ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Friday, October 16, 2020
Emotional energy is potent, but we don’t harness that power to run a race car or light the factory – because it is like attempting to capture lightning – comes in brilliant, unpredictable flashes and gets spent, then vanishes in the night …
Which is not to suggest emotions are frivolous, or cannot be harnessed, because they are real – like lightning, but more often resembling static cling that makes a dirty sock cling to your pant leg.
We need to own them, but I am convinced from my own experience and what I observe in others that so much of our emotional energy is wasted, and I wonder why?
And, I wonder if we might harness it?
When we feel unspeakable joy, our endorphins must be raging, but how do we put that energy to work?
When we endure pain, suffering, loss, disappointment, or depression – our most excruciating of feelings, when we sob uncontrollably or wallow in our self-pity bucket, brain and body are raging with enough needed to bench press a car, leap a tall building in a single bound …
I’m not a mechanical person; I’m an emotional one.
I can’t conjure the right technical answer to dazzle engineers in the audience.
I, therefore, am confined to my skill sets in life and business and my emotions.
I’m a service provider in the real estate industry – which means I’m a negotiator on many fronts that have nothing to with measuring buildings, roof reports, environmental studies, or discounted cash-flow analysis because data-sets and software don’t transact business; people do.
But, fundamental to all that is emotional intelligence – being in touch with our own feelings and trying to best read the parties, to analyze what they are saying and what they are holding back. It’s a poker game of sorts, to reveal and to not reveal. It’s a fencing match, of thrust and parry, bob and weave, and duck.
Emotionally, the even keel, the steady hand and not blinking – duck is the perfect metaphor because while they sublimely move across the glass pond of still water, they are paddling furiously underneath.
What is on the surface is rarely an indicator of what is going on underneath, and no matter what intrusive questions we ask, we never know the whole picture.
We talk about disclosure, opening our vest, if you allow the metaphor, to reveal everything – and we don’t.
Reader feedback:
Tough days Mark, and no obvious plans for anyone at the moment. Just wanted to check in that you are doing okay? Your columns have been a bit reflective and a bit about loneliness, which is likely many of us are experiencing. Anyway, if you need a coffee, don't hesitate to call, GB, Calgary, AB
Well, well! have to say before this pandemic, the thought of leaving the light on for someone had not occurred to me much....only at odd times as I seem to always have things to do and places to go ... now things have changed we have to adjust. Limitations and restrictions , not my cup of tea. Of course there is still lot we can do but just the fact of being limited annoys me. Got to get over that. And it brings me to the point that now, would be nice to have someone to leave the light on for ... but at what price ? What other limitations? What other worries? One can never win ... or never know? And that is life, and it goes on. (love the idea of the lake front property but still not a solution) What is?? Only tomorrow might tell..... if we let it, DB, High River, AB
I noted that Musings arrives in my mailbox at 4:30 am. I have a few thoughts about leaving a light on . . . You really burn the midnight oil or you use technology to your benefit. I hope those down days are soon gone for you. BTW mood swings are fine and make the world go round. Walking at 5.30 am can be a great solver of problems. I prefer a few extra hours of REM sleep! And, I have a bit more prep to get out of the house and off to the office – I note you don’t spend much time on your hair!!, SB, Calgary, AB
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