Entropy – That Damned 2nd Law!

In Falling Upward, Richard Rohr talks about how we, like a decaying spring, need to be recharged and references the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, and before you know it, I’m back, reliving my first year Classical Physics college class. 

The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, per Wikipedia.com:

A simple statement of the law is that heat always flows spontaneously from hotter to colder regions of matter (or 'downhill' in terms of the temperature gradient). Another statement is: "Not all heat can be converted into work in a cyclic process.”

Clear as mud, huh?  I like the hot thermos example that is often used as an example, that shows that even in a relatively “closed” system, the coffee will eventually get to equilibrium, that is room temperature, and will remain unless you heat it up again.  It’s the last Wikipedia statement, “Not all heat can be converted into work in a cyclic process,” that I’m wresting with.  The physics term for this lost, wasted energy is entropy.  I like this definition from www.sciencenotes.org:

The simple definition is that entropy is that it is the measure of the disorder of a system. An ordered system has low entropy, while a disordered system has high entropy. Physicists often state the definition a bit differently, where entropy is the energy of a closed system that is unavailable to do work. (Bolding is mine)

Or more simply:

Entropy is a measure of the disorder of a system or energy unavailable to do work.

My question for you – what is your current level of entropy?  How much of YOUR energy is UNAVAILABLE for useful work?

My answer – my current entropy level is HIGH!  SKY HIGH.  I feel an amazing amount of nervous energy – could be from the 4-5 cups of espresso-strength coffee and the sugar-laden pastry I had for breakfast.  Could be that I haven’t been exercising – burning off pent up energy and depriving me of the opportunity to let my mind run wild.

Today, once again, I commit to change and getting my entropy to a reasonable level.  Regular exercising, reasonable diet, and journaling to get my wild thoughts out of my head and onto “paper.”  I re-commit to the Have a Plan, Work a Plan.  I commit to cleaning up my work and living environment and optimize my measure of disorder. 

How about you?