From Reaction to Conscious Response: How Energy, the Nervous System, and Mindfulness Shape the Way We Live, Love, and Lead
Have You Ever Wondered Why You React the Way You Do?
You’re about to speak up in a meeting and your voice catches in your throat.
Your partner says something triggering and you either lash out or completely shut down. You want to make a big life change but something in you keeps freezing.
These aren’t just personality quirks or mindset issues. They’re reflections of your internal energy, your nervous system, and your level of conscious awareness in that moment.
When we understand how these systems interact, we gain something powerful:
The ability to make conscious choices, aligned with truth, not just survival.
What Is "Energy"?
When I talk about energy, I’m not talking about how much caffeine you had or how many hours you slept last night (though that certainly helps).
I’m talking about the lens through which you experience the world—how you think, feel, and behave in response to life. It’s your inner state of being.
At any moment, your energy is either:
Catabolic (draining, contracting, reactive), or
Anabolic (expansive, creative, responsive)
iPEC’s 7 Levels of Energy model helps us put language to these states.
Who is iPEC?
The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) is an internationally recognized coach training organization that developed the Energy Leadership™ framework. Their proprietary Energy Leadership Index (ELI) Assessment helps individuals identify their energetic patterns—how they show up day-to-day, and how they respond under stress.
This matters, because your energy is contagious. It impacts your leadership, your relationships, your health, and your capacity to move through life with clarity and purpose.
The 7 Levels of Energy: Lenses, Not Labels
Each energy level reflects a different way of seeing the world, rooted in specific beliefs and emotional states. We shift between levels throughout the day, but we all tend to have a default way of operating.
And here’s the most important thing: No level is good or bad. Each has a purpose. Each offers insight. Even the ones we try to avoid.
Level 1: Victim (Apathy, Helplessness)
“Life happens to me.”
This level offers protection, rest, and retreat in moments of overwhelm or trauma.
Prolonged Level 1 energy can lead to disempowerment, passivity, and hopelessness.
Level 2: Conflict (Anger, Resistance)
“Life is a battle.”
Anger can help us take action, set boundaries, and advocate for ourselves.
If stuck here, this level can manifest as blame, defensiveness, and chronic stress.
Level 3: Coping (Responsibility, Rationalization)
“I’ll make it work.”
This energy helps us function and maintain order in chaos.
Over time, it may show up as burnout, resignation, or tolerating misalignment to keep the peace.
Level 4: Compassion (Service, Empathy)
“How can I support others?”
This level is driven by care, connection, and emotional awareness.
Without boundaries, it can slip into martyrdom or codependency.
Level 5: Reconciliation (Curiosity, Opportunity)
“What’s possible here?”
Highly collaborative, creative, and visionary.
The shadow side is spiritual bypassing or over-optimism without grounded action.
Level 6: Synthesis (Intuition, Flow)
“Everything is connected.”
Deep connection with purpose, insight, and universal patterns.
Present in flow states, meditation, or peak performance.
When operating in this energy level being detached from outcome can lead to feeling ungrounded in daily life if not integrated.
Level 7: Non-Duality (Presence, Pure Consciousness)
“It just is.”
Life simply is. There is no judgment—only presence.
Profound peace, creativity, and spiritual awareness.
This level is rare and often temporary.
Your Energetic Profile: How You Show Up
We all have an Average Resonating Level (ARL), and an Energetic Stress Reaction (ESR). Most people operate around Levels 3–5, but under pressure, we often drop to Levels 1 or 2. This is normal.
It’s also important to recognize that our culture often encourages us to live in Level 2—competing, comparing, striving to win. It rewards constant performance. It rarely encourages rest, reflection, or compassion.
Understanding your energetic patterns is the first step toward shifting them.
Nervous System Regulation: Your Body’s First Response
While energy shows us how we perceive the world, your nervous system tells us how safe you feel in the world.
Your nervous system and your energy are deeply interconnected. When your nervous system detects safety, you're more likely to access higher, more creative energy levels (like Levels 4–7). When it perceives threat—real or imagined—you may drop into more reactive states (Levels 1 or 2). While energy levels reflect mindset and emotional tone, the nervous system sets the physiological stage for which energies are even available to you. In other words: regulation opens the door to conscious choice.
Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory teaches that our autonomic nervous system is always scanning for safety. This process, called neuroception, determines whether we mobilize for danger or relax into connection.
We evolved with 4 survival responses:
Fight (defend)
Flight (escape)
Freeze (shut down)
Fawn (appease)
These responses helped us survive physical threats—but today, the "threats" are emotional: rejection, failure, conflict. And unlike animals, who shake off stress and return to rest, humans often stay activated. Chronic stress becomes our baseline.
Dr. Gabor Maté, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, and others have shown that long-term dysregulation contributes to anxiety, chronic illness, and disconnection from self.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Returning to Regulation
When we feel safe, we enter the ventral vagal state: calm, open, connected. Here, we can access our higher energy levels. We feel present. We can respond instead of react.
Practices like deep breathing, grounding, somatic experiencing, and co-regulation help us return to this state.
“Mindfulness is the gateway to intimacy with our inner life.”
—Tara Brach
Mindfulness: The Power of the Pause
Mindfulness is what helps you notice your nervous system response or energetic state in real time. It brings awareness to the moment between stimulus and response.
“Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn
What it looks like in practice:
Noticing your breath quicken before a difficult conversation
Taking 3 deep breaths before replying to a tough email
Noticing a tight chest before saying “yes” to something that’s a “no”
Practicing a body scan before making a big decision
Writing down how you feel instead of pushing through
Sitting with discomfort instead of numbing out
These small, embodied moments create space. Space to choose. Space to respond with care. Space to shift your energy, tend to your nervous system, and move forward in alignment.
When we build that awareness, we can:
Catch a reactive pattern before it takes over
Recognize when our energy is draining
Pause long enough to ask, "What’s actually true right now?"
Mindfulness, nervous system literacy, and energy awareness aren’t separate tools. They work together.
Putting It All Together
Your nervous system determines how safe you feel
Your energy reflects how you’re perceiving your reality
Mindfulness helps you notice both—and make conscious choices
This is the work: not to be perfect, but to be present. To recognize your patterns with compassion. To return, again and again, to your truth.
Want to Explore This in Coaching?
This is the kind of work I explore with clients in coaching—getting curious about your energy, your nervous system patterns, and how to lead your life from a more conscious, empowered place.
If you're feeling drawn to explore this further, I'd love to connect.