Get on the Energy Bus!

Were you able to reflect on your life and pay attention to opportunities that needed another’s voice? I hope you were able to take action to make life better for someone in your life.

Don’t forget these words of Martin Luther King, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon has been my latest read and seems to fit into everything I’m thinking and feeling these days. He writes in a story format about the “10 Rules to Fuel your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy.” The book is an international best seller that reads easily and takes you on an “inspiring ride” which reveals 10 secrets to fuel your life. You cannot help but shake your head affirming his points, laugh at some of the craziness we experience in life, and smile with the sage advice from, Joy, the bus driver.

“Everyone faces challenges. And every person, organization, company, and team has to overcome negativity and adversity to define themselves and create their own success.” No one goes through life untested and the answer to these tests is positive energy – the kind of positive energy that consists of the vision, trust, optimism, enthusiasm, purpose, and spirit that we can all possess. 

This past week has been another troubling time in all of our lives. The one positive from all of this is that people are finally beginning to really talk. That talk has been more on a personal, face-to-face basis, hearts are being shared, and people truly want to make a difference. I have found myself floundering a little lately as to what I should be doing, how can I make a difference, how can I impact people’s lives in my own way? I will say, these blogs have been cathartic for me as I can share my thoughts. Writing gives me an opportunity to get out some of my own fears, frustrations, worry etc. What can YOU do to handle all this craziness in our world?

I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason. From every person we meet, every event in our life, to the timing of an opportunity etc. it’s all supposed to happen the way it happens. As Jon Gordon references in his book, “Always remember that you are the driver of your bus.  It’s the most important of the rules because if you don’t take responsibility for your life and control of your bus then you can’t take it where you want to go. If you’re not the driver, then you’ll always be at the whim of everyone else’s plans.”

When we are feeling out of control, things appear to be happening TO us, the world seems to be “falling apart,” our country seems to be “out of control”, we seem to have a huge division between whites and blacks, between police and blacks, we don’t feel safe even in our own towns etc. etc. All these feelings are legitimate, they are real, and they seem overwhelming at times. I have found I needed to sit down in my own quiet moments to figure out how I can get my own “bus” back in alignment with what I believe. I believe there is far more good than evil in this world, I believe that all people, in their hearts, no matter the color of someone’s skin, their religious beliefs, etc. they all want the same basic things in life.

“Our thoughts are energy therefore they are powerful! Thoughts are magnetic. What we think about we attract. What we think about expands and grows. What we put our energy and attention on starts to show up more in our life. And the energy we project through our thoughts is the energy we receive.”  It’s important then that we spend our time thinking about what we DO want rather than what we don’t. Do you want to resolve that conflict with your spouse, your team at work, your child, your parent? If you can only think about what someone has done to “hurt” you, then you will only get more hurt back. If you spend your time focusing on what has gone well, what YOU can do to change the communication then things will begin to change.

Recently, I was sharing with my niece, Jessica, a few of these concepts; “what you focus on expands,” living a daily life of gratitude etc. as she was studying for the MCAT’s and feeling overwhelmed.  In The Energy Bus, Gordon had an equation:  E + P = O.

 Events + perception = outcome. “We can’t control the events in our life but we CAN control how we perceive them and our perception and response to the events determine our outcome. The P can also stand for positive energy.”

Keep in mind when I refer to positive energy and what Gordon writes in his book, we’re NOT talking about the fake kind that masks negativity and is super annoying to others. “We’re referring to real positive energy that helps you overcome obstacles and challenges to be able to create success. It’s about trust, faith, enthusiasm, purpose, joy, and happiness.” This type of positive energy inspires and leads others!

We can’t control waking up to one more tragedy half way across the world or events right here in our own country. We can be present with our fears, sadness, anger etc. but that should only be temporary. It is not a solution nor does it get us moving forward. It only puts us in a negative place. Where there is a void, negativity will fill it. That means we MUST get ourselves back on track with positive energy that will FUEL our positive energy. “We must fuel up with positive thoughts, cultivate positive feelings, and take positive actions.”

Did you know that it’s physically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time? Being grateful “floods the body and brain with positive endorphins and emotions!” That IS in our control. “There will always be negativity everywhere and in everything we do. We will always be surrounded by negative people. It’s not these people so to speak. It’s the negativity they represent. They are just one of many we each will come across.”

As Gordon explains, “Life is a test. Every adversity helps us grow. Negative events and people teach us what we don’t want so we can focus our energy on what we DO want.”

There are questions we all can ask ourselves when we encounter tragedy, life’s challenges, and negativity etc.:

·       What can I learn from this challenge?

·       What is it teaching me?

·       What can I do to make a difference from a negative to a positive?

The lessons we learn will make us stronger, wiser, and better.

I wish you a week of reflecting on your emotional IQ. Feed the positive mindset even in the face of all the negativity that seems to be inundating us from all around. You CAN “feed the positive!”