Natural energy boosters - Escaping exhaustion (part 2)

Up until recently I was really struggling with my energy levels. Sleeping 18 hours a day. Getting up and after an hour crawling back into bed or making it till the afternoon then falling asleep only to wake up in the early hours of the following morning. Sometimes good sleep etiquette and routine aren't enough but I have discovered a great many things that help build energy back up and some things that give instant energy that almost seems to be a never ending supply. Wouldn't you like to feel as energetic and awake as a child after a full nights sleep. Or like your so alive that you don't think you would ever need to sleep again.

I want you to think back to when you were a child. You could play all day and stay up all night with your friends and then sleep for a few hours and get up and play again! The simple reason for this is that you were having fun and enjoying yourself so much and not bogged down by the weight of bills to pay and people to look after. You didn't worry about what your friend was going to eat for dinner or likely even what you were going to eat and who was going to pay for it. You likely just went home and someone put food on the table. After you grow up and take on responsibilities life gets a lot more complicated but there are so many easy and quick things you can do to instantly boost your energy. Would you give 5 minutes a day to feel refreshed and energized. Would you be happy if you knew you could easily do this for free?

Here's a list of things most people can easily do and most won't cost you a cent so read on and charge your batteries.

*Soaking up some morning sun - A few minutes of sun in the early morning resets your body clock, produces melatonin which helps you sleep and creates vitamin D in the body. (Vitamin D deficiency causes tiredness and pain.

*Listening to music you enjoy with a strong beat and lively rhythm.

*Have gratitude - Write a list of 10 things you are greatful for, read them before bed to sleep easier.

*Take a moment to meditate on the sounds in your environment and how you currently feel - switch off from the disappointments and yesterdays regrets and the worries of tomorrow, be in the moment and know that your ok.

*Pay a compliment - Brighten your own day by bringing joy to another.

*Get back in touch with your body by getting a massage or sharing a hug.

*Yoga - Connect with your body and move some energy, feel where your stopping it from flowing and release.

*Read an uplifting quote - Keep some on the fridge, on a work noticeboard or sticky notes around the house.

*Look at something beautiful - Art, nature, your favourite person or anything that uplifts you.

*Refresh yourself in a cold shower or take a dip in the ocean.

*Decide that your day is going to go well and plan to do something you enjoy - Having something to look forward to will keep you going so reward yourself.

*Create something - Make some pancakes, sketch a picture, sew a new dress. Creating things stimulates life energy.

*Get your shoes off and go stand on the grass, dirt, sand - connect with the earth and feel the stress melting away through your feet. Touching the Earth naturally allows you to discharge energy buildup that causes pain and inflamation. We are 80% water after all and we conduct electricity.

*Drink your 6 to 8 glasses of water - Dehydration will make you tired even if you don't feel thirsty.

*Move - Shake up your energy after you've been still all night, do some jumping jacks, stomp your feet or grab a hula hoop.

*Breathe - Often when we are stressed we spend long amounts of time holding our breath or taking short shallow breaths. Take a minute to breathe as slowly and deeply as you can then see how you feel.

*Forgive someone - Holding onto anger, hurts and resentments ties up a lot of energy. Let it go and find better more enjoyable ways to use that energy after all why waste it on feeling bad.

*Play - whether you find a new toy or activity to explore or you seek out some children to show you how to let go and have fun again, playing will make you feel alive.


I hope that gives you a few easy ways to increase your energy personally for myself  I find that expressing myself creatively gives me a huge amount of energy and if I can let go of emotions and manifest something I put heart and soul into then nothing can wear me out, anything i'm passionate about and have fun doing I can spend hours on without the need to stop or even eat. Energy is available to everyone no matter their bank account so plug into the universe because there's as much there as you could ever want.

Escaping exhaustion

Chronic fatigue or chronic exhaustion conditions are on the rise and it's not surprising considering we are working longer, have more stress and don't have the time or money to do what we'd like to anymore. But what can we do about it? Here's a list of things that can give you significant bursts of energy when you feel like the life has been sucked out of you.

Firstly we have to look at why we are so drained so it's easier to look at the main aspects of our life and how we've allowed ourselves to get this way. Work. If the sound of that word alone makes you feel tired then your probably in the wrong job. A job should not be something that makes us cringe, if we can we should be doing something we love and enjoy going to work after all most of us spend 6 to 8 hours working a day. So if you hate your boss and feel like your working with a bunch of idiots constantly fixing other peoples mistakes and working yourself to the bone in an unsupportive environment you need to rethink what your doing. If it's possible quit and find a better place to work where you can enjoy your day and get along with your fellow workers. If this isn't possible or is too much of a stress counselling, talking over problems with your boss and co workers or maybe dropping back to part time so you can pursue some interests you've been putting off may be a great idea.

The second place you probably spend the most amount of time that could be seriously draining you is your home. If your not looking forward to going home at the end of the day and you'd rather work late to avoid your family or go out instead every night of the week then you may need to consider how healthy your home environment and your family life is. Your home should be a sanctuary and a place of relaxation and loving support. If it's not sit down with your family ask for some help and talk over what's stressing or getting you down and how you'd like the family to get along and spend quality time together. Maybe there needs to be a more equal share of chores or possibly hire a cleaner if you can afford one. Also make sure your home is bright and comfortable a good clean and a couple of colourful new furnishings may give you a nice boost. Make sure your comforts are met that your bed and seating is comfortable and provides good support that you have warm blankets and a fridge stocked with a balance of nourishing foods. If you can't get quality sleep and a reasonable diet your not going to have any energy to face the day.

The third most common area to lose energy is to our relationships maybe you worry about what your children are up to or suspect your partner is having an affair. Worry, stress, codependency and negative relationships are a huge energy drain. Simply being around negative and anxious people is a stress in itself so try to make friends who are cheerful and uplifting. Try communicating more lovingly with partners and friends and learn to say no. One must look after themselves and have their needs met before they have enough to offer up to other people and there comes a time when we all must learn that each person is responsible for themselves and we can't keep assisting people who can't seem to manage for themselves. If you have a friend or family member that needs help maybe contact the rest of the family or other friends and share the load around and break things down into smaller tasks so that your not doing everything.

The biggest energy drain however is definitely not living your lifes' purpose. If you live to fish and consider yourself a great fisherman then make time to go fishing! If your biggest joy is to cook for others then whip up a meal and invite friends around, maybe make it a weekly thing. Whatever it is that makes you, you and gives you joy, whatever your passionate about if your not doing it then why do you exist? What's the point in working to earn enough money so you can keep working if you hate your job? Not having anything in your life that is worth getting up for in the morning is the biggest and hardest drain to overcome if you don't know what makes you tick. Simply having something to motivate you can bring in so much energy! So make more time for the things you love.

Lastly you need to look at physically what your putting your body through. So pay attention to where you live and the pollutants your breathing in and drinking. Consider what your eating and if your moving your body and getting exercise. Are you getting enough rest? If your chronically tired have you been to the doctors and made sure you spoke up for yourself and investigated all the possible causes? Some can be hard to find. Do you need to be taking all the medications your on and do you know the side effects of what your taking. Your body is most likely bombarded by chemicals, toxins and hormones in your food and cleaning products, makeup and soaps. Look at the ingredients in your hair dye and even your toothpaste. Become more knowledgeable about what your putting in and on your body. Many chemicals can be absorbed into the blood stream directly through the skin which bypasses most of the immune system which is activated during digestion.

So really the best way to cut energy drains out of your life is to reduce stress, worry and negative relationships. Take care of your body and make sure your passionate about something in your life and keep it up. Don't let the weight of the world and all the responsibilities crush you, share them around and get help if your feeling overwhelmed.

Just to recap here are a few quick changes you can make to cut back your energy expenditure
*Brighten your home with colourful furnishings
*Reduce time around negative people
*Learn to say no
*Reduce your work hours
*Do fun things with family
*Buy a better mattress
*Keep up a hobby or passion
*Reduce stress
*Ask for help
*Get a medical check up

It's not normal to be continually exhausted and the body is not designed to cope long term with huge amounts of stress if your not enjoying your life it will wear you down so make sure you know what your living for and do whatever brings you joy. So many things these days lead to a complete collapse of energy levels and motivation but you don't need to feel helpless when there are ways to get your life back and escape exhaustion. Just remember getting up is always the hardest but every little bit helps time flies by when your having fun so don't choose an eternity of simply surviving.

Meditation for when you can't stop thinking

When I can't stop myself from thinking or remembering things and have memories pop into my head I don't want triggered by sights, smells or songs especially memories of people who have hurt me and past arguments I have a meditation technique that I have been using for ages. It's been a huge help for years so I'll give you the step by step for how I get my piece of quiet and remove the constant nagging from my mind.

*Sit with your feet flat on the ground in a chair is easiest. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply and slowly 3 times.

*Notice how your feet feel, imagine your feet are glowing and pulsing. Feeling something pushing out the bottom of them and travelling downward. Let these roots grow downward more and more. Have them break easily through the floor, the ground, the rock right down to the molten centre of the earth.

*Feel the warmth there and anchor the roots into the earth wrapping them around the Earths' core. Allow the Earth to send up roots of its own right up to you and feel the warmth go into the bottom of your feet.

*Feel this warmth travel up through your body slowly through each toe, each foot, each ankle etc. Flowing upwards until it reaches the top of your head. Notice where the flow stops or slows down and where feels heaviest. Make those spots brighter and brighter and let the warmth grow until its red hot allow it to dislodge the heaviness so it can sink down your body out the roots and back down to the center of the Earth.

*When you feel lighter and full of warmth imagine a bright golden energy pouring into the top of your head and allow it to flow down into your body slowly bit by bit. Notice how this feels and let it grow brighter and brighter anywhere there is resistance.

*Allow both feelings from above and below to swirl and mix and continue circulating them until you feel ready to stop. This may be when you feel very relaxed and dreamy or you may feel a lot happier or more positive or just generally more calm.

*Now imagine you are in front of a large screen TV and you can change the channel to see anything you want. Flick the channel to the memory or thought that keeps popping up and bothering you. Watch it play. Take a slow deep breath and notice how you feel, do you have any sensations anywhere? Any heaviness or do you feel guilty or angry?

*Accept how your feeling and ask why this happened. Allow yourself to feel or notice any insight or lesson you need from this situation. Something may come to you or nothing may happen at all. When you have had enough take any sensations or feelings you felt that you didn't like and put them up on the screen.

*See some roots growing out of the screen and anchor them deep in the core of the Earth, see everything you put up on the screen get sucked through the roots back deep into the Earth.

*Notice how you feel again and see if you feel any lighter, if you have other things bothering you repeat the process as many times as you want until you feel less burdened.

*When you are done imagine the TV catching on fire and let it burn, crumble and turn to dust to fall back to the ground and been blown away by the wind.

*Slowly wriggle your fingers and your toes, bring your awareness back to your body and slowly open your eyes. Then go have a big glass of water.

This is a great meditation to do after a big fight with someone or a breakup, when you can't stop reliving events or have thoughts stuck in your head that are very unpleasant. It won't make you forget them permanently but it will stop you thinking about them randomly and having them come to your attention.