E4P!

Last week I took a three-day class at work entitled “Energy 4 Performance”.  The crux of the class is that you need energy to maintain all four areas of your life:  physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  But the interesting part is that expending energy in some areas (for example, physical) actually gains you energy in other areas (for example, mental).  The advantage of maintaining your energy is that in doing so you are able to be fully engaged in the areas and with the people in your life that matter the most. 

The class really drove home that notion that we all need to define our ultimate purpose—that 10,000ft view of our life through a lens.  What would people say about you at your funeral, or rather what would you want them to say?  I settled on the following purpose:  that the people I love know that I care about them, that I am dependable and that I give them the attention they need.  Sure, I know I care, but if they don’t know I care then have I been successful?  Not at all. 

Whatever your ultimate purpose is…assess where you are now.  And then look at what you need to do to get there.  Chances are you need to alter your energy in one of those four areas to further your strides toward your ultimate goal.  The emphasis is that your journey should be a series of sprints—not a marathon.  You need time to recover, recharge and reassess.  Learning how to maximize your energy and re-channel it goes a long way. 

In the class, we learned some practical applications for maximizing energy such as:

•         ‘Eat light and eat often’ to keep your glycemic index stable. Eat an hour within waking up and never go more than four hours without eating while you are awake. 
•          Never go more than 90 minutes without standing up, stretching and moving your body.  Movement kick starts your metabolism. 
•         You can shift your negative energy by pretty simple exercises such as deep breathing and counting your blessings.  (They mentioned deep breathing being great to help alleviate crying—it works!)

I left the Energy for Performance class feeling hopeful that I could make some changes to help me on my journey to fulfill my ultimate purpose.  But I know I cannot do it alone.  I need the hand of God upon me and in all that I do.  Upon reflecting on the class and the notion of energy for your purpose, I realized it is on a parallel plane to that which God calls strength.  And Paul tells us in Ephesians that God will give us strength.  God wants us to be strengthened on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.  The key difference is that God doesn’t want us living our purpose; He wants us living His purpose.  So when I think about that, I stumble a little.  Do I set forth on my purpose I spent three days defining or do I work on God’s purpose?  

And if I’m completely honest, I’m not sure God has revealed His purpose for me yet.  Or if he has, I haven’t heard it!  But I find comfort in Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

And I can’t help but feel like my future should include the purpose I defined in that class.  But that it is probably not truly THE ultimate purpose for me.  God's plan for me may very well be bigger than the purpose I have defined.  If it is, I know He will give me the resources I need. Some may even come disguised as a class at work.  :)