Energy Overflow

Wednesday was one of those days when, (after I had woken up and taken my HRV measurements), I knew that I had to skip the workout that I had originally planned....It was a day in which rather than expending energy I needed to lighten the load and replenish it....
So, instead of the "military style fitness" that mid week usually brings, I went on a lovely walk with a friend (my Flat Stanley friend),  and as the sun shone (at least for a little bit...) we walked and talked, had a paddle in our wellies and  caught up on some girly chat, putting the world to right. By the time I returned home again, I felt like the lack of sleep from the previous night and the lack of oomph in the morning, had been somewhat replenished and I had some ENERGY back!


 What does this have to do with today's title of energy overflow? Well, when I returned home I decided to spend my newly found energy and clean and sort the utility room.... especially the BINS (TRASH cans for my American friends!). 
The bins in our house have certain functions... two for the cardboard, glass, hard plastics etc, and one for soft plastics and non-recyclable stuff. The problem (before I labeled them on my utility room blitz) was that the kids would thrown anything in any bin and when one was full it would overflow in to the next and then then next.  

Just like my utility room bins, we have what could be described as "bins full of energy" in our body.
We have one bin associated with our musculo-skeletal system, another with our hormonal system,  one for our internal organs, and another for our spiritual/emotional well being.  Each bin although it appears to be distinct and separate from another is actually intimately connected to all the rest.  When one bin is affected either positively or negatively, if it becomes too full....there is then overflow in to the rest of the bins and each one in turn gets impacted.

Remember those physics classes that you took from years back? Remember the bit about the  first law of thermodynamics? It states that the energy of a closed system must remain constant—it can neither increase nor decrease without interference from outside OR that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed or transferred. Those last two words are the most important to remember. The negative energy from a physical stressor on the body, (for example from a long run/ excessive work out or an injury) will begin to fill up the musculo-skeletal bin. If the level becomes so great that that bin can no longer cope..... where can the negative energy go? It is  transformed or transferred  over in to another bin that is more able to cope with it.  Female endurance athletes are renowned for putting a lot of physical stress on their bodies and as a result many suffer from hormonal disturbances and  amenorrhoea (no periods) is a common result. When the physical load is lessened, the overflow to the hormonal system also lessens and miraculously periods come back again. This principle of overflow is fascinating to me and  it can work in any direction. Emotional stress can result in overflow to any one of the other bins and result in very real physical musculo-skeletal symptoms and/or digestive disturbances (internal organs or viscera)  or hormonal imbalances. 

It is important to understand the principle of OVERFLOW as it can also help us to IMPROVE our health. We can become more knowledgeable and aware of what has a  positive or negative energy impact on us; what  stressors fill the bins AND we can learn techniques that can empty the bins again,  thus lessening the load in each of these areas. We can also gain a realization that, what we THINK is the  problem may not actually be the root cause .... the problem could be coming from elsewhere.  Back ache may not always be just back ache!

After the walk with my friend and cleaning the utility room and sorting the bins,  I was reminded that some of my approaches for decreasing my own physical and emotional stress are to walk, be outside in nature and catch up with friends. By avoiding the military fitness, I  avoided putting too great a physical load on my body (more than it could handle that day), and as a result reduced the load off my total bin system.  Consequently I was able to increase my positive energy levels.

I invite you today to start to take notice of your Bin system!  Perhaps you could mentally assess how each of your different "Bins" are doing (an easy method to do this is to give yourself a score of how stressed/loaded each area feels to you).

Musculo-skeletal system  ?/10
Hormonal system ?/10
Viscera/ internal organs ?/10
spiritual/emotional ?/10 

As always, If you have any concerns regarding your health It is wise to go seek advice from a good source you trust. Learning to following your instincts and intuition and listen to your body is a good skill to nurture and is one of the first steps and keys to good health.


Jx

If you want to learn a little more about these "Bins" or what Paul Chek calls "Stress Buckets"  you can learn more here