
Trying to “get” or “find” energy is like trying to
grab a fistful of water. If you want water (energy) to sit
in your hand, you have to first create the conditions under
which it’s possible — in the case of water, keeping your
fingers tightly together and your hand cupped while open
will do the trick — but trying to grab the water will not.
It’s the same thing with energy.
Energy isn’t something you get or grab, but rather the
by-product of certain conditions that allow it to show up in
your life. If your health and attitude and body and mind are
all aligned in the right way, there’s nothing else for you
to do but to feel energized. It’s the natural “side-effect”
of a healthy life — it just comes with the territory.
Let’s say you were a swimmer wearing a weight belt and you
wanted to increase your time in the 50-yard freestyle. You
could spend a lot of effort researching the latest titanium
high-tech bathing suit — which might add a second or two to
your time — but wouldn’t it be a lot more effective to
simply drop the weight belt?
Most of us are carrying around weight belts and looking to
increase our energy with coffee and stimulants when in fact
if we just dropped the weight belt we’d automatically go
faster.
Some of the items on our weight belt are: too little sleep,
disorganization, toxic relationships, high-carb diets,
undetected food sensitivities, and all sorts of other facts
of modern life that I discuss in detail in my book, The 150
Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. In this article
I’m going to suggest seven ways to help drop the weight belt
from your energy tank. Do them and you may be surprised at
what a boost in energy they give you.
1. Support your liver. You can help your liver do its job
more effectively — and boost your energy in the bargain — by
taking a daily dose of an herb called milk thistle. I
consider the liver to be the most misunderstood and
under-appreciated organ in the human body, because when it’s
not working right, the first thing to suffer is your energy.
Giving the liver all the nutrients it needs to perform its
daily tasks is one of the most important things you can do
to boost your energy.
2. Get ten minutes of sun every day. The sun gives you
strength, lifts your spirits and is a source of energy..
Like a growing body of health experts, Sears thinks we’ve
become so sun phobic that we’re missing out on the myriad
mood-boosting and energy-enhancing benefits that vitamin D,
the sunshine vitamin has to offer.
3. Disconnect for a day. One of the great energy drainers of
the 21st century is information overload. We’re deluged with
stuff coming at us from emails, RSS feeds, blogs, social
networking sites, TV, magazines, radio, fax machines,
Blackberries… you get the picture. Knowledge may be power,
but information overload is just… well, noise. Try a
media-free day and feel your own energy accumulate — rather
than dissipate as you attend to millions of distractions.
Most of the chatter, when you think about it, won’t make
much difference in the long run anyway. (If you find the
idea of disconnecting for a day a frightening thought, you
are exactly the person who needs to do it the most!)
4. Try the “No-Frills, No-Excuses, Anytime-Anywhere”
workout. We all know that exercise helps with energy — at
least I hope we do — but when it comes to working out, time
remains a big obstacle for many people. Here’s my own “no
excuses” lo-tech workout that you can do just about anywhere
in as little as 15 or 20 minutes for an amazing boost in
energy: 1) run a mile, 2) do some squats, 3) do some
push-ups, 4) do some crunches. Stretch and go about your
business refreshed and energized. And if you can’t go out
and run the mile, do some jumping jacks in your office, or
run the stairs.
5. Revive your “qi”. Acupuncture is based on the precepts of
traditional Chinese Medicine that says the body and mind are
inextricably linked; that vital energy, or qi, regulates a
person’s spiritual, mental and physical health; that each of
us is a delicate balance of opposing and inseparable forces
called yin and yang — and when that balance is disrupted,
vital energy becomes blocked or weakened. When our qi
(energy) is at optimal levels and flowing smoothly, we’re
ready to take on the world. Spiritually, emotionally,
mentally and physically we’re strong, healthy and energized.
One terrific way to balance that energy is through
acupuncture.
6. De-clutter and deep-six the energy drain. Here’s a rule
I’ve found to be a universal truth: your energy has a
perfect inverse relationship to the accumulation of stuff
you don’t need. The more unwanted, unused, unneeded stuff
you have cluttering up your life, the less energy you have.
Believe it or not, the condition of your desk (and desktop)
and office and living space actually reflects a lot of
what’s going on in your head. If you take time to organize
and de-clutter, you’ll actually be freeing up a lot of
psychic space, and that can really turbo-charge your energy.
7. Take the right supplements. While supplements don’t
really “give” you energy, they can correct metabolic issues
that are draining it. They can also speed along certain
pathways that are nutrient-dependent and that get sluggish
(and energy draining) when those nutrients are in short
supply. One terrific energizing nutrient is Marcus Rohrer
Spirulina.
Naturally sustained energy
Everyone has his or her own level of energy and vitality. If
you take Spirulina regularly you will gradually reach a
higher energy level. You feel more vigorous and recover more
quickly after exertion.
Spirulina does not work like some pep-ups. Such remedies
(caffeine containing drinks, pep pills etc.) do make peak
performance possible, but afterwards you go into a dip and
it takes longer to recover. It is a sort of whiplash effect
that takes more energy from your body than it gives.
Eventually you become exhausted. In contrast to the pep-ups,
Marcus Rohrer Spirulina® does not allow you to exceed your
natural limits.