Personal Policy: Energy and Defense Spending
I have been reading a book called The Power of Full Engagement with the tagline: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal.
This is a required book for one of my classes related to work with organizations. I took one look at both the title and the cover and wanted to puke (similar to the effect that "inspiring posters" have on me). All I could think was that I might find this book in the "self-help" section of Barnes and Noble.
It turns out it has some really interesting ideas surrounding physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional energy and training.
Some of the ideas in it are especially relevant to my phone conversation last night with mk, in which she asked, "does the drama ever end?" when referring to the latest challenge in living a nice, quiet, zen-like existence (nut-ball landlord- who probably needs to be committed).
My idea is that people who don't take risks have very quiet lives, people who aren't seekers don't find amazing experiences or the drama, people who live their lives in constant pre-determined patterns like homeostasis may not encounter a lot of growth either.
One of the main ideas in the book is about growth requiring a combination of stress and then recovery, and then more stress, and then recovery, and then even more stress, and then recovery. Certain people are more able to move outside of their conception of normal, and therefore experience more stress, but also more growth:
"The willingness to challenge our comfort zones depends partly on our degree of underlying security. To whatever degree we are consumed by anxious concerns and attempts to fill deficits-for energy or material security, or self-esteem- we are less willing to expose ourselves to any discomfort. When there isn't must fuel in our tanks and our inner experience is that we feel threatened, we tend to hoard the energy we have and use our limited stores in the service of self-protection. We refer to this phenomenon as defense spending" [emphasis theirs].
This really made me think about the type of person each of us is, the circumstances surrounding us, and what it all means for the way each of our lives' unfold.
This is a required book for one of my classes related to work with organizations. I took one look at both the title and the cover and wanted to puke (similar to the effect that "inspiring posters" have on me). All I could think was that I might find this book in the "self-help" section of Barnes and Noble.
It turns out it has some really interesting ideas surrounding physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional energy and training.
Some of the ideas in it are especially relevant to my phone conversation last night with mk, in which she asked, "does the drama ever end?" when referring to the latest challenge in living a nice, quiet, zen-like existence (nut-ball landlord- who probably needs to be committed).
My idea is that people who don't take risks have very quiet lives, people who aren't seekers don't find amazing experiences or the drama, people who live their lives in constant pre-determined patterns like homeostasis may not encounter a lot of growth either.
One of the main ideas in the book is about growth requiring a combination of stress and then recovery, and then more stress, and then recovery, and then even more stress, and then recovery. Certain people are more able to move outside of their conception of normal, and therefore experience more stress, but also more growth:
"The willingness to challenge our comfort zones depends partly on our degree of underlying security. To whatever degree we are consumed by anxious concerns and attempts to fill deficits-for energy or material security, or self-esteem- we are less willing to expose ourselves to any discomfort. When there isn't must fuel in our tanks and our inner experience is that we feel threatened, we tend to hoard the energy we have and use our limited stores in the service of self-protection. We refer to this phenomenon as defense spending" [emphasis theirs].
This really made me think about the type of person each of us is, the circumstances surrounding us, and what it all means for the way each of our lives' unfold.
posted by KLOU | 10:58 AM
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