The 4 Pillars Deep-Dive
Pillar #2:
Imbalanced Energy =
Imbalanced Choice-Making
2025 is about developing strength in…your choices.
Winter Energy, in the larger cycle of Nature, is for restoration. We’re not separate from these rhythms, though you would think differently, while observing the manufactured busyness to which many of us ascribe.
It’s not natural. It’s self-inflicted. It’s all a mismanagement of energy.
The New Year often brings with it the hope of change. We’re given the blank page of January to begin anew. Resolutions are now being given a bad-wrap – many see them as trite or quaint – and given the high-expectations we often assign to them, they become a reminder of our own lack of discipline.
<<Insert opportunity to reframe Resolutions>>
I think many of us push too hard in the wrong directions. I think many of us need a reset in prioritizing time, which would dictate the need to re-prioritize choice-making.
Let’s consider Pillar 1, which has us practicing proprioception + interoception to sharpen Self-Awareness. If we put it to the test, we could ask questions that bring our attention to Energy Balance + Self-Connection. Like, “How connected am I to how I move in space + how my body moves within me? Do I even pay attention to my habits of movement? Do I even know how I feel?”
What if we used Winter to bring clarity? What if, instead of deciding to feel low-energy/mood because of the grey days, we value that downtime to develop a practice of clearing space within, + without, to sharpen our awareness of what we need?
I’d be the first to say that a practice which consistently Integrates the Body + Mind will eliminate the need for constant reframes or times of drastic measures. The more we connect the mind’s focus to the body, the deeper we can connect to what our body is doing + what it needs. Outsourcing someone else to tell you what you need will work in a pinch, but the goal is to do this for yourself. How often do we walk around in decision fatigue or energy depletion or looking to a healthcare professional to help us diagnose problems that start with poor lifestyle choices?
Honesty with Self and staying in integrity with our choices, has been downgraded as something we really don’t have time for. Or is it our Consumer Culture that has atrophied our Integrity Muscle and replaced it with convenience mechanisms that pacify? Any which way we look at it, our physical, mental + emotional health has never been so weak, yet our addiction game is on fire. Buying stuff, decorating stuff, worrying about others’ needs before you own, consuming industrial food, consuming alcohol, consuming marijuana, needing more, splurging on luxurious vacations, responding to Hustle Culture or deciding “we’re very busy” – it’s all a series of choices. The question is whether the myriad of choices you have to make from one day to the next are actually serving you.
If you’ve stuck with me for this long, you’re among the narrow-few individuals who “have time” to interact with longform writing. And/or you are interested in some part of what I have to say. Either way, you might be looking for a connection to your Strength Training.
Everything we do can be widdled-down to a series of choice-points. Every circumstance we are in can be understood by looking at how we came to those choices to begin. Take these common concerns from clients I serve:
Not seeing fat loss? What are your energy needs and how are you accommodating/adjusting them?
Not seeing muscle growth? What kind of protein consumption are you engaged with and/or what is your Recovery Cycle?
Still in significant chronic pain? Do you lack integration (body-mind)? What do you do to recover? Do you engage with numbing-out habits (substances, scrolling, over-consumption of anything, really)?
Tired/exhausted all the time? What choices are causing your energy imbalance?
Not able to consistently complete your Daily Movement/Strength Sessions? Where are you prioritizing other needs above the Movement needs?
When we bring more awareness to our choices, we begin to see where our Energy is balanced (or imbalanced) by them. This process can be a challenge when we consider the reasons for our choices - often that comes with vulnerability, shame or defensiveness. It’s not easy work to be honest OR admit where there might be some victimhood with those choices. It’s also hard to observe our choices without judging them as good or bad.
