Energy Flows

I've known for a long time that what we focus on is what we give our energy to. Parents learn this as they struggle with their two-year-olds. What they may not realize is that this is always true.

Even when we oppose something, our focus on opposition gives energy to the thing opposed. "Ignore it and it will go away," my mother used to say. I thought she was being hopelessly passive, hiding her head in the sand, pretending that something distasteful didn't exist so that she could go on with her day without having to think about it. Later in my life, I came simply to prefer giving my attention to what I choose rather than to anything else.

Try this. Begin a statement with the words, "I need..." Feel the energy associated with that. Now, begin a statement with the words, "I will..." And feel how the energy is different. And again, begin a statement with the words, "I oppose..." or "I am against..."  Feel the energy. Now begin a statement with the words, "I support...." or "I encourage...." And feel how the energy is different.

And then multiply that subtle energy shift by every thought and every intention and every person on this planet.

I was thinking about revolution. I believe that the most revolutionary act is the act of encouraging people to educate themselves and giving them the tools to do so. Public libraries are revolutionary... or is it that they are evolutionary?

(And isn't it interesting that these two words are so closely linked etymologically. Only that one letter separates them. To revolve is to refold, to turn something back in on itself. Revolution is a turning and has come to mean a complete reversal of an established order. To evolve is to unfold. Evolution has come to mean the unfolding of all our potentials, the opening up of our true nature through a natural process.)

I encourage evolution. I support the unfolding of all our potentials. I will evolve. And I will do this by looking forward, not back. I will do this by focusing on what I choose to see in the world around me and making that my home. That is where I place my attention and that is where my energy flows.

And you, Co-Creator of the world? Where do you place your attention? Where do you send your energy?