May 5, 2005
The Arizona Republic-business section   (click here to print)
THE CORPORATE CURMUDGEON
"FOLLOW THE ENERGY TO MINE THE GOLD IN LIFE"
BY DALE DAUTEN


“The most maddening part was wearing a pager. Strapped to my belt, it’d go off so frequently I’d catch myself fantasizing it would self-destruct. One day, at my accountant’s office, it started beeping while I was going to the bathroom. I reached for it -- but not quick enough. It’d slipped off. I’d already flushed. I heard a splash. Aghast, I stood and stared as my pager, still manically beeping underwater, disappeared down the toilet. The absurd pace of my life was never more apparent.”

That story is from Dr. Judith Orloff, speaking in her book “Positive Energy” of her early days as a psychiatrist. It’s enough to make you appreciate Freud’s belief that there are no accidents.

Orloff wrote her book on energy because, as she put it when I spoke with her, “There’s an epidemic of exhaustion among workers. They come home and flop on the bed. Then they wake up and go to work again, still tired. That form of living is unacceptable.” Her book offers a series of “prescriptions,” the goal of which is to “develop a skill most people never learn, to turn negative energy into positive energy.” Although Orloff offers so many suggestions that anyone would find benefit from them, this is one of those books that isn’t for everyone. Orloff, who is an “intuitive,” has a way of expanding theories until those who worship “hard science” are left behind. There is this, for instance: “Some of us get along with electronic devices better than others. I’m utterly convinced, far-out as it may sound, that they register our vibes, just as we intuitively register theirs. To my dismay, I’ve found that often when I'm very upset, it’s as if I become a poltergeist. Everything around me seems to break.” A better theory, to my way of thinking, is that those appliances were relatives of the pager, getting payback.

But what got me thinking that some people will dismiss Orloff’s work was learning that a friend, an M.D. I respect, couldn’t finish the book, putting it aside after getting to the section on “erotic energy” and reading Orloff’s recollections of a visit to Hawaii where she came upon a plumeria tree at twilight, vibrating in the breeze. Let’s just say that the ensuing story seems like it must have migrated over from those paperbacks with Fabio on the cover. And that was enough for my doctor friend.

However, Orloff’s openness with her life experiences is a reflection of her intellectual openness. It reminds me of William Wrigley saying, “When two people in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.” Who wants to read a book without a single controversial thought? Well, apparently quite a few book buyers, based on the business books publishers send me. But the best books are the ones where the author pulls you along, taking you where you do and don’t want to go.

As for places you want to go, Orloff has a number of articles at www.drjudithorloff.com, and in her book she has a series of interviews with celebrities. In one of them, TV producer Norman Lear talks about the “flow” of being involved in a show that’s magic, like his “All in the Family.” He calls the experience being “in the lap of the gods.” Let’s face it, most jobs are on the other side of the lap of the gods, more like the seat cushion of the gods.

When I spoke with Orloff, I asked if her clients really had been able to “re-inspire” their current jobs, or if, as I thought more likely, the attempt at reinvigoration led them into some other job. She told me of one patient who worked in an ad agency. Orloff asked her to consider the following question: “Where do I get energy?” The client’s self-examination led her to understand that her current work, which she was trained for and good at, was draining her. Meanwhile, she realized that when she was involved with the agency’s clients, she was energized. So she persuaded management to ease her into client-service work. Same agency -- new job, new energy.

As I talked to Orloff, I realized that the old advice to “follow the money” had led most of us astray, and the newer advice, “follow your passion,” is distracting, for most people confuse amusements with passions. The better formula is “follow the energy.” Follow it far enough, and you may even find your way to the lap of the gods.

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Dale Dauten is the founder of The Innovators’ Lab. His latest book is “THE LAUGHING WARRIORS: How to Enjoy Killing the Status Quo,” available exclusively at www.dauten.com. Please write to him in care of King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019, or at dale@dauten.com. © 2005 by King Features Syndicate Inc.


Judith Orloff MD is a board certified psychiatrist, a practicing intuitive, and author of Positive Energy: Ten Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear Into Vibrance, Strength, and Love (Harmony Books.) She is also author of the bestsellers Guide to Intuitive Healing and Second Sight. She's an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, has a private practice in Los Angeles, and is an international workshop leader on the interrelationship of medicine, intuition, and spirituality. Her work has been featured on CNN, PBS, A@E and NPR. Dr. Orloff's website is www.drjudithorloff.com.