In this Blog 19, we are considering MRR: Managing-Regulating-Refining Energy. We will explore how this process, MRR impacts us, others and our environment.
Let’s begin with getting deeper into the meaning of these 3 words.
Manage, according to Merriam-Webster (2024), is “ to handle or direct with a degree of skill, to achieve one's purpose”.
Regulate is ‘to govern or direct according to rule, to bring under the control of law or constituted authority or to bring order, method, or uniformity” (Merriam-Webster, 2024).
Merriam-Webster (2024) describes Refine as a process “to improve or perfect by pruning or polishing, to free from impurities or unwanted material, to reduce in vigor or intensity, to free from what is coarse, vulgar, or uncouth”.
From the above definitions, we can infer that managing is about agency, intention and accomplishment of tasks; regulation is to streamline and control for order; and refining is to purify. There is a very close link between these concepts, and yet they are different. We engage in Managing, Regulating and Refining most times, like when we drive our vehicles, or cooking or even when Blogging.
In Blog 18 (NG Musings, 2024), we viewed MRR in the professional and organisational contexts. Here, my case study evidences an individual’s journey of Managing, Regulating and Refining energy over time.
During my childhood and early adulthood, I was not aware of a separation between self, others and context. My growth processes and family Managed, Regulated and Refined energy inputs and outputs. This manner of MRR energy happens due to a close alignment of individuals’ in their family systems, where individual identities and goals are subsumed in the larger context.
In my next phase, as a housewife and mother, my energy was Managed, Regulated and Refined by the needs of my immediate family. Again, the I, You and our Context lines were blurred, not clearly defined and drawn. My feelings, thoughts and behaviours, indicators of energy inputs and outputs, were drawn by the requirements and demands of situations.
Exposure to Transactional Analysis 41 years back awakened my awareness. Yes, identity as an individual entity began lifting its head and consciousness of a sense of agency to be, to feel, and to do began emerging, and the journey continues.
As I am writing this Blog, an intense and deep experience of awe creeps in and settles. The evolution of this self is a fusion, splitting and realigning of multitudinous elements, persons, experiences, incidents, happenings and more- and each one of these has contributed to its growth, existence and subsistence.
So, I am all this, more and different from all these, and nothing- so where is the question of MRR energy???
Starting from nothing brings me to everything - No, I am not playing with words. Without a concrete individual identity, however, embodied with social and profession identities, I now proceed to reflect on Managing, Regulating and Refining energy for happy, peaceful and healthy living.
Let’s begin with a discussion on generating and expending of energy. All living being are born with the capacity to generate energy- being alive means we are continuously generating energy. Internal autonomous processes like respiration, digestion, circulation and the like, are about energy generation, utilization, and removal of unwanted materials.
More visible and tangible processes like behaviours, which are expressions of our internal states, generate energy using stimuli from inside us and our external environment; through communication and relationships we generate and expend energy. My experience and conviction are that we can intentionally Manage, Regulate and Refine our energy creation and expending processes.
The foundation for MRR energy is comprised of values and principles we have imbibed and continue to evolve through ethical reflections. Application and training Transactional Analysis, supported by Taichi and meditative practices keeps the foundation firm, strong and balanced.
Let’s briefly recall the 5 values and principles we have looked at in our previous blogs. Dignity, Self-determination, Health, Security and Mutuality are values supported by the principles – Respect, Empowerment, Responsibility, Protection and Commitment in relationships (ITAA, 2014). Grounding, centering and living these values, guided by the accompanying principles provides space and energy, to live with dignity.
Personally, professionally and organisationally, I had to Manage and Regulate my behaviours to anchor in these values. A simple example is while driving, I expect other drivers, riders and pedestrians to follow the rules, which does not happen; so, I honk loudly, and glare at errant individuals. The realisation that this expenditure of energy is draining, provocative, and a nuisance to other travellers has made me contain this behaviour. I am slowly, but surely developing HR (Human Resource) skills on the road, which is in turn making driving enjoyable. I find that most fellow travellers are apologetic after breaking the rules. Also, this change takes care of dignity of all populations on the road, self-included.
We are able with MRR, I have experienced, to brighten landscapes like the rainbow in Figure 19.4. Values and ethics are followed by contracts (Chandran, 2019, ), which are dependent on the different roles we play.
Contracts (Chandran, 2019.p.119) contain our goals, and processes to achieve them. It sounds easy, but simple and workable contracts are not that simple to make and carry out. As a driver, I realised my contract is to reach my destination safely; correcting others is not part of it. Repeating this goal within, continuously, brings awareness and responsibility, which helps Manage, Regulate and Refine my driving, thus ensuring a balance in flow of energy. Time and space are important variables to factor into contracting. In the case of my driving, need to be conscious of the road, my fellow travellers, and timing of my travel- this internal processing is MRR, captured in Figure 19.5.
We often hear individuals declaring ‘I am going to work on it or I going to work on myself’. Most often the work that happens I have observed is overthinking and circular thinking, which gets us into more knots. I have been there many a time and deeply feel for the humanity struggling with their own shadows.
Dear Readers,
We are now closing this vast and mysterious topic energy and MRR.
I am offering Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati’s pearls of wisdom to provide a glimpse of how Managing, Regulating and Refining impacts Self-Others-Environment.
“The basic truth rests on this: there is only One and not a second. If there is someone to be punished, it is only you. If there is someone to be corrected, it is also you. ‘You’ means ‘me’. In my personal life, I correct the other by correcting myself. I punish the other by punishing myself. I silence the other by going into silence myself. I bring peace to the other by making myself peaceful. I bring happiness to the other by making myself happy. It is a very intimate experience, to work with one’s self. And it is the one place where you can conveniently work, where your volition, your knowledge and your feeling are all at hand, at the very source from which the ideal ‘I’ comes” (Yati,2003. p.407).
It’s a long quote, which didn’t feel right to cut short.
We will process in Blog 20 the roles in life, from where we begin MRR.
I sign off, requesting your wishes for Nitya Gurukula to successfully deliver
The International Taichi Conference ITCC 2024, in the august presence of Dr. Paul Lam.