In search of more energy
Where, please, is my body's own power plant? If I knew that, maybe I could flip the lever, let more energy flow through my body. Would be very helpful on days when I drag myself through life as if I was one hundred years old. Qi is the life force, which flows through the lines of the body in the notion of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
My qi stops. I do not feel like running. To clean up, I have to catch myself, as if I did not have a slightly dirty kitchen in front of me, but the construction of a pyramid. Even calling my best friend bothers me. Not the first energy crisis of my life. But time and again she panics me. What if I feel so exhausted because my life's energy is about depleted oil supplies - and unfortunately not about renewable resources?
Who is braking? The body or the head?
Clarity must come from. After all, there are very different energy robbers, and the true culprit wants to be found first. What if a physical problem is behind inertia? iron deficiency For example, who brings little iron suppliers such as legumes and meat on the table, sometime drags up the stairs like an obese asthmatic. The problem can be seen with a simple blood test at the doctor and is corrected in most people within weeks with medication.
The second suspect in terms of missing energy: Sports abstinence. Everyone knows that energy comes from muscles rather than from cozy fat cells. But if you just feel really tired, the smallest jogging track will give you as much respect as people only fit the Ironman. There's only one thing to do: start anyway. On such days there is also a walk or a walk.
But if, despite health and movement, the inner flywheel does not really want it, most of the trickiest energy robber is at work - his own head. It is these moments when you consider whether it would not be a solution to simply leave everything and start a new life elsewhere: a lot of work. Then the tax return. The bathroom is being renovated. And the day after tomorrow the relatives arrive. It's been like that for weeks. With the result that someday I will shuffle my way through life as if determined and exhausted, as if it were no longer mine.
Danger detected, danger banned? If it were that easy If you feel so tired, you may not have the resources you need to kick your personal power robbers. At some point, it's all about surviving the days halfway.
The energy flows only when the trappings are right
Strangely enough, I do not always react to loads like that. There are also phases in which I not only put away the greatest stress, but also find it wonderful. Then I enjoy being the parents' spokeswoman, writing three articles in a week, painting my corridor bright green and even going to the movies in the evening.
At such moments I experience what psychologists describe as "self-efficacy": a wonderful feeling of being in balance, being able to do things that are positive for yourself. People with this basic attitude, says the Göttingen brain researcher Prof. Gerald Hüther, learn easier, have more fun in life, know where their limits are. They experience themselves as strong and confident. Prerequisite for this: They do things that they experience as meaningful and that are not imposed on them from the outside (keyword: kinship visit, tax office!).
A sentence for more energy. So much is certain: My inner power plant lives in the head. My energy reserves are not a finite source of oil, but rather a solar power plant. The resources are almost inexhaustible - but the energy only flows when the weather is right. It is therefore important to provide enough sun in your brain and soul. "Basically, the topic of energy is about being good to oneself," says Christel Lenz, psychotherapist from Korschenbroich. The expert specializes in energy psychology, a new branch of research that has only been known in Germany for a few years.
Therapist Lenz knows: The brain often robs so much energy, because bad beliefs shade your own sources of power. My mantra might currently be: "I feel tired and can not control my life." With this inner attitude, however, I do not even come to the thinnest green branch.
In discussions with her patients, therapist Lenz determines where these beliefs are from her patients.In the second step, she uses knowledge from traditional Chinese medicine: In muscle tests, she determines which energy pathways in the body currently do not function optimally. "Mental problems always cause blockages", said the psychotherapist. Such blockages are solved by means of knock acupressure by tapping the affected meridians according to the principles of acupressure. "The technique can be learned by the patients themselves under guidance." Mostly they feel better immediately.
Energy is there: Now and here!
Sometimes, with the shady thoughts, it is like with real clouds: the moment you look very carefully, they dissolve. For the American physician Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn, therefore, "the practice of mindfulness" brings the most effective energy boost. With special exercises for body awareness and simple walking and sitting meditations, the physician teaches people, again to develop more feeling for oneself. This mindfulness-based stress reduction ("Mindful Based Stress Reduction") helps to get out of the miserable life feeling of alien determination.
Kabat-Zinn teaches people to simply perceive and not evaluate situations - neither positively nor negatively. When I remove the broken tiles from my bathroom, I only do that. When I sort the files for my tax, I just focus on it - without a sense of annoyance. When I'm tired, I feel my eyelids press my eyelids and my body go limp. Those who are careful, hear the soft messages from the inside better, quickly notice when the batteries are empty - and can counter better. Anyway, I grab my jogging shoes now and walk at exactly the pace that's good for me. Then nothing. Feel what happens.
Information on mindfulness-based stress reduction under: www.mbsr-verband.de
Interpret the signs
Slackness and lack of energy are sometimes signs of serious physical illness. If the energy just does not want to come back, you should get a blood test from the doctor. For example, just under a third of Germans suffer from thyroid problems, from the onset of iodine deficiency to massive over- or under-functioning.
The butterfly-shaped winz organ in our throat controls almost all vital processes of our body. If it does not work well enough, a subfunction will be formed. The result: constant fatigue, weight gain, hair loss. Even if the thyroid gland produces too much hormone, that can happen. With a blood test, the doctor can determine if there is a thyroid problem, and then possibly counteract with hormones.
