Much of what's happening on the surface level these days is offering us all the opportunity to become more aware of all things as energy, including those that manifest in communication, relationship, work, finances, and other areas of life both personal and collective.

Starting from the assumption that all is energy, and energy follows focused thought into manifested form that we experience as physical reality, both personally and collectively, we shift our focus and practice away from overly focusing on the 'wrongs' and 'ills' and attempting to change things at the surface level -- the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on a ship we'd like to have moving in a different direction -- to shifting things at the energetic level while cultivating a stronger focus on greater vision, and allow this focus to guide action that is both wise and aligned with true vision.

The energetic level includes thought patterns and beliefs that are energetic patterns informing what appears in various areas of our lives: patterns that appear in our relationships and interactions with others; that appear in our material and financial affairs; and that appear in the various ways we express our gifts and passions, including work in all sectors, among other things.

We usually see these as 'things unto themselves', and work with them, often as if they're isolated from one another, on the surface while the underlying energetics remain the same. This is often why patterns repeat themselves even after we change the surface aspects -- change a job, change a relationship, change a residence or geographic location, changes in organizational systems.

The old adage proves itself again and again: Wherever we go, there we are. It might better be phrased, Wherever we go, there are the energetic patterns until they're shifted at the energetic level.

When we make the decision to expand our focus to the energetics underlying the patterns and appearances, we begin to look at our patterns of thought and belief. At another level, we begin to work with the energetic patterns at the root of thought and belief. We go right to the source, and allow vision and action to be guided accordingly.

We can use energy practices from a variety of traditions to shift the energetic patterns, whether from energy work, or metaphysical and shamanic/Indigenous traditions. What these traditions have in common is an understanding that all is energy and working with energy is most effective. Some traditions call this 'shapeshifting energy', while others might call it 'changing the dream' or something else.

We can use visualization, (shamanic) journeying, meditation, energy tracking, focused intention, intuition, and other approaches, working with Spirit Allies or Angelic helpers if that's our tradition, to see or sense the underlying energy pattern(s) and shapeshift, revise, transmute, or dissolve it, always with the intention that any shift be for the highest good and wellbeing of all affected.

This is where 'be the change you wish to see' takes on a whole new meaning, and responsibility for our lives and creations comes right home to us, because the answer or 'fault' isn't 'out there'. We don't work to change someone else's energy to serve an ego or personality based agenda; we work to change our own energy to release or transform the patterns that cocreate or call certain experiences to us, and work collectively, with similar intention, to change things organizationally or in other group systems. While this may seem overwhelming, it's actually incredibly empowering.

Shifting our energy is intimately linked with shifting our consciousness, and both, because we're energetic beings connected with all else, will create a shift in our perception and our experience. Shifting our energy field and patterns may well create shifts in our relationships with others. As the visionary activist and mythology and symbolism expert, Caroline Casey, says, it alters what we're calling forth from others -- "What part of you is calling what part of another person or situation out to play."

Working at the energetic level applies most definitely to our personal work and experience, yet it also applies in organizations and groups because we're dealing with individual people, thought patterns, beliefs and thus energetic patterns. Even organizations have their own energy pattern, and we can work to shift and update those, for the highest good of all, by working at the level of energetics and letting that influence the change we make at the surface.