Positive Energy Guide

During a spiritual retreat, I walked to a nearby river with two other women. P. discovered in conversation that have had a strong voice for avoiding gluten cross-contamination at group events. She would not discuss it.

After a short and awkward silence, the second woman, A., said she had been uncomfortable further up the river. She felt disrupted energy in that spot, as if something had happened in the past.

“You mean back by the bridge?” I said. A. nodded. “I noticed the same thing last year. I felt scared there. What did you experience? A number of people, right?”

“Yes. Native American, I think. People died,” she told me.

“That’s what I got too. A fight, by the edge of the river. About six or eight people.” A. put her cute toes in the water and stirred black sand. “Let’s go clear it out? Do you want to?”

A. smiled and stood up, coming almost to my shoulders–tiny but mighty.

As we walked upriver toward the spot I said, “Lots of people get shut down around food issues. I hope P. will still be open with me, since I’d like to get to know her better.”

A. said, “Is this conversation about wanting to be friends with someone and feeling vulnerable?”

I laughed. “Yes, exactly.” A. looked nervous. A small hand had flown to her mouth, as if to keep inside what had already rushed out. I peered down at her and said, “Hey. You don’t have to worry about cutting all the way through to the underlying reality around me–or anything else you may care to say, about me or about yourself. I’m fine with your insight.”

A. melted and embraced me. “Really? I’ve had that before and the people went away.”

“I’m not going to go away,” I said. “We can be open with each other.”

A. extended a soft but strong little hand and we shook on it. We fell into step together with a sense of depth and trust, embarking on an adventure.

Clearing the land did not take us long. Our perceptions matched exactly, and our energy worked well together. A. let me direct her since she hadn’t done this before.

Once we cleared left over energy from a lethal fight on the far bank of the river, A. noticed fear and shock on the near bank. I felt it too. Onlookers had been connected with the people in the fight, and watched them die. We both sensed this, and that several bodies had fallen down the short cliff to the river. The land felt normal to us when we left.

As we walked back to the retreat A. asked how I held my focus in order to do the clearing. I said, “You totally ‘get it,’ and you will be able to do this kind of thing because you have an accommodation that most people haven’t developed. You have the ability to separate the skeins–like clumps of yarn–of your personal emotions and responses from your direct perception of what is outside. This skill is essential to reading energy accurately.

“What I did was to stay with myself, grounded in my body, with part of my perception, and use a second part independently to scan and sense what was going on. When I had you place the scene of the incident inside a bubble, and hold it there, this boundary helped screen out anything irrelevant from the environment and focus perception. Then I felt into what was going on with the energy and accessed Guidance to know what to do to shift the energy.”

Part of that had been inviting the souls involved to forgive, reclaim, and move on, and blessing them with peace. Part of it had been updating something like a time rift on the land, to allow the present to fully penetrate the location of the incident, where had time seemed frozen.

The next day I spoke with a man who had been stuck and confused for a long time. He was unable to separate Guidance from emotional reaction. His lack of discernment made life navigation difficult.

This contrast underscored what I had been saying to A.: Learning to discern and separate personal reaction from perception is crucial for accurate intuitive work.

In what way do YOU need to be able to trust yourself in order to become more confident reading energy?

What do you need to do to develop this trust?

(Continued . . .)

Calibration

I am using “calibration” to describe the process of getting into rapport with another person. We can also calibrate to a group, a source of wisdom such as a spiritual order, an exalted Being, and so forth. These are examples of calibrating to someone or something from which we wish to accept influence. Getting on the same page increases influence, by resonance.

We may temporarily calibrate to someone or something we do not necessary wish to take influence from, in order to increase rapport. During healing work, for example, we calibrate to discover what the other person is experiencing, to serve them with greater empathy. We might calibrate to another person during conflict or negotiation, to increase understanding and speak effectively to the other person’s perspective.

Humility and surrender to the Greater Whole promote successful calibration.

In an interaction of mutual influence, the process of calibration between two people is a dialectic–a back and forth conversation or energy exchange in which each person brings forward his or her truth. We each polish our comprehension and perception by helping one another see his or her blind spots. When calibrated, we tend to view whatever we are discussing similarly, or are at least clear about our differences. Calibration generates mutual rapport.

As we calibrate, the energy, psychology, point of view, context, life pressures and natural modes of expression of each person come into play, to be understood and accepted. We trade perceptions until we feel satisfied that we are both seeing as clearly as we can.

With respect to intuition, we do this process about what we are perceiving. It becomes faster and faster as we become more accurate, until it can be almost immediate.

The more resonance we have between our perceptions and the outer world, the more likely we are to have and recognize moments of direct inner communication.

Intuitive rapport is not mental agreement or supporting one another’s opinions or guesses. Developing it may require getting into the trenches with someone and exploring how you construct your inner worlds. Complete honesty is essential.

Practical examples of direct intuitive rapport:

• A few days ago a friend I hadn’t talked with in a month intentionally brought me two nutritional supplements I currently needed and did not have.
• Yesterday I emailed someone flying in for an event and asked her if she needed anything since I will be driving. She was amazed and grateful, and sent a list.

Commitment to Truth

By commitment to “Truth” I do not mean an idealized view of Truth in an absolute or a religious sense. I am talking about a willingness to surrender concepts, self-concept, and beliefs to an ever-expanding, direct experience of Being, in the present moment. Another way to describe this would be letting go of reaction and biases, and adjusting to the most lucid, coherent, congruent viewpoint available at the current moment.

The Four C’s are practical ways to work with intuition. If you take your intuition seriously and pay attention to it when it comes, it comes more frequently.

Here is a link to 57 biases. It’s useful–although I could add a few! Go over this list and write down the ones that you do yourself.

What is your emotional orientation toward your biases?

Do you feel comfortable with them, feel squeamish about them, judge them, etc.?

Which ones would you relax and reduce to increase your intuition?

Managing your energy well is easier if you are perceiving it accurately. Clear perception depends both on intuition and personal development. The more developed you are the greater your capacity for neutral self-observation. In this context, personal development and objectivity about one’s self are practically synonymous.

Four activities, qualities or orientations form a foundation for reading energy accurately and receiving accurate intuition. These Four C’s, practiced regularly, combine together and are expressed as a natural orientation or set of values from which one approaches intuition.

This orientation includes:

• Courage
• Confirmation
• Calibration
• Commitment to Truth

Courage

Courage is needed to face our inner processes, conditions about life, and habits that bias perception. It takes guts to face feelings, needs, fantasies, misinterpretations, defenses, and uncertainty. It takes guts to face life as it is, and to allow ourselves to reorient flexibly when we have been embroidering on what is So.

We need courage to allow ourselves to make mistakes, and to find out for sure whether or not we have made them, when finding out is possible.

Courage depends to a large extent on how our bodies are functioning.

We rarely feel courageous if we are dizzy, exhausted, unstable on our feet due to structural misalignment, or in prolonged pain. Brain fog is a symptom of brain inflammation. Since inflammation is both a root cause and a result of most physical maladies, avoiding allergens and toxins and getting plenty of fresh, wholesome foods contributes to clarity, courage, and accuracy of intuition.

“Intestinal fortitude,” has to do with the courage to take on life. Sometimes we need to increase our intestinal fortitude by taking care of our intestines, and our adrenals. Adrenals are depleted by stress. Whether from life challenges, allergens, or injuries, stress contributes to inflammation and exhaustion.

When we lack the courage to make life changes or to face issues, we may take care of ourselves poorly. This creates a vicious cycle by reducing confidence. Gently starting where we are and doing the best we can as we get stronger turns this cycle the other way, gaining energy and courage. Then insight and change become not only bearable but exciting.

If you are serious about developing intuition, practice kindness and compassion for your body.

Confirmation

This quote is from my second spiritual teacher, when I was twenty-one: “Always test your intuition against the stark actualities of everyday life.” Confirmation is the process of doing just that.

Confirming hunches, intuitions, and perceptions is absolutely essential to developing confidence and insight over time.

There are many ways to check actualities, depending on the situation. Lab tests, for example, are one good way to confirm medical intuition. Anything we can do to confirm intuition with actuality serves its clarity and development.

When intuition involves another person, we can often confirm by checking with them. This type of phrase supports confirmation:

• “I’m noticing that . . . What do you notice?”
• “Is it just me, or is the energy . . . .?”
• “I’m feeling an energy in the room that is like . . .”
• “Does it seem to you that . . .”
• “I felt your energy at 6:30 today. Were you thinking of me?”

Some people will not be aware of things we are trying to confirm. It is therefore of great service to cultivate friendships with intuitive people you can run things by, to compare notes. Checking your intuitions with skilled professionals is also a great advantage.

How do YOU confirm your intuitions?

What increases your courage?

Making assumptions disregulates your energy. It sets you up to respond to things are not actually happening, taking you out of energy rapport with your actual environment and the people in it. 

Think of this like being certain you’re at the bottom of a flight of stairs when there’s one more. Stepping forward with this assumption throws your body out of kilter with your environment. You may lurch or fall. Your muscles and nerves are not set for the correct response. The same kind of disorientation occurs in your energy and emotions when you are out of synch with your environment. 

Making assumptions impacts the people around us. Based on faulty data, we send out incorrect messages. These incorrect messages cause confusion, making otherwise simple things into work. Identifying and straightening out faulty data takes extra energy and it takes more time to clarify expectations and get on the same page.

In leaving for a distant event, a woman assumed that someone she knew could also ride with the acquaintance who would be driving. When everyone arrived there was no room in the car. The driver showed up with two other people and their luggage. Sorting this out caused everyone stress and made them late.

Making assumptions is the opposite of discernment or intuition–and actually blocks both from occurring. Intuition checks things out, remains sensitive to them, and stays open to input. Intuition is like full-body active listening. It fosters connection, communication, and compassion. It is direct perception.

Assuming shuts down Sensing. It involves not looking, not checking, not asking, not hearing or hearing incorrectly, and/or not wondering. Instead of learning something new, we impose a mental overlay onto what we see. With a head full of this overlay, we are likely to miss what is going on. This overlay takes the place of direct perception. Assumptions thrive on misinterpretation. They lead us down false paths, diminish rapport, and reduce close contact with others. Assumption has an isolating effect.

Assuming also leads to presuming– imposing on others without checking in or being aware of their needs and preferences. One may make plans and decisions that involve someone else without asking necessary questions, like inviting oneself to stay at someone’s house without asking if it works for them or whether they have plans.

Entitlement is assumption on emotional steroids. The person who is ‘supposed to’ give usually feels obliged and without choice. For most of us it is awkward to have to shatter someone’s illusions and disappoint them in order to have a choice about what and whether we give. Confronting assumptions or entitlement can be a lot of work. Feeling forced to either do this uncomfortable work or give what we have not offered invites resentment.

How do you feel when someone assumes you will do something without asking you, or feels entitled to your time, money or energy?

We all make some assumptions. That can’t be completely eliminated–but reducing it to a bare minimum is an advantage to Awakening.

Assumptions become a real problem if one resists input in order to maintain them. Drawing baseless conclusions instead of staying open to what life is offering can be a way to close out life, or an attempt to control it. Resistive ignorance invites painful awakenings. 

Habitual assumption can be seen as a psychological defense against reality, like living in a fantasy world. This behavior can stem from anxiety. We may make assumptions out of fear about what reality holds, preferring the illusionary and temporary stability of believing in a guess over the real uncertainty of opening ourselves to find out what is going on. Of course, it’s easier and more practical to just look or ask, but anxiety can make us doubt our perception and feel scared to ask.

Sometimes I make assumptions about how people feel about me. I get scared. Then it’s hard to ask how they really feel. Last week I felt distress because someone I admire didn’t respond to emails or calls for months. I assumed he was uncomfortable with me. The next time I saw him, he sat by me in a group after giving me a big hug. When I’m not concerned what someone thinks of me it is much easier to perceive where they are coming from.

Did you ever disqualify yourself from getting to know someone because you think you might not be good enough? I know I have. 

We need to remember that others disqualify themselves from us too. They may be stuck in assumptions about how we feel about them. 

What do YOU make assumptions about?

I first encountered my current spiritual teacher when I was twenty one, having accidentally entered the room and disturbed his practice on the fortieth day of his forty day retreat. He was startled, and I was making every effort to back out the door I had just opened.

More than thirty years later I intentionally placed myself in his path, literally and figuratively. I’d had inner prompting to actually meet him for a few years.

When I heard him talk to the group at a spiritual camp I was absolutely certain he was my Teacher. Unlike my active seeking during my twenties and thirties, I had no interest in HAVING a spiritual teacher. Yet my inner Guidance made it abundantly clear that I must do whatever it took to be his student. (But that’s another story . . . )

I approached him after his talk. Someone was talking with him, face to face. I stood aside politely, waiting for them to finish. To my astonishment, he turned away, his energy pulled in, making straight toward and out of the door. I was too surprised to move.

I might have become cognitively or emotionally involved, or speculative:

Was he too busy to deal with me?
Was there a reason I didn’t rate?
Did he need to use the restroom?

Instead, I had the strong sense that I had just received a particularly Zen lesson. I sensed that I needed to respond in the moment, without apology, excuse or social conditioning.

Oddly, I liked his behavior. He was so clean about it! I had never witnessed such lack of involvement in the opinion of someone else, without resistance or ego on it. He walked away with about the same load on it that a bear would have, turning from one bush to another. He did not leak energy, carry airs, or appear distracted. He just did it. And it woke me up a little. I was left to think and feel whatever I thought and felt.

I tried again the next day. Again, he was talking with someone. I stood aside but stayed alert. The moment they finished I stepped forward and said his name. He raised his eyes and gave me his total attention, as if I were the only person in the world.

From these two brief encounters I understood that I could be myself, be powerful, and get an authentic response without being judged or handled.

In involving one’s self with the esoteric director of a mystical school, I suppose, some ability to take internal direction might come in handy. Inner links, clear rapport, intuitive communication and discernment are useful currency. Actual connection always works better than (unilateral) assumptions, guessing, projecting, imagining, or running emotional programs.

This is my story about the interaction. I might even be wrong. My future teacher may have walked away simply because that was what felt right at the moment. When one moves from Guidance and follows the energy there may be no Why.

Do you judge others when they choose not to engage?

What do you make it mean when someone will not look at you?

Where do you go inside?

What do you tell yourself about them?

Knowing when we need to be alone is an important part of managing our energy. It is essential for energy-sensitive people to allow ourselves to disengage from others, particularly when we feel drained.

I am not talking about withdrawing in emotional drama. We can find graceful ways to step away. With those we care about, who will understand, we may explain. With those who resist understand or are not able to relate, explaining costs too much. Whether or not others understand, self care may demand withdrawing from time to time to recharge.

I recharge in nature. On trail walks, when I want to be alone, I mind the energy. If a passing hiker reaches toward me, wanting to connect, I bring myself forward for a moment to greet them. I stay withdrawn when those who pass are indifferent to contact. At the rare moment when any contact is too much, I am learning to allow myself to keep my energy to myself.

Sometimes compassionate people feel bad about it when we do not want to interface with others. We may feel we need an excuse, fear that we are antisocial, or imagine that something is wrong with us. A number of my clients have been criticized by gregarious people, who spoke to them as if they had a problem if they needed time alone or felt overwhelmed by group interaction. Don’t buy into this kind of talk. Those who thrive under a continual barrage of input may not have some of your assets.

When we can clearly IDENTIFY a need for time alone, we can then put it out there in a self supportive way. Sometimes we simply need to reduce stimulation.

I remember being confused about this need when I was younger. After time in a group or with a close friend I would start to feel unaccountably frustrated and bruised. I’d get wrapped up in the relational details and become reactive, or conflicted about whether I would miss something instead of recognizing that I was overstimulated and needed time alone. Time alone was not on my mental check list.

As I developed more, I recognized my need but feared I might hurt someone’s feelings to state it. I’d put off saying something until my tension about it made me say it awkwardly.

Memorize what you feel like when you need time alone. Devise some clear, gracious exit lines, like: “It’s been lovely to see you, and I’d like to do it again soon, but I really need to get home and rest.” Such statements should be authentic, and acknowledge other person.

Occasionally, self care demands that we make our own needs more important than what someone thinks of us or even how they feel. If someone will feel hurt, for example, because you cannot eat something you are allergic to, it is their problem. How you communicate about it, however, is in your domain. Be kind, but hold your position.

When we spend time with someone who makes intensive demands while our own needs are not being met, we may need to allow ourselves to be unavailable.

In general, I am comfortable sharing space with people who are in touch with their issues. Their energy does not spill out into the room. People who disown their Stuff tend to broadcast or project it. Related energy hangs about the room, often seeking avenues of expression, perhaps through ME. I can sort this energy, ground myself, and stay rigorously in touch with myself to reduce its impact. I still find it tiring to figure out how to communicate when unspoken issues are hanging in the air. When I can be myself without having to negotiate this type of thing I feel simultaneously more connected with the people present, yet also more like I do when I’m by myself. Excellent rapport can sustain this comfort.

Those of us who are sensitive to the way others feel can get drawn into taking care of others at our own expense. We are healthier and have more to give when we have a CHOICE about whether or not to give out energy. Part of the time we need to focus on ourselves without dealing with other people’s needs.

What happens inside when you choose not to meet someone’s eyes on the street or trail? Do you feel like you’re being cold?

Do you judge yourself when you need to withdraw?

Ambrose Bierce, in “The Devil’s Dictionary,” defines “Alone: In poor company.” This tongue-in-cheek humor is worthy of contemplation.

We can feel alone in a crowd, and among those with whom we have minimal rapport. We also feel alone when we are poor company for ourselves. The better company we become–the less we abandon, reject, criticize, or betray ourselves–the more we enjoy time on our own. When we enjoy time to ourselves we become less likely to spend time around people who make poor company.

In my early life, as in the lives of many, being alone was associated with abandonment, rejection, betrayal, social insufficiency, and even worthlessness. In our wounded condition we feel disconnected, unloved, and lonely. Being around others can distract from this, or exacerbate it if our issues arise. When they do arise, we can work on ourselves to develop our sense of wholeness.

Inner Work makes us better and better company–for ourselves and for others. As we become good company, distressful impressions about being alone carry less freight. We may have periods during which we feel loss or desire more contact and connection with others, but we also have times when we delight in spending time with ourselves.

“Alone” can also be All-One. Effective spiritual practice develops an experience of transcendental Wholeness. This means feeling At One with the Greater Whole–connected. Spiritual wholeness is characterized by feeling a sense of loving and meaningful connectedness with Life.

This experience is not a thought, opinion or interpretation. It is a feeling and sensory experience. Right now I am not talking about ultimate spiritual Union, but about feeling like a part of life.

I am feeling this Wholeness at the moment. I’m sitting in my van by a big stream, in my nightgown in a mostly-empty campground. I’m within sight of the camp hosts so I feel safe. I feel connected with you, and with people who love me–even though most of them I rarely see in person. I feel close to those with whom I connect spiritually. Whether or not I have a personal relationship with them, they are part of the fabric of my moment-to-moment experience when I am happily alone because we are in one another’s hearts.

Feeling connected is partly a function of how we focus our attention. It is a also a condition of our energy, which can be developed by doing practices that balance and vivify our fields and open our hearts.

Good states do happen. They happen a lot more when we do things that invite and sustain them. We do not get to really good states by resisting bad states. We get to them by allowing and observing our experience and cultivating our energy.

Being around people all the time can interfere with inner cultivation. While there are many ways we can and do cultivate ourselves around others, spending time alone gives us a baseline sense of who we are as in individual. We need space to be able to FEEL ourselves without being bombarded by other influences.

How can you tell who you are if you are seeing yourself through the biases of the people around you and resonating with their needs, beliefs, interests, and values?

Getting out in nature can help. When you have a keen sense of who you are and what you want and need you can represent your real self to the people in your lives. Then you feel whole around them instead of giving over to them, disappearing among them and losing yourself, or resisting them to make sure you’re really there.

Do YOU feel more alone around other people or when you are by yourself?

How does your self-talk influence how and where you feel alone, and whether or not you like it?

Balanced development has requirements of which we may be unaware. When we have difficulty growing in a desired direction, there may be a natural prerequisite. Profound states of awareness can lead to issues and distortion, for example, without the anchor and safety of grounded body awareness.

The story below explores the relationship between expansion of consciousness and body awareness:

After a number of hard knocks over a short period, it took me several days doing intensive practices while walking in the woods to access expanded awareness and open my heart. Expansion felt great after being so contracted for so long! By “expansion” I mean feeling LARGE, diffuse, blissful, extended into the space around me, and connected with all life.

I worked with my breath, energy, and divine names. With my energy fields expanded I noticed that my awareness seemed to extend for half a mile or so around me. When other hikers passed me I felt contracted. Some wanted to say “hi,” or had various issues active and running in their energy systems. Interfacing was uncomfortable.

I began to alternate between breathing into my hara/belly center and bones, and relaxing into expansion. I practiced pulling all the way into my body, resisting the almost inevitable pull to “leak” energy as soon as people showed up. I practiced keeping my energy contained. When I did this I picked up signals to the effect that people experienced me I as cold. Containment felt counter to my natural affability.

I now had to work through my feelings and judgments about allowing myself to separate from others when I need to. At first I felt that I must choose between being friendly and being intact. As I gained skill in alternating between my expanded state and anchoring in my belly, I became able to give people a moment of friendly contact and then pull my energy back in after they passed, noticing any leaking that may have begun to occur. (I’ve learned to relate openly without leaking when I’m working. Apparently doing it in passing is a different skill. I think that’s about wanting to connect quickly and going too deep too fast.)

As people passed, I returned to my expanded, fully-open state, letting myself spread out and feel connected with nature and life. If I stay that open at close range with people I still tend to pick Stuff up. This is getting less and less as I am able to maintain a strong anchor and quickly sort my energy out from theirs.

I look forward to being able to maintain expanded states and solid body awareness at the same time, experiencing unity without feeling entangled. Practicing states alternately is a good start.

When we habitually “read” the energy around us it can keep us in contracted states. We look out AT people and may feel invaded by them instead of feeling at One.  SENSING the energy is different than “reading” it. We just know, just feel, just sense. Sensing is less characterized by a sense of being the Doer. It is body centered, not mind centered.

It is easier to feel the heart from sensing than from thinking.

By Sensing we can feel connected without leaking or taking unwanted energy in. Simply sensing–without an overlay of thought– does not involve considerations about what might be. It stays with what IS. Sensing relies on body awareness AND energy awareness. The body becomes the anchor–but the whole boat is part of us too.

Which of the themes in this post do YOU connect with the most?

How aware are you of your energy responses to other people?

I have always been highly sensitive to energy. Initially this was only a liability. For several decades, the suggestions I received for energy protection did not work. Some depended on catching Stuff before it got in. Some depended on concentration I had not developed. Some depended on being able to ground myself and stay in my body.

I was compromised from layers and layers of Stuff that had already entered my energy fields. This energy pulled in, by resonance, all sorts of negative energy from my environment. My fields were shredded. Chunks of my energy were displaced. I did not have the focus and clarity required to repair my fields or to effectively use techniques for protection.

The easy tips didn’t change anything for me at that point. When I tried to apply them and they had no real impact, I felt inadequate. Visualizing didn’t do much. I wondered whether I was supposed to fantasize that it did, but I don’t hold with faking things.

Some years later, for about eighteen months, I was close friends and worked with a very powerful clairvoyant, clairaudient healer. When we treated clients together I realized that I could ‘patch in’ and see and hear whatever he did. Additionally, I began to get a clear sense of the most effective sequence for treatment.

The healer and I would call one another almost daily, and scan our energy to see if it had become compromised. Doing energy work with clients we sometimes picked up Stuff, which distorted our ability to ‘see’ clearly to work on ourselves. We ‘read’ one another’s fields to determine whether energy had come in, its source, its nature, its exact location, and its impact. This was great training and assistance!

Unfortunately, the healer’s personal approach to energy protection was so aggressive that it could quickly and actually harm anyone by whom he felt threatened. Issues about his ethics lead to our separation. I once encountered his energy defenses by accident and became seriously ill in ten minutes. I had to get seriously skilled help to recover, which still took several days.

The healer did not address the emotional issues that caused him to pick up energy. He defended himself from everyone without considering any part he might play. He also set friends and couples against one another by making them fear picking up each other’s energy, sometimes breaking up their relationships.

After doing personal work with an advanced healer, a Qi Gong master and a genuine spiritual teacher over a period of years I began to:

• Correct damages in my energy fields that led to taking Stuff in
• Close and fill in long-standing holes and reclaim missing chunks
• Develop my sense of self and energy boundaries
• Notice moments when energy might transfer
• Effectively follow protection tips
• Clear myself quickly so picking up energy was not such a big deal
• Resonate at frequencies that are not consistent with picking Stuff up
• Recognize when I am becoming invested and therefore too open
• Feel into my body and bones with my breath and energy, so I can fully occupy myself
• Ground myself effectively so I have actual energy contact with the earth
• Rarely attract people or circumstances that carry negative energy

This journey made clarified, strengthened, purified, and tempered me, taught me exceptional discernment, prompted me to confront and resolve emotional issues, improved all my relationships, and made me much more comfortable being in the world. It supported my sense of Purpose. I have become more balanced, capable, solid, focused, and able to remain intact under different circumstances.

Part of my mission is to smooth and hasten the journey of and offer hope for those who need a comprehensive understanding of energy dynamics.

Our personal energy relationship with the world is our interface with life. We do not fix it like flossing our teeth. It changes as we explore our beliefs, intentions, attitudes, and responses.

What draws YOU to learning to manage your energy?

What was your life like before you had any understanding about how energy works?

There is no question that we are all energetically connected.

How could it possibly be otherwise? Consider remote healing, effective prayer for other people, almost-palpable bonds of love, the many times you know who it is when the phone rings. Consider how we pick up energy from people or places, the impact of psychic attack or someone brooding on you with ill will, and that many animals instantly sense bad intentions.

Consciously or without knowing it, global events impact us. We influence one another constantly, from near and far. The more we hold in common with others, the stronger our mutual impact can be. How we feel and the energy we put out has an effect on everyone with whom we are connected, directly or indirectly, whether or not they are aware of our state.

If we ask how to shield ourselves from influence, we must also ask how, when, and why it is wise to OPEN ourselves to influence.

Looking at connection with others through the lens of the detrimental energy we might pick up from them reinforces a polarized view. Polar views increase reactivity by making the available options seem extreme. Thinking we must be either open or closed will grossly limit our scope of experience, and bring up emotions about it.

Developing energy mastery allows us to move intentionally along the entire continuum between solidly experiencing our individuality and expanding into spiritual Oneness. In addition to moving between these poles, we can also chose to filter or mediate the types of energy we absorb, to take in energy that assists us and pass through energy that does not. This way we are traversing a vast and varied terrain instead of sliding back and forth between extremes.

Dealing with energy sensitivity by finding ways to insulate from the world overlooks the great importance of feeling connected with all of life.

The way we interface with the world from a standpoint of our energy has enormous implications. It involves:

• Our basic feeling of safety
• How me move through the world
• How connected we feel with life
• Our capacity for healthy intimacy
• Our ability to select healthy foods and circumstances
• How we develop awareness and wake up spiritually
• Our ability to recognize relevant spiritual guidance
• Spiritual goals and life purpose

This larger context provides positive goals and a constructive standpoint. We may take direction by turning our sensitivity into a blessing as we expand our horizons. In this expanded context of energy sensitivity the important question is:

How do we learn to develop and maintain a strong enough sense of self to feel safe and stabile while we expand our awareness and interface lovingly with others?

This question can be absorbed and pondered as a life guide over a period of months or years.

I understand that this approach may not be satisfying in the short term. I will provide plenty of practical tips as we go along.
As we move toward this ideal for spiritual and emotional growth, times and circumstances may require methods and techniques for energy protection. These interventions, if effective, may serve us well. Remembering the larger goal of connecting with all of life–with good boundaries–will keep us from becoming defensive or edgy as we gain awareness.

Have YOU gone through a period of being uncomfortably open to energy?

Have you ever become defensive in response to feeling unpleasant energy that you feared might come in?

What makes you feel safer and more comfortable?