Correlation Between Energy and Power
Last Saturday a huge storm broke out and thousands of people were without power for a day or two. I had been housesitting for a friend up in Jenner for the past month and got to witness this storm up close and personal as the redwoods swayed ferociously back and forth over her property.
This storm was like the “coming up” stage of any medicine journey where I felt a lot of uneasiness and hesitancy. The thought crossed my mind that I could be flattened like a pancake if one of these redwoods tumbled on top of me. The practice was to TRUST that I was being protected and that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I did not need to run but instead got to be a witness to Mother Earth’s power and intensity, which humbled me greatly.
As the storm subsided, imagine my chagrin when I received a text message from PG&E that the power would not be turned back on for another week at the latest! All of my friends back home in San Francisco already had power and were getting on their merry way. I almost decided to pack up my belongings right then and there and head back into the city, but something told me that there was medicine for me here.
Two of the biggest issues that I had to overcome in my healing journey were fighting chronic fatigue and stepping into my own personal power. How fitting then that the universe would give me the exact curriculum for me to become even more intimate with the correlation between energy and power.
The real journey began when I had to go into the garage and turn on the generator to power the house every day. The kicker was that the battery was dead in the generator, hence I needed to manually rev up it up for it to start. The battery in this generator symbolizes our energy system. If the battery is dead there is no power. The question then becomes how can we start revving up our internal battery, for it’s nearly impossible to step into our power if we are feeling so incredibly drained. Many of us forget that our physiology must come first and foremost. Without our sacred temple being well nourished, it is hard to turn that power on and shine our vibrant light!
It’s important to remember that we all have a finite source of energy. Every morning I would go and put more gas into the generator. This was a literal representation of “fueling up” and how to fill my own tank. So many of us are powering through on fumes, not checking in on our “internal generators” to see if we need to “gas up” and what that looks like for us individually.
These acts of self-care and conservation are often sold to us looking like popping a bottle of champagne with friends or taking a bubble bath to relax. However, more often than not it is getting clear on what lights us up, stepping into our NO’s, and putting ourselves first that fills up that tank. Much easier said than done in actual practice.
Putting myself first used to be tricky one for me. I certainly had quite the savior complex, putting my own physical and emotional needs on the back burner to help save someone else. This could be a friend or family member or a global movement that I was working on where I would sacrifice my well-being in the name of the greater good. This is a surefire way to experience burnout! I wouldn’t recommend it.
During this week without power, I was reminded how much I had been giving my power away to others. It was almost as if the world had been in a gigantic storm and I had been lugging my generator to other people’s houses and powering their homes or offices. However, when I returned to my own home the gas tank was empty and I was sitting in a dark and cold room all by myself. This whole experience was such a good reminder to check in with our internal resources to see what we can offer. One cannot pour from an empty cup and the saying is indeed true…please put your own oxygen mask on first.
Lastly, the other reminder that this past week gifted me was slowing down and presence. There was no Netflix to keep me distracted. There was no wifi. It had me sitting in candlelight nightly, alone with the humming of the wind and the purring of my cats. It made me feel deeply connected to my ancestors and how they lived not so long ago. It also had me more connected to my body and my emotions. I could feel the sadness creep in. Instead of distracting and reaching for my phone, I let it wash over me.
After an experience like this, I’m almost wishing that we all had a year-long power outage so that we could reexamine the waking life. What do we value? What is Spirit trying to channel through us but we are too distracted to listen? How might we rest and just BE? As technology continues to take over our lives more and more and the pace of life quickens, I’m thankful for these blips in the matrix that remind me of what is sacred. How might you tune out and tune in this week to feed your own internal generator? It’s praying for you to get quiet and to listen.
