For God will not give us more energy than we can hold in the chalice of our chakras and put to good use.

Why do we want to have a reserve of energy? So that when the necessity arises we can send out to others, through our chakras and our aura, the healing light of joy, freedom, peace, love, power, vision and wisdom.

It’s like taking out a loan. If we prove that we can use God’s energy wisely for the good of others, he knows that his investment is safe.

If we misuse that energy—by becoming angry or agitated, for instance—eventually our supply will be cut off because we haven’t shown that we can use it responsibly.

In the case of the solar plexus, our exams give us the opportunity to express our self-control.

They give us the opportunity to show that our gratitude for the precious energy of life is greater than our need to let off steam, even if someone else is sending anger, aggression, anxiety or agitation our way.

The Five Poisons

Tibetan Buddhism teaches that anger is one of the “poisons” that are deadly to our spiritual growth.

Through anger we can very quickly lose any ground we have gained. Like a baby who cries until he is literally exhausted, tirades of anger or other forms of emotional abuse can exhaust our energy supply— and cause turmoil within the energy centers of others.

Anger, of course, is a symptom of a deeper malaise, telling us to dig below the surface.

Often what is hovering underneath is fear or insecurity or grief, and anger is the way, however unhealthy, that we choose to cope.

Yet in the long run, it’s not coping at all, because anger doesn’t change a situation; it usually makes it worse.

If we are serious about overcoming our off-balanced emotions, we first have to find out what is at the root of them.

Only then will we be on the road to becoming true instruments of peace.

Diet and Anger

Often a change in diet can help us deal with anger.

In Chinese medicine, each off-balanced emotion is linked to a weakness in a different organ.

From this perspective, a toxic liver tends to make people ill-tempered and aggressive.

A healthy liver tends to make people patient and thoughtful. We are therefore more susceptible to irritability and anger when we tax our liver by overconsuming drugs, alcohol, caffeine, soft drinks or fatty foods.

Experts say that moderating our intake of meat and eating more whole grains and vegetables can also help us be more balanced and slower to anger.

Buddha’s Middle Way

Gautama Buddha articulated the initiation of the solar-plexus chakra when he taught that we can make the best spiritual progress by walking “the Middle Way.”

Gautama learned this lesson firsthand. For six years, he practiced severe austerities and as a result became so weak that he fainted and was believed to be dead.

When he recovered, he realized the futility of excessive and prolonged asceticism.

One day, after eating a strengthening meal of rich rice milk, he vowed to sit under a fig tree until he attained enlightenment.

He faced many temptations under that tree—temptations he never would have overcome unless his body, as well as his heart, mind and soul, had been strong.

In his first sermon after his enlightenment, given at Sarnath, India, Gautama explained that we can only attain enlightenment by avoiding the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification—by walking the Middle Way.

In later years he told his disciples, “On a path where one becomes exhausted and weak, one cannot manifest complete Enlightenment.”

Thus, he articulated one of the most important spiritual precepts of all time: In all things, strive for balance.

Mastering our desires

We can’t have inner peace if we don’t master our desires. This doesn’t mean we have no desires.

Mastering desire means we tether our desires to the true desire of our soul and God’s desire for us.

When we are able to do that, the momentum of energy in our solar plexus will propel us toward the fulfillment of our soul’s divine potential.

Our desires, like our emotions, aren’t automatically “bad.” In his sermon at Sarnath, Gautama taught that the reason we suffer is that we crave.

Commentators say that the Buddha was trying to explain that we suffer when our desires are self-centered or selfish, when they reinforce the human ego and don’t take into account the needs of others.

There is a Buddhist saying about this grasping, possessive part of human nature:

“All the harm with which this world is rife, all the fear and suffering that there is: clinging to the ‘I’ has caused it! What am I to do with this great demon?”

The motive behind our desires is what counts.

For instance, if we desire to be educated or to become a doctor or lawyer so we can share the talents God has given us and improve life for others, this is right desire.

If this pursuit is based solely on the desire to amass wealth or to control or impress others, that would be a self-centered, inordinate desire.

In other words, there is always the option to fulfill our desires on a higher plane, the plane of service to life. When we opt for that higher plane, when we fuse our free will to the universal will in a dynamic partnership, we can be a dynamo for accomplishing good. That’s why a slip of a woman like Mother Teresa could not only work indefatigably but also be a prime mover on the world scene.

The spiritual meaning of the word desire is Deity siring—God and the presence of God within you giving birth to the highest and noblest aspirations of your soul.

Whenever you desire, you are creating (or giving birth to) something.

If the energies of your solar plexus are balanced and at peace, the creations born of your desires can be beautiful, powerful and effective.

The Violet Flame

We can use affirmations and prayers that call forth the high-frequency spiritual energy of the violet flame.

If a desire stems from an unhealthy habit pattern that is holding you back, the violet flame’s accelerated energy can help transmute the records of that pattern.

You’ll find after a number of weeks of directing the violet flame into those conditions that the desire may be gone.

Or, if the desire is authentic, the violet flame will help you come into a new understanding of its relevance in your life.

The greatest gift you can give is the gift of yourself.

God endows us with talents and special qualities so that we can share them with others.

We’re like God’s messengers.  We’re God’s hands and feet on earth, delivering love or comfort, joy or illumination to those he cannot touch physically.

“Freely ye have received, freely give,” taught Jesus. And the more we give, the more we open up the energy flow.

The more we prime the pump, the more that energy flows back to us. That’s a principle of abundance, and it works.