So much of life is reflecting on whether something is still serving you or not. For example, habits and mental shortcuts (heuristics) are necessary to navigate daily life. These habitual behaviors help to free energy or reduce the energetic cost required from interacting with one’s environment.  

However, this reliance on habitual modes of operating can be taken to the extreme; in the most extreme case, it would manifest as an aversion to novelty, which might, consequently, result in avoidant behaviors. The other extreme point, in contrast to an over-reliance on habitual processes, is over-dependence on seeking behaviors in pursuit of novelty.

The former extreme could be described of as someone who is “so set in their ways” that they are entirely too inflexible (or rigid) to adjust accordingly to the inevitable changes brought about by the course of time. Conversely, the latter extreme might resemble someone who is “always on the move” and, as a result, lacks any fixity (i.e., too flexible/loose).

Quantum mechanics teaches us that it is not possible to know both the position and speed of a particle (e.g., a photon or an electron) at the same time. This is known as Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.

If there is one thing known to be true of life, it is that uncertainty is to be expected. Consequently, when someone is flooded by torrents of uncertainty, such as in the case of a sudden job loss, death of a loved one, or a paradigm-shifting collective event (e.g., 9/11, the Covid pandemic, etc.), there tends to be a shift toward relying more on habits, routines, and other automatic actions and structures that reduce the total energy cost. This, in turn, results in an increase in the availability of free energy.

One approach could be to utilize this energy to aid emotional processing and to cognitively work on adapting oneself to be better equipped to traverse the landscape of the new reality. This requires an attitude of active engagement in both the inner and outer worlds.

Alternatively, the additional free energy could also be used to double down on automatic ways of being. This might look like someone “digging in their heels” about certain ways of doing things, specific beliefs, or the like. Regardless of how this allocation of internal resources takes shape, it serves the purpose of defense and fortification. In other words, the extra energy is spent on means and methods of protection from the outer world.

Each approach is adaptive, but only under specific conditions. It is adaptive to rely on habits and instincts when faced with events like natural disasters, which pose a clear and present threat to one’s self-preservation. Similarly, it is adaptive to direct the energy underlying seeking behaviors in pursuit of discovering better ways to handle and cope with the inevitable difficulties of life.

The challenge lies in evaluating when an approach has “run its course,” so to speak. That is, invariably there comes a point when the set of circumstances demands a switch in how the given problem or situation is being approached. Moreover, there is also a risk associated with continuing to implement the incompatible approach, primarily the danger of moving toward one of the two extremes: 1) becoming entrenched in automatic modes of being and diminishing one’s internal creative potential for adaptation and growth, or 2) becoming lost in the vast sea of potentialities that is opened by one’s creativity and losing touch with the concreteness of reality.

There is a need for both. There is a demand to hold the tension of the opposites, in the words of Carl Jung.

The key point is to examine both where one’s energy is directed (e.g., position/direction) and how that energy is moving (e.g., speed/acceleration). While it may be impossible to achieve this perspective from a physics standpoint, it is possible through introspection and self-reflection.

Questions to consider:

1. Are my thoughts focused on aspects of the outer or inner world?
2. In which areas of life does it feel like I am forcing my energy?
3. How much energy do I perceive as accessible to me, and what type of energy is it (physical/mental)?
4. Are there places where there is energy that feels trapped or stagnated – has it been blocked, or has it never been opened allowing for a flow?