Why you're driving yourself to fatigue

You want change, and so you push to make it happen. Or, you have no choice, your life is so full of mundane tasks that you have no choice but to get them done. I get it, I really do, and while such a drive isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's pursued without heart it's guaranteed to leave you flat. Here's why, and what you can do.

The kidneys relate to drive, push and adrenaline. Adrenaline will keep you going when you're screaming to give up. It's fight or flight and you may just be in a constant heightened state. This drive can help, it can push us over the line, and short term it may be exactly what you need, but long term you are sure to fatigue unless it's balanced with the energy of the heart. Because without the heart you just have yourself pure undirected push.

But when you mix your passion, your pleasure, the joy of the heart, with the drive of the kidneys you get a completely different outcome.

So how do you develop this heart energy?

Firstly, you bring awareness to your heart's needs, you give value to those things that make your heart sing. And if you don't know where to start you start noticing what it is that brings you pleasure. Now I'm not talking about momentary short lived peaks, rather long sustained pleasure. It's not about satisfying some craving, it's about unfolding and spending time with what it is that you and your heart really needs. You start a pleasure practice by watching sunsets or notice how good a stroke of your arm can be. You feel the joy of a swim or have a conversation with a stranger who leaves you feeling full. Or you do that thing you've been putting off for way too long, because it scares and excites in equal measures.

Finding pleasure is fundamentally your own personal path, but when you find it and combine it with the power of your will, then something truly extraordinary happens, your energy builds and you discover what it is that you really can achieve.