Overdrawing your bank account
Imagine you get a letter that says your checking account is overdrawn. Shocked, you contact your bank and find out that the last check you wrote was more money than you had in your account. You get charged an overdraft fee, a returned check fee, and fees from the business you wrote the check out to. In order to avoid these penalties in the future, you watch your account balance more closely. Do you manage your energy level this carefully?

Overdrawing your energy level
Managing finances is similar to managing your energy level. When you repeatedly overspend your energy, you become exhausted and simple tasks leave you feeling totally depleted. Just like writing checks for more money than you have in your account, pushing yourself beyond your limits will get you penalties, too: you become extremely fatigued.

Severe penalties for overdrawing your energy
You feel penalized when you require days or even weeks of rest to recover from simple tasks. Sitting up and watching a movie leaves you tired for hours. And with the fatigue comes more pain. More pain keeps you from resting deeply and you get even more fatigued. Knowing how your fatigue started helps you to develop more energy replenishing practices.

How your energy level become depleted
Sometimes the fatigue is the result of a long illness that drains your vitality. Or you get depleted because of pushing yourself too hard.

Ignoring the warning signs of fatigue
Chronic fatigue can also be the result of years of ignoring and pushing past your body's signs of fatigue. You used caffeine, tobacco, and/or medications to get beyond your tiredness. You use willpower to squeeze even more energy out of your body until you couldn’t move any longer. You need to start making more deposits to recover from your chronic fatigue.

Many deposits help to restore your energy
If you have been exhausted for months or years, you need to make continual deposits over a long period of time to replenish your energy level. How can you do this if simple activities are draining too much energy? You need some simple methods for increasing your energy.

Listening to your body helps rebuild energy
Paying closer attention to what gives you energy and what takes energy helps you to make better choices.

Stop using food or medications as a quick fix
Food, stimulants, or medications often end up draining you and masking what you really need to restore your energy. By allowing yourself feel your tiredness, you can begin to understand what your body really needs—which helps you to make better choices that increase your energy.

Making deposits in a new way
Learning different ways to receive energy helps you to rebuild faster. Here is a simple breathing technique to increase your energy.

Breath of Replenishment Exercise
Feeling your tiredness is an important part of increasing your energy. Set aside a block of 20 minutes for this exercise.

How tired are you?
Start by assigning a number for how much or how little energy you have. “0” would represent no energy, “2” would represent some energy for simple tasks, “5” would represent several hours of energy, and “10” would be full of energy.

Creating a quiet space to receive
Turn off any electronics like TVs, computers, or radios to create a quiet setting. Make yourself as comfortable as possible with pillows or blankets. Having live plants or flowers nearby can help with this exercise. You can sit or lie down.

As simple as breathing
Start by inhaling slowly and naturally. As you inhale, make the quiet sound of “Ahh.” You are focusing on receiving the most healing and nourishing energy—especially where you feel tiredness.

Receiving and relaxing
When you exhale, make a longer sound of “Ahh.” The exhale can be several seconds. As you exhale, allow your body to soften and relax. Continue inhaling and exhaling with the sound of “Ahh” for the time you have set aside.

Thoughts and sensations are normal
During this exercise, you may have lots of thoughts in your mind. You may feel sensations of warmth, tingling, or even more discomfort. This is normal. If you are not in too much discomfort, come back to inhaling and exhaling while making the sound of “Ahh.”

What changed in your energy level?
At the end of 20 minutes, assign a number to how little or how much energy you have. You can also write down any thoughts or sensations you experienced during the exercise.

Daily deposits rebuild your account
I recommend that you practice this every day for a week. Each day, increase the amount of time you set aside by a few more minutes. Over the week, you may notice a significant increase in your energy level. Continue using as long as you see a benefit.

Crash comes from wanting to get too much accomplished
When some of my clients get a little energy, they feel that they have to get as much done as possible before it runs out. They push and push themselves beyond their limits and end up crashing. Stop yourself before you use up all your energy. Listening closely to your body helps you to recharge.

Recharging your body
You can avoid the push-push-crash cycle by listening to how your energy level changes with different activities. At the first sign of feeling tired, foggy, or drained, pause for a few minutes. Do your inhale and exhale exercise. Give yourself the time to replenish before you drain your energy.

Wisely managing your energy account
Managing your energy is just like managing your bank account. You can avoid draining your energy, the days of recovery, and increased pain by listening to your body's limits and making daily deposits in your energy account. You can rebuild your energy and return to normal activities by replenishing your energy account.

Gregory Lee is a licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, and Master Sufi Healer in Maryland. He is co-founder of the Two Frogs Healing Center in Frederick, Maryland. He has helped clients to reduce their pain and fatigue through the Five Step Fibromyalgia Healing System. You can download free articles and other resources on healing fibromyalgia at the website www.twofrogscenter.com/.

NFA News
NFA Unveils “FM Pledge to Care”