Creating Space For Life

Oscillation

I'm enjoying the book, The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. The premise of the book is that managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal. Full engagement requires cultivating a dynamic balance between the expenditure of energy and the renewal of energy physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

The authors call this oscillation, and it represents the fundamental pulse of life. Nature itself has a pulse, a rhythmic movement between activity and rest. The ebb and flow of the ocean tides, the change of seasons, and the daily rising and setting of the sun create the rhythms of life. So too, human beings are guided by rhythms. Our breathing, brain waves, body temperature, heart rates, hormone levels and blood pressure all have rhythmic patterns.

Our 24/7, always on, western society has pushed us to perform at unsustainable levels without adequate rest or recovery. Our propensity to live "linear" lives ignores our need for recovery and leads to unproductive levels of stress. "Sounds become music in the spaces between notes, just as words are created by the spaces between the letters. It is in the spaces between work that love, friendship, depth and dimension are nurtured. Without time for recovery, our lives become a blur of doing, unbalanced by much opportunity for being."

I'm learning to build in more frequent times of recovery during my day. It's not easy, but I'm learning to be more in tune with my rhythms. Taking time to talk to family and friends, listen to music, eat lunch or a healthy snack, reflect, pray, create, blog or read help recharge my physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual energy reserves.

Our equipping staff and families enjoyed a great time of relaxation and refreshment tonight at the Eade's home. It was so relaxing to sit with friends I love and to enjoy the beautiful evening! Click on the picture at the top of this blog article to see a short slideshow of our evening.

Living a healthy, productive and fully engaged life requires careful attention to how I expend and recover energy. I want the second half of my life to be more successful than the first half. I want to create space for life!

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. Psalm 23:1-3a