You are the channel or the transformer of these energy sources. In the water pipe analogy just shown, the flow-through is dependent on the shape, diameter, and composition of the pipe. For the human organism, the list of modifiers of energy is much greater. Your sex, blood type, the pigmentation of your skin, and other racial characteristics are your genetic inheritance; there isn't much you can do about them. Over other conditions, however, you have much more voluntary control. These include your education and beliefs, previous experience, the activity of your nervous system, your flexibility, strength, body weight, emotional development, muscle tension, general state of health, and functioning of organs. The less measurable factors of sensitivity, open-mindedness, and self-love are also up to you.

We use part of the energy we take in to maintain the channel - to build and repair the body itself and much of it occurs during our all-important sleep periods. This is the internal output. At the most elementary level, we use energy to maintain a narrow internal temperature range (around 98.6°F/37°C), as circulating blood brings heat to cold areas. We secrete digestive juices for breakdown and absorption of food. We synthesize chemicals that are sent to many different organs. We produce electrochemical impulses that travel throughout the nervous system.

Taking a step up in this energy transformation process, we replace worn tissue and blood cells - repairing cuts and scratches and mending bones. We move muscles that control digestion, respiration, elimination, and reproduction. And don't forget those less tangible expressions of energy - the generation of emotions, the internal dialog of your thinking processes, your intuition, dreams, and the creation of what may be spiritual insights and altered states of consciousness.

The outside world will also be affected by the ways you transform energy. This is the external output. You radiate heat and eliminate waste products in the form of urine, perspiration, carbon dioxide, and the shedding of dead skin. The rest of us will be affected by your touching, your physical work and play, your laughter and tears. We will learn about you, and ourselves, through communication, the sharing of intellectual pursuits, and the expression of creativity. You can't help but influence the planet by your interaction with the environment. Less-understood energy communications, such as telepathy and other psychic phenomena, are taking place as well. And there is no doubt that your loving energy will change us all.

Putting together the input and output, we have the complete Wellness Energy System of a human being.

Wellness Energy System: Input and Output

Note that each arrow corresponds to an entire section of this text.

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