“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
― Aristotle
The journey I am on drives me toward a complete and total understanding of myself, my thoughts, my emotions, and my capability for physical expression. Though I will never get there (there is no true endpoint) I am endlessly intrigued by the knowledge and strength I am gaining.
Most everything I have learned has come from increased awareness of the moment, increased introspection after the moment, and speaking only if I have questions to ask or value to provide.
I am by no means the most aware or enlightened individual, however, the pursuit has taught me a great amount about myself. You will be the only one who can introspect on the benefits to you.
What is the flow of your energy throughout the day?
The term “Energy” has come to mean a lot of different things in the health and wellness space. For this conversation when I say energy I am using the dictionary definition of ‘the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.’
With this definition in mind revisit the question above.
As you move through your day how much energy do you have for physical activity?
How much do you have for mental activity (for most of us this is work-related)?
When do you tend to have the most energy for these activities and when do you have the least?
When you wake up in the morning how do you feel?
How do you feel before eating?
How do you feel after eating?
How do you feel at the end of your work day?
How do you feel in the evening hours up until bedtime?
For the next week, I want you to write down your answers to the questions above. Take note of your trends over the week. Then you can start to notice how these trends affect you. Do you have more productive days and less productive days? If so, do these days align with higher or lower energy days?
I also want you to notice what habits and behaviors you have that align with your energy levels. These can be positive or negative. Right now is not the time to decide rather it is a time to notice.
Our energy levels are affected by stimuli both inside of our body and in the environment around us. Food, water, light, temperature, physical, and mental activities all can increase or decrease our energy. Paying attention to the stimuli that provide you with energy and the ones that take away from your energy is essential if you wish to improve how you feel, perform, and recover.
For this week I am intentionally not providing answers to the questions I am asking. All I want to do here is have you notice and next week we will start to discuss what is typical rhythms and the stimuli that bring our energy up and down.
Movement is Medicine. Food Is Fuel.
One Day or Day One the Choice is Yours
Andrew Cataldo CSCS
Director - Performance Division
andrew@primarypreventionpt.com
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