judgmental. If we are busy judging someone, it's our egos we are really paying attention to, not the person we are with. Add some unconditional love in there too, and you have a recipe for a huge opening of heart energies, both yours and the other person’s.

A good way to become adept at perceiving your personal energy system is to actually feel it. We have many different “layers” of energies, beginning with the physical. Find a quiet room where you will not be disturbed and arrange yourself in a comfortable position. You can be sitting, reclining, or laying down. Close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths, allowing your body to relax a bit more with each exhalation. Now, simply notice what sensations you are perceiving. Is the air cool or warm? Where is your body touching the furniture? Are your limbs heavy or light? What sounds do you hear? Are there any scents you can discern? Is your breath shallow or deep? Can you feel your heart beat? Now, focus your attention on your heart. Breathing deeply, allow your breath to energize and fill your heart space. Allow your heart energy to swell with each breath, becoming energized and cleansed. End this exercise by simply relaxing totally into your body for a few minutes, paying non-judgmental attention to any sensations that you may feel. This exercise is not only great for training your attention, it's a wonderful way to recharge your energies, as well as a great relaxation tool.

So, now that we have placed our attention on the subject of attention, I will close this month's column. Our energy subject for next month will be....well, I'll have to meditate about that! Until then, practice, practice, practice, and I will, too!

by Joy Ayscue | Email me if you questions or comments | Back to List of Articles