The Holey Wine Barrel

Let’s continue our conversation on energy from last week. The crux of my previous email, titled “The Hidden Influence of Subtle Energy” is that the more you understand and experience energy firsthand, the more you realize its influence on every aspect of life, bringing about the need to guard one’s personal energy from external influences.

Guarding our energy involves preventing energy loss. We have a finite amount of energy each day, and once you understand its potential, you won’t want to waste it. The first step in preventing loss is to identify what is draining your energy and to what extent.

Let me share an analogy—one involving a wine barrel to help illustrate this. Picture a beautiful oak barrel you want to fill with very special wine. I’m no winemaker, but it’s obvious that one of the first things you’d do is make sure the barrel is absolutely clean. Next, you’d ensure there are no holes. After all, you wouldn’t dream of pouring precious wine into a leaky barrel. And if there were any holes, naturally, you’d want to plug them before filling it.

Now, imagine drilling a small hole in the side of the barrel. Naturally, a bit of wine would leak out. Add another hole, and even more escapes. The more holes, the more wine leaks. Life is quite similar to this. Think of your body as the wine barrel, and the energy within it as the wine. Each hole in the barrel represents a way your energy is leaking.

But what are these “holes” in life? Let me define them. An energetic hole could be someone who drains you energetically—an un-uplifting person, such as a family member, a toxic client or boss, a colleague, or an employee. It could also be unresolved emotional experiences buried in your subconscious—these are the worst energy leaks. Even things like a leaky roof that you’ve fixed multiple times yet remains an issue, the news you listen to, social media, or the clutter in your house can drain you. And don’t forget distraction itself—it’s one of the biggest drains on energy. Where awareness goes, energy flows, and if your awareness is scattered, so is your energy.

If you feel drained by someone or something, then it is a hole in your wine barrel. Each of these “holes” drains your energy. The bigger the hole, the more energy flows out. Small annoyances may cause a trickle of energy loss, while larger issues can lead to significant depletion.

Before we think about increasing our energy—through better sleep, diet, exercise, or a healthier lifestyle—shouldn’t we first address where we’re losing it?

Imagine trying to fill a bucket full of holes with water. No matter how much you pour in, it will never stay full. It’s the same with energy. You can eat well, sleep more, exercise, meditate—but if your life is full of energetic holes, you’ll continue to hemorrhage energy.

First things first: plug the holey wine barrel, then fill it with wine.

On the Hindu spiritual path to enlightenment, the first two steps involve lifestyle design, specifically focusing on establishing guidelines and practices to, first, prevent energy loss and, second, accumulate energy. This should always be a sequential process or, at the very least, done in parallel.

My question to you is: How many holes do you have in your life through which your energy is escaping?