You can’t water a garden with an empty bucket ?right?! Lastmonth we worked on filling your bucket and keeping it that way, (You Can’tWater a Garden With an Empty Bucket) but a full bucket doesn’t do much good if you’ve got lots of leaks. A leaky bucket requires you to put much more effort into filling it than if you have no leaks at all. Don’t you want to keep the energy you put in your bucket? Don’t you want to be in charge of how you choose to use your energy? Sure you do! Read on and learn which of the 3 Energy Leaks are creating the biggest holes in your bucket.
ENERGY VAMPIRES ?the things wejust put up with and tolerate.
Just think of a vampire ?it sucks the life outof you! And that’s just what all those little things in life that you’re simplyputting up with do to you. Look around your home or office right now. Is therea pile of paper or clutter that you’ve been walking by thinking that you’ll getto it later? Do you hate the color of the wall? Is your computer slower thanmolasses and it drives you crazy? These are great examples of tolerations.Every time you walk past that pile and think you should do something about it,a bit of your energy is drained away ?the toleration has occupied space andtaken some of your resource. Here’s the challenge ?make a list of everythingin your world that you are tolerating. It can be stuff, or people, or attitudes?things you can do something about or things you can’t. Keep that list handy,you'll be using it later.
ENERGY WASTERS ?our bad habits.
Picture this. You are running a race, an importantrace. You are effortlessly bounding towards the finish line, exuberant and fullof energy. You gloriously leap across the finish line to celebrate your greataccomplishment. Nice picture, huh? OK, how ‘bout this one? You’re running thesame important race, but tied to your ankle is a small footstool. You have torun in a really awkward way to avoid stepping on the footstool and it keepsbanging into your other leg. Now imagine, that the footstool becomes a sofatied around your waist. You’re running as hard as you can, but making suchlittle progress and using so much energy that you often have to sit down on thesofa to rest. You can’t even see the finish line. Our bad habits are just likethe footstool or the sofa (or perhaps even a refrigerator!), wasting our energyand preventing us from finishing our race with energy and joy. What are yourbad habits? Make a list.
ENERGY QUICKSAND ?worry.
When you think of worry, thinkabout your garden hose in the backyard with the tap turned on. If you worry alittle, the water just trickles out endlessly, if you worry a lot, it gushesout flooding your whole yard and making it impossible for things to grow.Here’s an exercise for you. Draw a line on a piece of paper, with 1 at one end,10 at the other, and 5 in the middle. Then rate your self on this ‘worryscale? Put yourself closer to 1 if worry doesn’t impact you much ?if you findyourself worrying, you take action to solve your problem. Mark closer to 5 ifworry affects you somewhat, impacting your sleeping or eating and other thingsin your life. You're closer to a 10 if worry affects your life daily and yoursleep, eating, moods and relationships are regularly affected. If you markyourself above a 3, you likely have a worry leak that needs some attention.
So,now that you’ve identified some of the leaks that you’d like to take care ofthe question is what do you do to plug them up?! April is Plug Your Leaks monthat the http//:www.balancedlivingjournal.blogspot.com (my blog - remember).Throughout the month I will be posting some very specific ways for you totackle your leaks and hoping that you will also post what works for you. So gothere frequently during the month to get and share information about your energyleaks.
Some leaks are easy and some are much harder to plug up, but I'm quite confident that you can do it. Awarenessand persistence are your tools in this task.
Copyright 2005 Catherine A. Bruns.
Living in Balance may be reprinted in full with the following attached: Life Coach Catherine Bruns helps women to achieve their goals while creating a balance between what they do and who they are. For more information visit http://www.coachbalance.com