The Real Energy Crisis

The Real Energy Crisis

The real energy crisis is about emotion energy.  Our emotional states create the behaviour that lead to crisis. On a global level, the economic crisis & recession, the gulf’s oil catastrophe and the numerous other environmental predicaments we face, all are a result of people’s emotions getting out of control. Greed, cravings, power-hunger, the need-to-control, insecurities, angst about ‘what if’s’, defensiveness, cynicism, judgment, over-confidence, self-righteousness, conceit, and indifference, are each and every one emotions that lead to behaviour which is, invariably, inappropriate for the greater good.

To illustrate this on a more personal level, may I suggest you take a moment, however uncomfortable, to consider the times in your life when you have felt any of the above emotions. Then consider the behaviour or actions the emotions resulted in. Are you happy, in retrospect, with the effects of your behaviour? Did your resulting actions lead to something you are proud of, today?  You may be the 1% that responds ‘yes’, but chances are you do not feel good about it! Yet, it will probably happen again, and again, and again, because emotions are one of our most powerful drivers, and unchecked they will determine how you act.

If we are really going to learn from and thrive after any crisis – never mind help the planet survive - we must take this fact into consideration. It is the missing piece in the puzzle of why, when we know so well we are acting destructively, do we keep doing it. The question is HOW - how do we consider the power of emotions and have that consideration make a difference? What steps can we take? The answer is – as with all things sustainable – one person at a time, each one of us making our own small effort.

If each one of us were to become just a little more aware of our emotions and, whenever we feel something like for instance irritation, entitlement, jealousy, resentment, cynicism, or judgment, ask ourselves; “Is this feeling serving me?” we might actually gain some interesting and fruitful insight about ourselves. We may even go one step further and ask; “How am I affecting others?” If the response to these questions is (from deep inside) in any way negative, we can choose to take steps to change it. Yes, WE CAN CHANGE THE WAY WE FEEL.  We have the power to do exactly that, - quite easily too - and with few exceptions*, to sustain it. There are simple, practical, processes that anyone can learn, at just about any age, that can change the entire course of a life! (The youngest I have witnessed grasping and using such skills, was a 22 month old). Skills for managing emotions are simple and easy to learn because we are innately physiologically designed, - that is, our brain and our body are designed -, to be able to change the way we feel, at will. Sadly, as a society we do not teach this to our children (or to grown-ups) and so the majority of us do not even consider the possibility, and instead spend our lives in reaction - to each other, to the ‘powers that be’, and to our own justifications or ‘stories’ that we tell ourselves; victims of our emotions; at the mercy of our own emotional energy.

And so, on that note, I have a ‘call to action’: that we start taking responsibility for our emotions and for their impact on our minds and bodies, on others and on our world, and that we teach our children to do the same. Just as with recycling and other environmental efforts, one step at a time, we can make changes and prevent or even just reduce the amount of unkind, uncaring, unproductive, damaging emotions currently impacting our world. With just a little effort, we can prevent the next generation from developing un-checked destructive emotions, and teach them how to manage what they feel so that their actions are an expression of what they and their communities’ value. In hopeful moments, I believe ‘one person at a time’ we can solve this, the most significant of all ‘energy crises’.  Maybe then our brains will generate enough sense and care to actually save our planet.

* Exceptions would include emotions such as grief brought on by a loss, (in which case it would be inappropriate to try to ‘force’ the grief-process), or depression brought on by physiological causes (which

may require professional help).

To learn more about the simple keys to taking charge of your life and how you feel, read BEING WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE