Constant energy leakage is an important reason for not making "progress" in our spiritual quest.
We do so much to build our energy reserves - eating the right way, getting enough sleep and rest, and engaging in prānayāma, meditation, and other contemplative practices...
As those who do this know, it takes tremendous discipline and effort. And so the energy we cultivate this way is precious. The logical thing to do is to conserve it.
However, we continuously lose these hard-gained reserves, where the energy body becomes like a sieve or colander.
Here are some examples:
1. Needless talking. Unless there is a need to talk, learn to be quiet.
2. Endless justification of your view and behavior. Notice that if someone wants to convert to your view, they will without your endless explanations. And your endless explanations won't make a difference if they don't. Refer to #1.
3. Entertainment. TV, movies, etc., can be very useful to build your energy reserves - if you know how to use them favorably. If things bother or agitate you, throw you into emotional turmoil, or waste your time, avoid them.
4. Unskillful Social Media use. Social media can support energy cultivation or drain you from it. Arguments and debates drain you even when you "win." See #2, #3 and #1.
5. Constant engagement with the news and current events. Well, you know how this one drains you.
6. Multi-tasking. The mind can only do one thing at a time. When we try to do more than one thing, there's a constant flitting of attention between them, wasting tremendous energy and ending up with suboptimal results in all areas. Become single-pointed.
7. Giving unsolicited advice. See #1.
Plenty of other "holes" in the sieve need to be plugged.
The point is to become energy efficient - expending the least energy to do what needs to be done. Paradoxically, this is how things are done extraordinarily well!
Plugging energy leaks ensures a continuous increase in reserves. This is when significant shifts happen, and the mystical begins to permeate the mundane.
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