Energy States
The Energy State
Every analysis starts with recognizing that people are always in some kind of energy state. I like to think about an energy state as something that flows through the entire organism. Energy states don’t really fall into discrete categories like “sad” and “happy”. A useful but tricky exercise when thinking about energy states is to remember that they don’t have their own names but are patterns and tendencies. Some energy states are relaxed, open, flexible. Other energy states are tightly wound, strict, punitive, demanding. Some energy states involve overthinking and imagined negative consequences (anxiety). Some energy states are playful, others yearn for fun, others for sex and gratification. Some involve confusion, some creative speculation, some are organizing, some or prolific. You can think of energy states as related to moods, but I prefer to avoid the word mood because of the vague conceptions is conjures up. Energy states are more precise terms in NT.
The energy state animates the body as well as the mind and by extension affects a person’s behaviors (that we’ll call action sets).
Thinking and Narrative Style
To say that the energy state animates the mind is to say that the mind operates in conformity with the energy state. What does this mean? The way we see and react to the world isn’t consistent from time to time.
Imagine you see a baby crying at a restaurant. How do you predict you’d react? You probably can’t give a clear answer with certainty because the way we interpret a situation like that changes. Sometimes we think it’s annoying. We think about the rules of dining and start to wonder about the parents. Other times we think it’s a beautiful part of life and imagine how special the mother feels. Then other times we might reflect on the tasks the mother must have on her to-do list or the relationship the parents have.
The hypothetical illustrates a simple point: that the way we see, evaluate, judge, and elaborate on the things we see and experience is not absolute. It’s flexible, variable, and inconsistent. Our interpretations of events and the associations we make fluctuates. How we think changes. And it always changes together with the body.
Not only does our interpretation of an event change, everything we see changes, including the way we see ourselves, the way we see the world, the way we see our partner, our boss, our family members, our friends, the way we see the future (both immediate and distant), the way we see rival geo-political tribes, and more. We call these narrative key narratives. Some of these narratives operate in our conscious awareness, others operate below it. All these key narratives operate in concert with each other.
The sum total of our narratives (both conscious and not) create our worldview. The view we have is always projected out onto the world but we’re generally unable to appreciate the difference between our narratives-our interpretation of realty-and reality itself. The name we give to this projective layer of thinking is the saran wrap. Whether the saran wrap is a thing in itself or just a handy metaphor is an open question.
It’s important to note that people aren’t always in a state of active thinking. While eating or walking, thinking (and narrative activity) may not be activated, and yet, it could be triggered at the drop of a time. While eating, a dry piece of steak could suddenly activate a world of thought about how to prepare steak, one’s luck, the restaurant industry, etc. Such thinking will again be in harmony with the underlying energy state.
Body-Feeling Styles
Narrative styles are always mirrored in the body-feeling styles. The word body-feeling is used to capture both the physical sensations that emanate from the body as well as the experiences we typically call “feelings”. In NT, feelings aren’t things in themselves, but are comprised of specific narratives or narrative styles coupled with body-feeling styles. (Part of the ambiguity here is due to the various ways people use the word feeling, e.g., I feel sad vs. how do you feel about this painting vs. I feel dumb.)
Body-feeling includes tensions throughout the body including tension around the face, shoulders, stomach (which affects breathing rate, depth), chest, back, and legs; restlessness (i.e., rate of change in movement), eye gaze (intensity, duration, size of focal point) and eye shape, speed and intensity of movement, posture, vocal tone (pressure/intensity, rate of speech, prosody) and even word choice (e.g., cursing, eloquence, gentleness, precision).
Action Sets (Behaviors)
Energy states are also associated with behaviors. Since the energy state directs the body and mind, and by extension how we interpret a situation, it also influences how we respond. For example, your response to a perceived slight from a friend is different when the same comment is perceived as harmless banter. We respond to what we perceive, and what we perceive is dependent on our energy state.
Narrative Dynamics
Our point of view about things, including ourselves, don’t stay constant. They change with time as we relax and contract, and more interestingly, bump into other narratives. Politics, relationship conflicts, family conflicts, legal tension, social challenges, and work conflicts are all obvious examples of narratives rubbing against each other. In some situations, narratives can harmonize with each other, such as with 2 members of an in-group. In other situations one narrative will yield to the other. The key factor in which narratives dominates in a contest is certainty, or its inverse, self-doubt.
Miscellaneous
Whether the energy state is a separate thing from the body’s activity and mind’s activity or just the summation of them both is an open question. It’s my opinion that it is.