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Radiance and the energy effect: why we all need it

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Radiance beamingRadiance is wonderful. It is diametrically opposed to dullness. To be radiant is to be like the sun, shining and sending out warmth everywhere. So what is it and how do we get it?

The key to radiance is love. For most of us, love is something that we perhaps mainly feel towards members of our family or a close friend. This is great but radiance needs more than that. Love needs to be inclusive, not exclusive. It needs to go beyond our immediate circle. Radiance extends to those we don’t know as well as those we do. Selfless love towards people we don’t know very well may seem a tall order. It may even seem rather unnecessary. It isn’t that difficult, though; not really. And the effects on our own life can be extraordinary.

Radiance and comfort zones

Each one of us creates a certain amount of protective space around us – comfort zones. Provided nothing radiance castle wallthreatens our comfort zone, we are fine. We have many comfort zones. Some relate to how we act in certain circumstances and others how we maintain distance from other people.

Why our comfort zones are counter-productive

A comfort zone provides a limit on how far we are prepared to extend our energy – and to a certain extent, too, how far we are prepared to receive energy from others.

When a comfort zone is threatened, the radiance from our own energy starts to withdraw. There is a “turning in” while we subconsciously draw the energy back towards us. As that happens, the amount of available energy for us to act plummets. Our light goes dull. Sometimes it completely goes out.

Extraordinary though it is, our habitual tendency to defend ourselves through our mental and emotional responses frequently works against us rather than for us.

Self defence

Sometimes, of course, some level of protection or some defence mechanism is desirable or even necessary. If we have injured ourselves, for example, we naturally guard against the injury being touched or knocked. At a more subtle level, an emotional trauma will usually result in some guardedness against anything that may carry the risk of further emotional pain.

Either way, the result is that our energy is not fully available – for ourselves or for others. To live life fully it is important that we restore our radiance as soon as we can.

Healing and flowers in the sun

Few people truly realise the extraordinary capability of their energy. Radiance can heal, bring comfort and help others realise their own potential. It helps to make a better world.

Some of the time we do well. But rather like those flowers that close up when the sun goes in, we are a little picky. Under certain circumstances we shine but when the conditions change, we close up – sometimes partially and at other times completely. Then we lose out. Energy level drops and the feel-good factor disappears.

What we really, really want

Deep down, we don’t want that. We want to be happy. So we need to learn how to reverse the tendency towards unnecessary self-protection. Instead of being black holes, we can be like miniature suns. We will have more energy, more fun and more joy in our lives. Radiance really is a no-brainer.

Adapted from Awakening Heart: The Blissful Path to Self-Realisation

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Heart essence can rejuvenate you

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Heart essence is a remarkable by-product. The body produces it when we love.

Our body’s chemistry changes as our moods change. The most beneficial effects arise when the mind is at its most positive. Just look at the radiance in the face of someone who loves. Something in the heart makes the countenance glow. Look at their eyes and see the sparkle. These are real bodily effects.heart essence joy

Love makes us younger

Love makes us younger; there’s no doubt about it. Love produces an elixir. Love increases the flow of qi (chi) in the body; it lowers blood pressure and increases our sense of well-being. The immune system becomes stronger because we are happier and so sickness occurs less often. Everything about the body works better when a person expresses love in its true sense.

Ojas

The natural radiance of a person who truly and deeply loves is very similar to that arising from ojas. According to the ancient health system of Ayurveda, ojas is said to be a very fine substance or secretion that arises through a combination of wholesome diet, wholesome activity and, most importantly, a wholesome state of consciousness. Certain factors can reduce this – tiredness, coarse speech, coarse thinking, excesses of any kind and anything that is unwholesome, for example. When ojas is present, it is said to give radiance to the complexion, a feeling of ease and sometimes the experience of bliss in the body.

Heart essence – the super-elixir

When we love, it is as though the heart centre exudes some special secretion – heart essence – which causes the body to function at its optimum. Gradually, we can develop the skill to produce this wonderful substance which arises not from any physical effort but from a very natural, if perhaps rather special, attitude to life. Whatever the biochemical constituents are is not important, nor does it matter for us whether there is one super-substance that is heart essence or the play of a combination of factors. We just need to know how to produce it.

From Awakening Heart: The Blissful Path to Self-Realisation

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Qi: the elixir of youth?

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There have always been tales and legends of an elixir that brings everlasting youthfulness. These are matched by qi rejuvenation chistories of the fruitless attempts to find it. Even today, consumers spend vast sums on countless products in the hope that using them will make them as fresh and young as a new daisy in the morning dew. But daisies, you may have noticed, don’t stay fresh and young for very long. Perhaps some creams and serums do give a temporary lift of some sort or the other. Or maybe it is just seductive marketing.

Rather than searching for the latest exotic substances to eat or drink or rub in our skin, maybe we already have what we need: qi (chi). This is our natural energy and it is influenced hugely by the mind.

Qi is strengthened or weakened by our thoughts

How the mind affects the body and our sense of well-being is quite extraordinary. A mind that is aggressive, for example, will cause the body to wear out more quickly than one that is calm. If we are in a negative state – worrying or fearful perhaps – notice how our sense of well-being takes a nosedive. Our thoughts have a very definite affect on the body’s responses.

The mind and its reactions to everyday life are the cause of most of our troubles. However they play out, stress and tension arise in the mind. Like a spiral, negative thinking always produces more negative thoughts. So any product we buy off the shelf is unlikely to provide the cure. If we want to improve our sense of wellbeing, we must look after the mind.

Is qi the elixir?

When our qi is strong and balanced, we have vitality. But what can we make of tales of an elixir? If the mind is the cause of producing many of the body’s ageing compounds, it must also be capable of maintaining, or at least prolonging, a more youthful state.

The Chinese regard qi, the vital energy of the body, as an elixir. They talk of a centre in the abdomen just below the navel, the lower dan tian, as being the ocean of elixir. Qi can build up very strongly in the dan tian. There are hundreds if not thousands of specific exercises (qigong, sometimes written chi kung) that can help to increase qi. This energy can then flow through the body and the internal organs, revitalising them.

Apart from the physical movements and breathing, the mind is also very important in this process. An exercise carried out with full awareness can increase the flow of qi enormously. The same exercise done inattentively or carelessly will have far less of an effect.

Rejuvenation: being younger for longer

People with strong, well-balanced qi tend to maintain strength, vitality and mobility for much longer than those whose qi is poor. Mind, body and breath can together build up our energy and improve the quality of life. This increase of energy and quality of life is sometimes attributed to a substance or elixir that is produced within the body. At a physical or clinical level, this substance may simply be the product of enzymes, hormones and biochemicals secreted by various glands. Whatever it is, how we think seems to hold the key to staying younger for longer.

Read much more on this in Awakening Heart: The Blissful Path to Self-Realisation

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Thinking too much is a loss of life

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Thinking – we can’t stop it but is that good or bad?

This may sound odd, but have you ever thought about your thoughts? From the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we fall asleep at night, we produce an endless stream of thoughts. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say “streams” of thoughts because there appears to be little relation between many of them. But each thought we have is preceded by a thought or an event of some kind – the phone ringing, perhaps, or someone speaks to us or we hear a noise – and produces another thought. It’s like perpetual motion but in the mind. If all that thinking was effective and productive, what amazingly efficient beings we would be!

A waste of time

Unfortunately, most of our thoughts are a waste of time and energy. If we observe what we are thinking about, thinking waste of energywe will probably find that at least 90% is about what has gone on in the past or what we think is going to happen in the future.

In thinking about the past, we might be reflecting on what has happened. How well did we deal with a situation? Why did someone speak to us the way they did? What made a neighbour act in a certain way? Maybe we reflect on a pleasant evening we had, and so it goes on. That’s human nature, isn’t it?

We also think about the future. What time we need to be somewhere, hoping something turns out ok, imagining how we are going to deal with a situation, how someone is going to react, looking forward to a holiday etc. It sounds exhausting and it is exhausting.

Thinking uses up energy

Thinking uses up energy. It uses up physical energy in the form of calories (a good thing, you might say) but unnecessary thoughts also dissipate our chi and other subtle energies. This results in our awareness lacking focus and coherence. Thinking can stir up emotions, too. Everything seems hunky-dory and all of a sudden our mind flits back to a painful event in the past – and whoosh – up come all the old emotions; or we start to worry about what might happen in the future.

All this is truly remarkable because the one thing we are not thinking about very much is what lies between the past and the future – now. All we have, ever, is the present moment. There is nothing else. Life is just an unfolding present moment, but if we are not present in the present, life is lost to us and we are lost to life.

There is more on this in The Great Little Book of Happiness, available here.

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Saying sorry can be very healing

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To err is human. So is saying sorry. We all make mistakes most days. Most of them are insignificant but if they affect someone else, we may feel a little (or very) uncomfortable. That discomfort is reflected in the energy of our body. Unless it is put right, we will be out of balance. Some say it’s karma, the universe paying us back. I prefer to think that we set up a disturbance in our energy system that will need redressing.

Putting things right

If we know we have done wrong or made a mistake in some way, we should try to put it right. That might simplysaying sorry out of order be making a sincere apology or it could be making amends in some way. By making a genuine attempt to put things right (and we cannot always do so) we inject positive energy into the memory and so help to heal a negative pattern.

But what if we can’t? It might be that we cannot do anything or apologise because we do not know or cannot contact anyone who was on the receiving end of what we did or said. Sometimes – and we’ve probably all been there – it may be that to say or do anything would make matters worse.

Saying sorry as a meditation

In those instances it can be helpful to visualise saying sorry. In other words, we imagine the other person in front of us and offer from our hearts a deep and sincere apology. Note the words deep and sincere. It is as though we are saying sorry from our soul or spirit. It is not an unburdening of guilt so much as the expression of a genuine desire to undo any harm we may have caused.

This is like a meditation – a focus of the mind to create a positive effect. Of course, the offended party is totally unaware of this process. But at a more subtle level, who knows what may go on? In ourselves, we shift what can be a huge energy block. That can heal us and because of that it can also help to heal relationships.

You are a recording star!

Here’s a thought – everything we do or say is being recorded. Our whole being is a recording instrument and what it records affects our energy at all levels.

How we think, speak and behave leaves an internal imprint. This in turn alters the flow of our energies. These dictate how we feel and react to people around us and our environment. They affect our mental state and therefore how we perceive things. Others can often sense whether our energy is positive and open or whether parts of us are closed off. So how we are inside will determine to some extent how others react to us.

If we are positive and reacting reasonably well with the world around us, our energies will tend to be more settled. We will feel happier and calmer. Conversely, if our energy pattern is chaotic, it will tend to draw us into situations where things often go wrong. Even sod’s law is not entirely without reason. So we need to avoid negative actions and negative ways of thinking. This is not an injunction to be angelic, but at least if we try to act and think ethically, we will be more comfortable with ourselves and life will be more enjoyable. Saying sorry when we have messed up is a no-brainer, then.

More on this in The Great Little Book of Happiness

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