“You haven’t seen a tree until you see it’s shadow from the sky.” ~Amelia Earheart
I had the pleasure of spending time in a glider over the Georgian countryside on Sunday. Soaring with the birds (literally), I learned volumes about one of the keys to effective soaring, energy management.
Energy is everything. We use energy for everything we do. More specifically, energy is the ability to do work. It comes in many forms, but as I understand it, glider pilots focus on two particular types of energy:
- Stored (potential) energy
- Working (kinetic) energy
Energy has the remarkable property that it can neither be created nor destroyed. In the case of gliders, altitude can be exchanged for airspeed (push forward on the yoke and the glider will speed up and descend), altitude can be “cashed in” in exchange for drag and so on. The amount of energy in these exchanges doesn’t change, it just transfers from one form to another.
You are energy. Your body, your mind, your heart is a vehicle designed for creative activity. Like a glider, your body can be used to soar to great heights, to cover great distances if used properly. You can be a person who soars.
I saw an anonymous quote that made a lot of sense. It went something like this: “People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot nor passively dream of some ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life’s circumstances to push them down and hold them under.”
Learn to manage your energy. Your attitude determines your altitude. Positive attitudes (joy, appreciation, respect, courage, etc.) allow you to gain altitude while negative attitudes (anger, fear, envy, disdain) result in a loss of altitude. As with the glider, altitude gives you options. The options are made available because of the stored or potential energy that is directly proportional to altitude.
Carl Sandburg once said “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.” If you were to tally the energy you invested over the last week, would you say that you were on the balance more eagle or hippopotamus? No matter what you encountered in circumstance you had the choice in the selection of attitude to invest wisely and gain altitude or spend foolishly and lose it.
Let’s make sure that the weather you face this week is used wisely. Make best use of everything that comes your way and remember as I have mentioned before: what happens to you doesn’t matter as much as how you handle what happens.
Enjoy the trees’ shadows from the sky!
Gregory Hake 
Flying in a glider sounds cool. I read that Capt. Sullenberger who averted disaster by landing his plane in the NY river and also the pilot from Canada that maneuvered a safe landing for 200 or so passengers when the plane ran out of gas both credited their glider experience with the ability to land those huge planes, with no engine power, safely.
I wonder if most pilots don’t have the feel for the energy exchanges. It sounds like it should be part of basic training for every pilot.
But the eagle and the hippopotamus choice should probably be basic information given to everyone by 4 years old too!
Hopefully we’ll all enjoy long lives but while soaring sounds exciting, wallowing just sounds long…
Great post!
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Fantastic perspective!! Awesome that you are following up on your interest in gliders since the Gimli Glider post.
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I hadn’t thought of the connection!
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I’ll make sure to use my energy to increase my altitude. Thanks!
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Thank you for encouraging the eagle in all of us!
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I was really moved by the anonymous quote. To know those who soar as such is inspirational. To be one who does is, in my eyes, to be fulfilling a very necessary standard of living.
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Thanks for sharing, great post!
Positive momentum created during times of activity can keep us rolling through periods of hippo-like slothfulness!
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Not only can this understanding help us to change our perspectives on what is happeneing around us, but it can help us to pass these tools effectively on to our children. If we can not only apply these principals to our own worlds but seek to actively inspire our children to do the same, we may have the potential for a sustainable future. The future of our world depends on our actions now. Thank you for sharing your experience and giving me yet another way to view the world around me.
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Awesome analogy, attitude certainly determines altitude and today I will soar at new heights!
Thanks Gregg!
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I can feel the silence of soaring without an engine!….AHHHHH
“invest wisely and gain altitude” – love this – thanks!
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Thank you for that wonderful perspective.
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Great post!
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