Clearing The Glass: Freeing Energy From Old Programs And Dreams

Most leaders sense that energy, not time, is their real constraint.

They talk about being “maxed out,” “at capacity,” “out of bandwidth.” They promise themselves more rest, more holidays, maybe one day a sabbatical.

Those things matter. But underneath lies a deeper issue:

Your inner glass is already full – just not with what you want.

One high-rise, many worlds

Across different traditions, there is a common suggestion: the reality you and I call “normal” is only one world among many.

Some describe:

• A collective dream of the planet
• Parallel realities
• Energetic worlds that interpenetrate this one

A helpful image is a high-rise building:

• Most people spend their entire life on the 3rd floor.
• They work, love, suffer, and succeed there.
• They may never realise the building has 100 floors.

A small group – call them sorcerers, mystics, or deeply trained practitioners – discover:

• There is an elevator.
• They can choose another floor.
• They can travel with their awareness to other “worlds,” have experiences there, and bring back knowledge.

At advanced levels, some accounts even claim:

• The physical body can be moved to another “floor.”
• From the 3rd-floor perspective, it disappears.
• On another floor, it manifests as a different form.

Whether you take that literally or metaphorically, there is a sober takeaway:

Access to higher “floors” depends less on belief and more on available energy.

You do not need to become a sorcerer to benefit from this. But you do need to understand how your energy is currently bound.

Your glass is a closed system

Imagine your entire energetic life as one glass of water.

• Clear water is free, available energy. It is what you use to:
• Create
• Decide
• Be present
• Lead
• Dream and build
• Murky water is energy that is already committed. It is bound in:
• Chronic fears
• Old injuries and unresolved emotions
• Rigid beliefs about who you are and what is possible
• Repetitive mental loops and worries

The crucial point:

• The total amount of water in the glass is fixed.
• You do not get “extra energy” from outside.
• Energy does not disappear; it becomes bound or free, murky or clear.

When leaders say, “I have no energy,” what they often mean is:

“All my water is already engaged in other jobs.”

In this model, “getting more energy” is less about adding water and more about freeing water.

What makes the water murky?

The murky fluid is not mysterious. It is made up of:

• Concepts and mental constructions
• Filters and interpretations
• Old stories of “who I am” and “how life works”
• Emotional patterns you have not fully felt through
• Attachments to people, roles, or outcomes

Each one is an energy eater:

• Worrying about being left
• Resenting someone for years
• Clinging to an identity that is too small
• Replaying fears about your children, your career, your reputation

Every time you revisit these, you invest fresh drops of energy.
Those drops then belong to the murky part of the glass.

It is not that energy is missing. It is just busy.

Two strategies for cleaning the glass

If you have a glass full of dirty water and you want it clear, you have two theoretical options.

1. Endless fresh-water strategy
• Keep pouring in clean water.
• Slowly, the concentration of dirt goes down.
• Eventually, the glass becomes mostly clear.
  This is the “add more tools, more books, more practices” approach.
2. Empty-first strategy
• Remove as much of the dirty water as possible.
• Then fill once with clean water.
• The glass becomes clear much faster.
  This is closer to:
• Letting go of old attachments
• Facing and releasing old pain
• Dropping identities that no longer fit

Most of us do a mixture of both.

We keep learning and adding new “clean water,” but if we never address what is already in the glass, progress is slow and tiring.

Letting go means stopping the investment

“Letting go” is one of those phrases that loses meaning with repetition.

In the context of the glass, a precise definition is:

“I stop investing fresh energy into this structure.”

You are not asked to:

• Pretend the event never happened
• Erase your history
• Force yourself to think positively

Instead, you:

• Feel what genuinely needs to be felt at least once in a grounded way.
• Stop using the event as a constant source of identity and energy drain.
• Notice when you are about to pour new drops into an old fear or resentment, and gently step away.

The memory remains.
But it no longer consumes your liquidity.

Attachment, numbness and the useful middle

There is a spectrum in how we relate to experiences:

• On one end is attachment:
• Clinging, gripping, “I can’t let this go.”
• You think about it constantly.
• Huge continuous energy cost.
• On the other end is numbness:
• Feeling almost nothing.
• Saying “it’s fine” when it is not.
• No explicit cost, but no real clarity or learning either.

In the middle is interested observation:

• You see what is present.
• You allow feelings to move through.
• You don’t grab them with all your arms and hold them indefinitely.

From this middle stance:

• You still care.
• You are still touched by life.
• But you do not commit your entire energetic budget to any single storyline.

This is a core competence of Worldview-Agility.

When old issues resurface, you may not be going backwards

If you are sincere about your inner work, you will eventually say:

“I thought I had already dealt with this. Why is it here again?”

It is tempting to interpret this as regression.

Through the glass metaphor, a different picture appears:

• In earlier phases, you had limited free energy.
• You worked on an issue with a small shovel.
• You loosened and removed, say, the top 30 cm of material.
• As your glass becomes a bit clearer, you suddenly have more liquid energy.
• You can now afford a big excavator.
• You revisit the same area and go deeper.
• You discover layers that were invisible from the surface.

The disturbance you feel is real.
But it is a sign of capacity, not failure.

You are not back to zero.
You are working at a different depth.

Inner protection and the timing of excavation

Your psyche has its own intelligence.

When your energy is very low, it may:

• Restrict your emotional range.
• Keep certain memories or topics out of reach.
• Create a sense of artificial balance.

This is not self-sabotage. It is a protection mechanism.

As energy frees up:

• The barrier loosens.
• Material that was previously “behind glass” comes towards you.
• You feel less steady, but actually have more resources to work with what appears.

A workable belief here is:

“I will only be exposed to as much as I can, at some level, handle with the energy I have now.”

This does not mean you rush into every deep trench.
It means you respect both:

• Your current capacity
• The fact that what appears is often an invitation, not a punishment

A closed system with re-usable drops

One more nuance matters:

In this metaphor, your glass is a closed system:

• You do not get “more water” from outside.
• You do not throw water away.
• You reallocate drops from old uses to new ones.

Every time you:

• Stop fuelling a fear loop
• Stop clinging to a role
• Stop re-running the same resentment

…you free drops that can then be used to:

• Be genuinely present with your team
• Enter creative or strategic thinking with less resistance
• Explore “higher floors” of perception – more subtle, systemic, even trans-rational views

The total amount of energy in you was never the issue.
The binding pattern was.

Your glass, my glass, and the collective vessel

It is natural to think:

• “I’ll clean my glass, you clean yours.”

But if you look more closely, it may be that:

• There is one large collective glass of human consciousness.
• You experience one quadrant of it as “me”.
• As you clarify your quadrant, the overall field clarifies.

This has two implications:

1. Your work is not just personal.
• When you untie your own stories, you improve the signal for everyone you touch, including those who never think about these topics.
2. You will feel others’ sludge.
• Sometimes, your neighbour’s unresolved material spills into your quadrant.
• You can rage against this or, from a broader self, help clean what is spilling over.

This is not about self-sacrifice. It is about:

• Recognising that the boundary between “my water” and “their water” is more permeable than we think.

What a leader can actually do with this

You do not have to accept every metaphysical detail to benefit from this model.

Here are grounded moves you can make:

1. Name your top energy eaters.
   Once a week, write down:
• The 3–5 mental/emotional loops that consume the most energy.
• Decide which one you will consciously stop feeding for a week.
2. Reframe letting go.
   For a single recurring thought:
• Let the underlying feeling be felt once, properly, in a safe setting.
• Each time the loop begins, say internally: “I’m not investing in this today.”
3. Notice where you are attached vs numb.
   Ask:
• “Where am I gripping too tightly?”
• “Where am I not feeling anything?”
  Aim, when possible, for the middle stance of interested observation.
4. Use the portfolio metaphor with your team.
   Talk about:
• Projects or conflicts that no longer justify the energy they consume.
• The importance of freeing “liquidity” for new initiatives.
5. Respect the depth you are ready for.
   If an old topic is back:
• Assume it is here because you now have more capacity.
• Decide intentionally:
• Do I work with this now?
• Or do I park it consciously for a future phase?

As you steadily free drops, you may find:

• More ease in responding instead of reacting.
• More genuine curiosity about complex situations.
• Easier access to “higher floors” – perspectives that make your current challenges look different.

You may never arrive at a perfectly clear glass.
You do not need to.

It is enough to keep moving in that direction, drop by drop, freeing more of what has always been yours.

(This article was inspired by a Conscious Conversation with a dear friend & professional colleague on 26th September 2025.)(ID:CO|AF)