What if your recovery had less to do with what you do—and more to do with how you show up energetically?

In this final episode of the GRACE series, Michael explores Energy—the “E” in his transformational healing model—and introduces the 7 Levels of Energy that influence how you feel, how you lead, and how you recover. Whether you’re stuck in frustration or striving for joy, this practical framework helps you become more aware of your inner ripple—and how it impacts your healing and others around you.

• Discover how to identify and shift between the 7 distinct energy levels.
• Learn why no level is “good” or “bad”—and how even frustration can be fuel.
• Try a 1-breath exercise that helps you enter every room or Zoom with more intentional energy.

Take a deep breath and explore the energy you carry, the ripple you create, and the power you have to shape your recovery—one conscious moment at a time.

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With Whole Again: A Fresh Approach to Healing, Growth & Resilience after Physical Trauma through Kintsugi Mindfulness listeners explore resilience through personal stories of trauma, scars, and injury while learning to overcome PTSD, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and perfectionism with self-compassion, self-love, and self-worth. Through insightful discussions on stress management, mindfulness practices, and digital wellness, the show offers practical tools like breathwork, micro-dose meditation, grounding techniques, visualization, and daily affirmations for anxiety relief and stress relief. Inspired by the art of kintsugi, the podcast embraces healing as a process of transformation, encouraging a shift in perspective from worry and being overwhelmed to gratitude and personal growth. By exploring the mind-body connection, micro-dosing strategies for emotional well-being, and holistic approaches to self-care, this podcast empowers listeners to cultivate emotional resilience and live with greater balance and intention.

 In this episode, you'll discover seven levels of energy and how they impact your ripple effect.

Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again. A show about helping survivors of physical injury and trauma reclaim their strength and resilience through the wisdom of kazuki. Today we're talking about the letter E. The E and my Grace framework that helped me get through my recovery. And E represents energy.

I hit pause for a variety of different reasons, and now I'm bringing them back. They're free. They come a few times a week, so I don't overwhelm your inbox, and they happen to be just the right message you need at that particular moment. So if you'd like to receive them, send me a text to 8 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4.

I'll share that number one more time. 8 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4, and receive a nice reminder on how to feel whole again. Alright, now let's dive in to those seven levels of energy. When I was a kid, we would often visit my grandmother who lived in New Hampshire. She lived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, so we called her Grammy in the mountains.

Pretty clever, right? Well, she had a pond on her property. It was where I learned how to fish, and it was also the place where I had my first physics lesson, and it was all about energy. You see? I spent hours gathering stones near that pond and skimming or skipping them across the water. You see, I was trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most rock skips or skims.

I got all the way up to 14. But here's the thing. The gist Book of World Records is 88. I was a bit short, but I still love the concept of energy. In fact, I later discovered that as humans, actually everything around us we're all energy. Now, some people will call it. Your juju or your vibe, whatever you happen to call it, your energy matters.

In fact, when you think about community, which is the sea and the grace model, which we discussed last week, well, as they say, your vibe attracts your tribe. Your energy matters, and the energy of your tribe also matters to your overall health. And the concept of energy may be a little bit woo woo, but. I know you felt it.

You can feel it when you go to a concert or a sporting match, or even when someone comes onto a Zoom or a Microsoft Teams or simply walks into the room and you feel it. The air seems different. Something changes, even though no words are spoken, and that energy ripples into you, it could make you feel worried or anxious, although it could make you feel safe.

Feel like you're loved. You can feel compassion. That is energy. That's our ripple effect, and since we're going through something, whether it's injury or illness, or even surviving trauma, our nervous systems are finely tuned. So being very intentional about the spaces that we're in. Those around us. Again, going back to community, that community's ripple effect impacts our recovery, but we also have a responsibility.

It's good relationship hygiene to be mindful of what kind of ripple we're putting out into the world. Ultimately, what we carry, and we happen to carry a lot, we share. For the first 10 years of my recovery, I focused in on this grace framework I've shared with you over the last several weeks, and I would reflect on the ripple effect I was putting into the world.

It's simply data. It gave me a way to talk about energy in addition to my ripple effect analogy and the stories of me being a little adorable boy skimming stones at my Grammy in the mountains farmhouse. So here they are. Level one is common for folks like us who have gone through something. It's the why me level.

There's a lot of different emotions at level one. In fact, with all the different levels, there are emotions and thoughts and actions that are tied to each one. Again, one level isn't better than the next. It's just good to know how we're showing up and at what level, because that's the energy that we bring into the situation.

So at level one, we're not doing much. We're worried we might wish to curl up on the couch. We try to get smaller. We don't move now at level two. The emotions tend to change. There's more conflict, there's some anger, there's some blame, there's a little resistance, there's some frustration, there's a little bit more fight.

So this is the fight. In the fight. Flight level one might be the flee. Level two is the fight. Now this energy, and we might have, as some would say, unpleasant emotions tied to it. This energy level, level two can get us moving. And once we start moving, then different emotions come up, different thoughts, and it has this circular effect.

Now once we're moving, we have different thoughts. Now the flywheel is turning. So level two, even though we might look at anger or frustration as negative, that energy can be used in a very positive way. Level three is the make lemonade out of lemons. It's a little bit of coping. It's, we'll get through it.

It's Robert Frost. The only way through is through, and this is a good neutral level of energy between the catabolic energy of level one and level two, and the more anabolic or building energy of level four through seven, which I'll share here in a second. Level four. This is where all the caregivers reside.

This is love, compassion, empathy, service, caring. How can I help? Energy? Level five is about opportunity. We see the wins in it. We see gratitude. We have curiosity. There's more flexibility. There's more open to possibilities. At level five, great companies, great company cultures, have a lot of level five in them.

At level six, things really start getting good. There's flow, there's intuition, there's joy, there's connection, there's synchronicity. Things become easier. And at level seven, this is where absolute passion sits. There's nonjudgment, there's unconditional love. We don't really hang out at level seven, but we can get there in some moments.

So the key to. Overall happiness as it relates to energy and a pathway to feeling whole again, is spending more time in levels 4, 5, 6, and seven, and less time in level one and level two. Now all of us have a stress reaction, so when we're stressed. As we're going through something, we're more likely to have a level one and level two experience, but we don't stay there forever.

In fact, we travel through all the different levels throughout the day. As I mentioned just a minute ago, the levels aren't good or bad. It's not like we wanna spend our whole time at level seven. Each level has some things that are positive about it and some things to be mindful of, even at level seven.

In fact, if you spent your whole time there, people might see you as a bit aloof. So the invite. Around this whole concept of energy in these seven levels is to be aware of which level of energy you're bringing into any situation. We start with that intention, that type of awareness. So I'll recommend this practice to you.

I invite you to try it out over the next week and then email me back and let me know how it's going for you. Take one deep breath Before entering any room or Zoom or Microsoft teams, just one breath and ask yourself, what energy are you bringing into that space? You can also spend some time just taking in what energy you feel from others in that space.

If you're unsure about what energy you're bringing in, because the only thing we really have control over is our actions, not someone else's. Think about how you wish to show up and do so very intentionally in a way that's aligned to your values or your first principles, because that makes life that much easier.

And I totally get it because as you know, I've been there. Sometimes it's really hard to get to level five or six or seven when we're going through something. When we're trying to heal. We're tired, we're frustrated sometimes. So maybe the best we can do is just to move from level one to level three, the make lemonade out of our lemons, and that might be just enough to put a different type of ripple effect into those closest to you.

That might change their energy. And when their energy changes, it ripples into you and the ripple then spreads from you to others. And that's how we bring about great change, one moment at a time, one ripple at a time. But it's best if we can do it with some intentionality, with some awareness. So try that exercise on for size and let me know what you experience,

and there you have it a little bit about energy in the seven levels of energy and how you might intentionally decide to show up. One level in mind and how you can also use this knowledge to make sure you're surrounded by people who also have a positive ripple effect. And I know I covered a lot in this short episode, so if you want to learn more, please reach out.

And as always, thanks for being here. And thank you for being a fellow survivor and if you'd like to receive those amazing high energy. Pause, breathe, reflect text messages. Send me a message to 8 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4. And I'll get you set up.

And if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, Michael O'Brien schiff.com and sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect, and join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here. At Whole again and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this and we've got you.