How to Stop Wasting Your Mental Energy

“Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance… If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two, we would provide ourselves enough energy to… catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe.”

- Don Juan in the Art of Dreaming

Have you ever experienced THAT “draining” feeling?

You know the one I’m talking about.

The one where you feel like all of your mental energy is being sucked out of you and you can’t seem to figure out why.

I’ve experienced this feeling many times, and I always feel powerless when it starts to happen.  How are we supposed to rid ourselves of this parasitic force if we don’t even know what causes it to happen?

Don’t lose all hope just yet. There is a solution I’ve managed to stumble upon.

The Law of Least Effort

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been heavily involved in spiritual study. One of the tenets of spirituality is “The Law of Least Effort.” What this law states is that the people who prosper in life are those who can extend beyond their ego, accept the present moment for what it is, and accept responsibility for what they’ve created. By doing so, they conserve the massive amount of energy tied to maintaining the ego, fighting the present moment, and blaming their circumstances on other people and things in their environment.

Understanding this, I found the cure for that familiar “draining” feeling we discussed before.

• I realized how much mental energy I was wasting trying to “uphold my importance,” as Don Juan stated in his quote above.
• I realized how much mental energy I was wasting trying to fight the present moment, and not accepting it for what it really was.
• I realized how much mental energy I was wasting by not accepting responsibility for the circumstances in my life.

Refrain from engaging in these draining practices, and the end result is more mental energy at your disposal that can be put to good use.

Three Ways to Regain Your Mental Energy

1. Accept the present moment for what it is: The present is simply a reflection of all of our past thoughts, choices, and actions. There is nothing we can do right now to change the present moment; however there is something we can do right now to change the next moment in our future. In my article Leave the Past Behind, I explain how to release yourself from the burden of your past, and how to gain acceptance for the present moment as it is.
2. Accept responsibility for your circumstances: As long as we choose to blame the circumstances in our life on people and things in our external environment, we remain powerless to change these circumstances. We become the victims of our external environment, and in the process expend a tremendous amount of mental energy complaining about the lack of control over our lives. Only by understanding that the circumstances in your life are your responsibility will you be able to regain control over your life. You can then be proactive, and consciously improve the quality of your life by acting responsibly in the present.
3. Defenselessness: People waste so much energy defending their point of view. Why waste time doing this? What’s the point? While you are trying to uphold your importance in other people’s eyes and in your own, you’re wasting precious mental energy. By releasing yourself from the need to defend your point of view, you regain lost mental energy.

Where Do You Stand?

Take a deep look at yourself. Are you struggling against the present moment? Do you accept responsibility for the circumstances in your life? Do you constantly defend your point of view, and try to uphold your sense of importance?

If so, decide to adopt the mental practices listed above and feel the heavy weight lift off of your shoulders. That familiar draining feeling we talked about will soon be a thing of the past, and you will have access to an enormous amount of mental energy you’ve never had before.

What you do with this mental energy hereafter is up to you. I recommend that you put it to good use, and dedicate it towards a worthy cause, something that makes a significant contribution to this world.

This article was inspired by The Seven Laws of Spiritual Success by Deepak Chopra.

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