Great thread, thanks everyone.
Re the energy stuff Ches was talking about I think it's significant that the ancient Egyptians believed in totally minimizing that which they owned, ergo, they thought possessions were "energy and life draining".
There's a clinical psychologist here, Dr Alice Boyes, who has a great website and she calls useless material possessions "stuck energy".
http://www.aliceboyes.com/tag/30-day-projects/page/5/
I know this isn't exactly what Ches was talking about, harnessing energy, but I do believe the first step is clearing out all the "stuck energy".
All that useless junk is so draining. Don't you feel horrible around clutter?
But I think this "clearing out" process can be used not just with material possessions, but also sometimes emotions, relationships etc. For example sometimes it's best to just "let some things go".
I started writing stories when I was like seven. I wrote for most of my life and amassed huge boxes full of poetry, stories, novels, etc It actually began to weigh me down. I kept thinking I should go back through everything and continue the "editing process" even though some things I'd already edited endlessly.
Then a few years ago I decided to literally burn the whole lot. I spent a few days burning everything I had ever written since age seven. And rather than feeling sad I felt liberated.
All that old writing had been a learning process but it was time to turn a new page. I just had to cast off the old stuff first.....