In this issue:

Current Events
Article of the month: Feeling Wired Up but Melting Down?
Upcoming Events


Current events:

Women's Circle

Come join us and invite your friends to our ongoing monthly women's circle. Take the opportunity to learn, listen, share and laugh. The evening will focus on women's challenges, strategies and energizing exercises to promote happiness and well-being.

Please call to reserve your space for the Feb. 15 th circle, 7 30 to 9 30 pm held at 190 Robert Speck Parkway. A $ 10.00 donation covers refreshments and supplies. Registration at the door 7 00 – 7 20 pm

Facilitators: Anne Bourke, Elizabeth Skronski

Relationship Renewal

A 4 week course for couples that benefits the relationship by providing:

Experiental exercises that promote personal and couple awareness of beliefs & values

Informative presentations to guide couples toward realistic expectations & goals

Weekly instruction and practice of constructive communication skills to enhance understanding & intimacy

Please call for further information on course dates, location, cost, to request a brochure and to register.

Article of the Month

Feeling Wired Up but Melting Down? Managing Energy for Life Satisfaction

by Anne Bourke

The Challenges of Today's Lifestyle

Our complex, fast-paced world creates unrelenting pressure at work, and in our personal lives. Multitasking, distress and exhaustion flourish in a society where we perceive there is not enough “time” to experience quality interactions and to successfully meet our daily obligations.

If our goal is only to manage our time efficiently, we may not muster enough energy to stay present, patient, positive and lively! Everything that we do requires energy, from a loving talk with our children about household duties, being emotionally and physically intimate with our partner, to negotiating and problem solving with family members, work associates and clients.

Traditional methods of time management are breaking down by bytes and bites. There are 168 hours each week, and we know that we cannot sustain a 24/7 lifestyle! When we try to beat the clock, we feel frustration, anxiety, exhaustion and we question ourselves, “How can I finish all of this?” or “When does it ever end?” or even worse, “Will there ever be time for my needs?”

Now imagine a different picture. Instead of trying to control time we create a lifestyle that focuses on managing our energy . We learn how to expand our energies, by making changes that promote balance and increase the possibility of the positive quality, rather than quantity of our daily output.

Some Basics about Energy

• The universe is pure energy - there is always enough.
• Our body is designed to heal itself.
• The energies around us effect those within us.
• The energies in our environment can either help or harm us.
• Our thoughts, perceptions and expectations impact on the level of energy available to us.
• The level of energy that you put out into the world comes back to you. If you want to receive uplifting energy, then you create and transmit positivity.

The Four Levels of Energy

There are four levels of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual and

they impact on each other wholistically.

Most people experience life as a challenging commitment, much like a runner would feel preparing for a long marathon. Whereas the runner may choose specific goals and develop appropriate habits to promote achieving a level of personal success, most people faced with life's daily challenges, don't develop positive routines to support themselves energetically!

To maintain physical energy you must find the balance between exertion and rest. For example, the driven, overachieving individual creates a fast-paced and perhaps exciting lifestyle and finds it difficult to turn off the adrenolin. Active people need intervals of quiet time to give their bodies the opportunity to rejuvenate from their overactive brains. A regular and repeated cycle of rest and activity is most effective in dealing with stress.

Those who are inactive may create more energy by getting off the couch, moving away from the table or turning off the TV, and developing activities and energy to create more movement.

Expanding emotional energy emerges through being connected to yourself and your loved ones and participating in their lives with heart . Difficult feelings are heavy and de-energizing and you can develop habits that allow you to release anger, fear, loss and blame. Talking to a trusted friend, putting your feelings on paper, or working them out at the gym are all positive outlets.

Try to name what you are feeling and don't be hard on yourself or others for having feelings! Yet remember that you are more than your feelings. Feelings are often a useful signal that change is required but not a license to behave inappropriately.

Once you reach this level of awareness you may choose to develop a practice of mindfulness, which focuses on putting your feelings into perspective.

For example, you can ask yourself if what you are feeling is really true and try to find the truth in the situation. Then, work towards detaching from the outcome, over which you may not have any control. In this awareness, you may decide how you can take action in a manner that is respectful, cooperative and assertive, for the higher good of all concerned.

Balancing mental energy is using your attitudes and belief systems to create positivity inside you. Be relentless in becoming aware of your negative beliefs (i.e. I am not good enough, there is scarcity in my life...) , your unrealistic expectations of yourself and others (i.e. I must be perfect, I need approval from everyone), and work every day to let go of these self-defeating judgments, for our thoughts actually create the lives we lead! If you feel that you are inadequate, you will find innumerable situations to prove that you are not enough. By reclaiming your positive beliefs about yourself, you can overcome distressing and obsessive thinking habits.

Spend more time in moments of relaxing reflective thought and less time in analytical thinking in order to nurture mental energy. If you do not have all the information regarding a situation, then any attempt at analytical thought will only create anxiety, asking yourself “what if”. Use daily meditations, visualizations, intentions, affirmations or journaling as tools for examining and changing your negative thinking.

To create spiritual energy you must decide what matters most to you and do your best daily to live your life abiding by your stated values. Focus on your integrity. Do you meet your own standards for honesty, compassion, respect, understanding...? If not, what do you need to do or say differently so that you raise your self-esteem and you feel an inner respect and positive regard for yourself?

Some suggestions from Don Miguil Ruiz would list: be impeccable with your word. Refrain from gossip, criticism, judgment and do your best in difficult situations to create the highest good for all parties. Spiritual energy also comes from finding and following a higher purpose in your life beyond your own self-interest.

Self-awareness: (use pen &paper)

Mentally review your present lifestyle and daily routines. Highlight the elements of your life that drain your energy. These can be people, responsibilities, thoughts, activities or conditions that distract, frustrate, worry, and overall, wear you out.

Now review your present day situation and list those things that energize and rejuvenate you. These can be people, responsibilities, beliefs or conditions that calm, support, nurture, and free you, and give your life meaning.

Daily routines that Drain Your Energy Resources

Are you trapped by negative energy habits? Do you choose convenience, instant gratification or give up on your needs without a thought-out plan that supports your long term health and well-being?

Do you :

•  Skip breakfast to be early for work and fizzle out early, too.

•  Drink caffeinated coffee and sodas to artificially pump up your flagging energy while continuing to burn the candle at both ends.

•  Skip regular exercise because you feel too tired, which adds to your fatigue.

•  React with impatience and irritation, vent your frustration and lower everyone's energy resources around you.

•  Drink and smoke as short-term ways to to relieve your stress which rob you of long term energy.

Daily routines that Increase Your Energy Resources:

Make a 7 day schedule and jot down anything you do that positively impacts your energy on all four levels. How can you expand the opportunities? Make these routines a priority by putting them in your schedule first and fitting other responsibilities around these energy boosters.

•  Improve breathing techniques to increase energy. Eliminate poor breathing habits (shallow, rapid, holding, gulping and sighing ) and learn to breathe abdominally, into the gut, gently deepening as you proceed. Try counting down by 1 on each in and out breath, from 25 to 1.

•  Or, as you breathe in, silently say, “Calm in” and on the out breath, say, “Worry out”. Choose the words that best apply to you. These exercises and many others like yoga or tai chi, will oxygenate your blood, and help to turn down the analytical thinking and assist you to focus in the moment, leading to increased energy and calmness.

•  Drink enough water and fluids daily and eat smaller, more nutritious meals to keep your glucose levels high enough so that you don't crash energetically. People feel most tired in the late afternoon. Accidents are more likely around this time and productivity drops substantially. To avoid this, try deep breathing, a healthy snack or if you can, take a power nap.

•  During the work day take a break every 90 minutes or so. Take a short walk, stretch in your chair, or at a door jam. A break from the electro-magnetic energy of your computer is also beneficial.

•  Sleep 7-8 hours, getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier. •  Plan a personal quiet time of at least 10 minutes before your day begins, to review your plan and renew your commitment to increasing the amount of positive energy in your life, on all four energy levels.

This may be a convenient time to list all the positives in your life, all the abundance and good fortune that you do have. Remember that what you focus on expands in your life so be rigorous about positive thinking habits.

•  Each week, create an hour of power: an activity that expands your imagination, or gives your heart joy or inspires you to celebrate life, within a mindset of gratitude.

In order to live your life with more vitality and satisfaction choose activities, that through daily practice, become your foundation for a healthy, balanced existence. If you focus on maintaining and increasing positive, personal energy on all four levels you will be receptive to enjoy the challenge, the rich purpose, the fun and the connection available to you in life's marathon!

Please email me if you have any questions, comments or require more information concerning the article or course information.

Upcoming Events:

Women's Spiritual Circle

Have you started on your spiritual journey? Do you want to? Would you like to increase your awareness, be more in touch with your spirit? Join us for the opportunity to share at a deeper level and experience higher levels of insight.

Please call to reserve your space for the March 1st circle. Location and registration are the same as the Women's Circle

Women's Retreats

A weekend intensive that provides a natural setting and personal discovery experiences to increase self-esteem, energy, self-nurturing and connection to other women who share similar challenges. Please call for information. Facilitators: Anne Bourke, Elizabeth Skronski

Anger Management Course

A 4 week group interactive course that provides self-awareness and understanding of your anger style, the purpose of your anger, naming your stressors, and practising constructive strategies to make changes at all levels: mentally, physiologically and emotionally.

The group provides benefits to frustrated parents, individuals stressed in work and social situations and individuals creating conflict and aggressiveness in their intimate relationships.

Please call for information. Facilitator: Anne Bourke