Who’s In Charge of Your Energy? - Spleen Meridian and Self Nurturance
Who’s in charge of your energy? You or everyone else? I’m here to say: It’s all you.
You can decide how your energy is spent (I have to remind myself of this often) and how it is restored. It’s a beautiful thing when that tipping point happens and you ‘get it’ that YOU are truly the only person that will take care of you. So, you’d better start paying attention!
I’ve learned that each of us need to take care of ourselves because when we don’t it ends up impacting everyone around us. Especially those that are closest to us and we care deeply about. For instance, when I’m not getting enough sleep, or fulfilling everyone else’s needs & ignoring my own, or my thoughts are running those negative tapes, I end up with a headache & snapping at my kids and then the downward spiral happens from there.
On the flip side, if I am working on how I can take care and nourish myself, that also leads to a ripple effect--impacting everyone around me, but in a positive way. I am more playful, I can laugh at myself and have a grounded perspective. That grounding thing is helpful when you have everyone’s energy coming at you from all sides. Helps you to stay connected within yourself and not get pulled into everyone else’s stuff!
So in terms of care for self--there’s ‘the awareness’, ‘the knowing’ and then ‘the doing’. There is it again, that dang process. Even when I am ‘aware’ and ‘know’, it doesn't mean I always ‘do’! That is the key place where self-compassion comes in. Oh this is a biggie and can be so difficult to do sometimes. At least for those of us who have this ‘recovering perfectionist’ thing going on. We want to be at the end, done, accomplished, achieved, checked off! I get it! It’s that journey and the process, where little by little, keeping the clarity of how you want to feel, your own north star, in the forefront of your mind and taking action steps to get there, that it slowly shifts and you are having more grounded moments than snappy ones.
The queen energy meridian of nurturing in our body is the Spleen meridian, AKA ‘The Mother of the Body’. How helpful to know that we can work with this energy system to help build this muscle of taking care of ourselves! In Chinese Medicine, each meridian governs a group of patterns or functions relating to the physical organ, emotional feelings and other aspects in the body system.
A couple interesting things about the Spleen Meridian in Chinese Medicine Five Elements…
Yin meridian of the Earth Element
Governs the spleen, pancreas organs, involved with thymus, lymph, lymph nodes, tonsils, bone marrow
Oversees blood supply, metabolism, homeostasis, production of antibodies, and distribution of nourishment throughout your body
Governs emotions of compassion for self (we were just talking about this!!)
Metabolizes our experiences, substances, thoughts
Helps us adapt, transition