A life worth living is a life worth reflecting on. Having reflected on my past year, I realized that I have done far less in my exploration of poetry and art in the last year than what I aimed to do. I hope that I can be able to do everything I set for myself to do in this coming year. I hope sincerely that I will have the energy to act on all the different level of being. I have set objectives on a physical, mental, psychic and spiritual level. In accord with my life philosophy I am not pushing for a singular focused objective but rather to live a well-rounded life that consider all spheres of life and where personal life and engagement with others are balanced. Time and energy are the two constraints that must be optimally managed. I have not always managed to keep this balance. There is always some level of sacrifice that needs to be made. Often when one’s energy is low the strongest intent can be wasted. The starting point is healthy living for it is within the body that we gain the benefit of the energy we need to progress. Basic things like diet, drinking water and proper sleep is always key to the success of holistic living. We deny these only to our detriment and no lifestyle that does not consider these can be sustainable.  But energy is more than just the physical, a large portion of our energy comes from our thinking. It is easy to allow energy to waste away through bad thinking habits that remain caught up in negative cycles or that lacks enthusiasm. I focused on the virtue of enthusiasm last week and the one thing I realised  again that when we are interested in what we do, when we are enthused we have more energy. So even if our body is fit and well looked after we loose energy through our thinking processes. A core focus for me this year will be to conserve energy through right thinking rather than entertain thought processes that leak energy.  We must understand the body and its functioning as the foundation or fountain of our energy and internal resources … our other faculties does not generate energy but can either be a leak or the result of the application of energy. Following alchemical principles we can not even stop at our mental processes. We can also loose energy through our psychic body, especially if we allow our emotional self free reign unchecked by reason and completeness of joy. Our energy management is as important, if not more important, than time management. So often people focus on goals and objectives but fail in managing there energy and I am willing to waiver a stiff bet that the reason people fail is not a lack of intent but rather a lack of energy.  For many that do not live in accord to the basic requirements for a healthy body do not generate the right energy while others that do so allow energy to be wasted through leakage. The objective of energy management will be twofold in purpose. Firstly to generate energy and secondary to ensure the proper conditions to optimally use the energy created and continually refine our energy resources to finer substance. The higher we can lift the energy by purifying it the more potent that energy becomes. Energy on a physical level are compressed to a higher level and more pure energy on a mental plane and the even concentrated further on the psychic plane. Thus properly managed energy increases the work that can be done with that energy. The same energy on the physical level can not accomplish what can be achieved when it is concentrated on a mental level.  In the past years I have learned much about energy generation and conservation but this year my aim and focus will be on the refinement of my energy for higher order work.