Energy and Will - Part 5
April 5, 2025
How do we direct the flow of our energy? What are our priorities, and how do we decide which ones get our attention? These questions can be answered when we look at what we are doing today and what we are working toward long term. Today is a microcosm of our priorities, and the many days of our life unfold our life’s purpose.
For instance, how much time do we devote to physical maintenance and appearance, the things closest to our heart and intellectual life? How much time do we devote to self-care, friends and family, and our most intimate relationships? How much time do we devote to our spirit, its desires, growth, and inner harmony? Hour by hour, the structure of our day reveals where our energy flows. Looking at where our energy has flowed for the last five or ten years, we see our life’s long-term priorities. If we think about it, our life force is devoted to what we deem most important.
The master question determining our energy flow is, “What kind of a being do I want to be, and what is the meaning of being that person? After all, the person we want to be is the reason we live. The reason we live is what gives our life meaning. Our meaning regenerates and sustains us. Therefore, we aspire to have particular qualities that achieve specific ends. Cumulatively, those ends are the purpose into which our life force flows.
By asking myself the master question, I slowly began to put together an answer, and that answer has changed throughout the years. As a professional, I also wanted to learn the priorities and purpose of the dear souls who came for help by asking them the same question: “What kind of being do you want to be, and what is the meaning of your life?”
Honestly, I was shocked by the number of people whose first response was, “I have never thought about that.” But after they thought about it, I received the top answers: 1. to take care of my family, 2. to have fun and enjoy life, 3. to be the kind of person God wants me to be, and 4. to have adventures.
Once we know where our energy flows and why it flows there, we can more fully comprehend the reasons for many of our dilemmas, we have laid the groundwork for solving many of our dilemmas.
Spiritual practice: What are you doing today, and how do those things reflect your life’s meaning and priorities?
Self-inquiry: Are your energies flowing in the directions that fulfill your life’s meaning?
Dear God,
Without your guidance, I have no meaning; I am lost. I pray to place my life force behind those things that give meaning. Amen
