Energy

Energy cannot be destroyed. If you are attacked, you cannot simply block the force that is hitting you or you will still get hurt. Energy is to be respected, understood and transformed. Without respecting it, you simply end up under-estimating it. Without understanding it, you won’t know how it functions and for what purpose it is there. Only after you know how to respect it and understand it will you then have the ability to transform it.

This form of transformation is existent in all forms of aikido, and traditional tai chi. Energy can therefore, be brought to a balance.

When applied to emotional management, it is about utilizing your energy that is moving in one direction and keep moving there so that you channel the momentum to get other things done. When everything seems overwhelming, you will have to see the pattern in the chaos and move through the gaps. This is where you will remain safe in the eye of the hurricane. The power in balance comes in the idea that if you tip over, you don’t just force yourself to balance the other way – allow the tipping to go as far as it needs because you are pivoted. While you have that center, pivoting will then allow you some leeway to go back to your original point eventually.

All resistance is energy, and all energy can be transformed. Without respecting and understanding, people can continue to resist you. Yet, the existence of the resistance brings out a strange paradox – if energy exists there and can be transformed, doesn’t that mean that I can have rapport and liking in the face of resistance?

The truth is that paradox surrounds us and is the essence of our ability to balance and see that the truth lies on the pivot, not in the scales.