[To view a video of this blog post, please click here: http://bit.ly/BeAnEnergiser]

Sunday’s blog post featured Salt Water Mum’s suggestion that we should be cautious about the energy people bring into our homes. Leah has also shared about how we can be the ‘go-to-person’ to reflect our unique abilities, gifts, or talents. These ideas have inspired me…

Last week my space was invaded.

A being from another age visited my messy office, accompanying her wonderful mother. At 5 years of age, she-who-shall-remain-nameless, is my new Bestie. I’m not sure what this hurricane of happiness was wired into, but I know that I want some.

In two short hours, she taught me much about how to become an Energiser.

Firstly, I learned that there is a currency more precious than gold when it comes to relationships: attention. She got mine, full on. Children want quality attention AND quantity attention… and we are all children.

Secondly, I learned the joy of being an encourager. It still puzzles me at nearly 60 that people say of me, in my presence, “Oh, don’t encourage him!” “WHAT???!!!” That’s the main art we should all dedicate ourselves to going into the 21st year of the 21st Century! My Stella Nova got all the encouragement I could muster, and let me say her chief delights were the words, “Bum,” and, “Wee.”

Thirdly, I learned to be an Idea Amplifier. All her ideas were fair game, I thought, even though many were potentially inappropriate for an adult audience. I learned to ‘amplify’ her ideas by saying, “Yes… And…” to them… ALL of them! We all know how horrible it feels to have an idea crushed by a boring adult or a jealous peer.

Fourthly, I stayed Open to her ‘map of the world’ even though it was very strange when compared to my own. Children are open-minded, and that’s a world-view that I wish to nurture and celebrate in my own life.

Finally, she liked my Unique take on many of her ideas – like being Leah’s ‘go-to-person’ – I was the go-to-person for improvising very rude songs!

What am I saying today? Let’s make it our ambition to be an Energy Provider in people’s lives – The Energiser. Our powers are five-fold. We can pay attention, encourage them every step of the way, amplify their ideas by saying, “Yes… And…” to them ALL, stay curious and open-minded so that we can see the world through their eyes, and be prepared to invest our own unique abilities in their well-being.

Truth be told, after two hours, I had to go and lie down in a darkened-room in the quiet… but for two hours I gave my utmost to add fuel to an already incandescent flame.

“Come on Baby, Light My Fire!”

Lex

A Moodscope member.