Have you checked your speed lately? This is something that comes quite naturally when driving, but how often do you check in with your own personal pace or speed through life? And is the pace you are going one of your own choosing, or is it being determined by outside factors?

I expect most of you are familiar with the following scenario: You are driving along the road feeling relaxed and at ease, when suddenly you become aware of a car behind you inches from your rear bumper, and who’s driver is expressively displaying their frustration with your leisurely speed. If you are particularly sensitive to energy you will even feel that frustration in your body.

How do you respond to the force of energy behind, willing you to accelerate to a speed that is acceptable to that person?

The above scenario is just one example of how we can become caught in the energy of a prevailing trend that appears to require an increase, or maybe even a decrease in our personal pace.

Perhaps you are in your 40’s or 50’s, working in a high-energy, corporate environment where your immediate supervisor is some 20 years younger than you. You can recall having that much energy, drive and enthusiasm when you were in your 20’s, but attempting to match their pace now feels uncomfortable to you.

At the end of each day, you find yourself exhausted from the stress of trying to keep up. You retreat to your home with little or no energy left for yourself or those around you.

Or conversely, you go to visit your elderly parents who would like your help with sorting some “stuff” in their basement/attic/storage shed. You envision tearing through the boxes, files and drawers, moving mountains and accomplishing a complete spring-cleaning in the time you have available, only to find that they are unable to handle the pace you are setting and only a fraction of the goal is accomplished.

You become the frustrated driver behind you!

These are all examples of where we are being called upon to match energy with our surroundings and, although, the above examples are mostly age-related, it is important to recognize that similar experiences can be found within peer groups.

Matching energy is something we all do, mostly unconsciously, from the moment we are born. It is how we create communication, relationships and find common ground with our fellow human beings. It is about tuning into a vibration of energy, kind of like tuning into a radio station that you enjoy.

But when you are done listening to that radio station, do you remember to turn it off and tune back into yourself, to your own unique wavelength.

In general, we are not taught how to do this. We simply learn to accept that matching energy is a part of life, that the dominant energy vibration, or prevailing trend, can and will take over and we forget that we even have our own unique energy level or vibration.

This can result in perhaps listening to many radio stations at one time and travelling at speeds determined by outside sources.

Even the concept of having your own pace may seem strange, and yet it is vital to your health and wellbeing, and a determining factor in your ability to live your life and achieve your goals, that you find and reconnect with your own vibration, your own pace.

Although there are certainly times when you need to adjust your pace to that of someone or something else in order to successfully navigate your journey, it is equally important to be able to consciously recognize what you are doing and re-adjust to your own pace when the task at hand is completed!

Meditation and healing are two simple methods of reconnecting with yourself – of tuning out all the other radio stations, voices, prevailing trends – and re-establishing your seniority and setting your own pace through the journey of your life.

You can get off that runaway train!