Positive Energy Guide

I would like to address comments and questions before we move on. One reader said she was hoping for tips on minimizing energy vulnerability. I’m sure there she is not alone!

We will get into some tips in this series. For any energy intervention to be effective and fully of benefit, we must address the way we look at energy sensitivity and the standpoint we adopt.

My reader said she had never seen the ways that energy transfers elucidated. I have not either. I have seen lists of assorted cooties and psychic hazards. These never include the ways WE get into relationship WITH them. Virtually everything I have read about energy transfer fosters a defensive stance.

Hyper-vigilance and defense engender an us/them attitude. The energetics of this stance is similar to–and sometimes mirrors–the way the immune system operates when it becomes overactive. We begin to see potential invaders everywhere and cannot relax. This bumps up our adrenal response and eventually exhausts the adrenals. It also leads to viewing other people as threatening, or contact with people as dangerous. Feeling ambivalent about contact and isolating to stay safe is not a positive state.

What to do?

I don’t support denial, or consider denying the negative to be positive.

In this series I aim to address the CONTEXT from which we manage our energy. We cannot simply figure out how to shut out what we don’t like and be spiritually healthy. Attempts to do so can close us down and shut down awareness. To effectively address sensitivity to energy we need to work our related issues. The Pearls from Pain Series and Inner Work Series (under Personal Development Tab) speak to this. Also see previous posts on Dealing with External Energies.

I spent years learning to reduce my vulnerability to energy. One of my early mentors called my attempts “Band-Aid therapy.” He suggested “becoming transparent” as an alternate goal to energy protection. Being transparent means becoming clear enough that energy that is not ours does not have anything to STICK to, so it moves on through without resistance.

Resolving issues eliminates the energy Velcro that attracts and holds on to ambient energy. Resolving issues is a lot of work, but exponentially improves our lives.

In the short term it Band-Aids and energy protection may be necessary. The Highest Possible Option is to take on your own development and to relate cleanly with others. “Cleanly” means with good boundaries, self-awareness, and without manipulation.

As a technique, it is a good idea to set up a clear, inner statement of intention, to take in only energy that serves you in any particular circumstance. It can be convenient to “set” your state by establishing a particular intention. Trying to control your state in advance of a situation is less than ideal, however, since being on automatic is not consistent with being spiritually awake and responsive.

An ideal to work toward: Develop a fluid, responsive, and discerning state of Being, from which to respond to life’s changing conditions.

The more we become established in maintaining healthy energy boundaries and in being able to alternate quickly and cleanly from a more-expanded state of awareness to a grounded, body-centered state, the less effort and attention is directed into defense. At first this is like a martial artist learning body awareness habits that kick in when needed, without walking around defensive or being unprepared in an actual attack.

As we develop mastery, we just shift our focus and our breath in a natural way that allows us to feel at ease. We deal gracefully with potential issues before we might feel a need for defense.

This being said, while I am moving toward that mastery, I still do use methods for energy protection from time to time, particularly when working directly with clients when their energy is compromised.

I will say more about all this in other posts.

How has learning that energy can transfer between people impacted your life?

What skills and insights have you developed as a result?

Energy-sensitive people are usually empathic and intuitive. We tend to have challenges keeping a healthy balance between our own needs and the needs of others. This leads to various issues managing energy. We may find ourselves, for example, dealing with unwanted energy coming into our systems, or find that energy we need for ourselves is leaking out of us as we interact with others. Our porousness–open fields–can be confusing.

In this series we will explore “leaking.” By “leaking,” I am referring to this phenomenon of porousness. Leaking is the opposite of being contained and insular. An ideal balance allows us to modulate how open or contained we are in any given moment, so we get to choose how we are impacted by energy, and whether or not we give it away.

Some energy-sensitive people attempt to insulate through isolation. Periods of isolation or retreat can be regenerative. As a lifestyle, isolation makes for an unfulfilling emotional life.

According to the well-known intuitive psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Orloff, a large percentage of intuitives are chronically fatigued. She talks about “the very real situation of empathic illnesses where empaths literally take on the stress and symptoms of others.” Judith goes on to say: “Because empaths can be emotional sponges and take on the literal symptoms of others, it adds to their stress levels and leaves them more vulnerable to adrenal fatigue.”

Leaking energy is a significant cause of fatigue.

Energy-sensitive people often notice that unwanted energy gets IN–and less often attend to the issue of energy leaking OUT. Invasion by or absorption of other people’s energies commands our attention, yet leaking out also breaches our energy fields. Leaking creates, in fact, avenues through which external energy may enter.

In several posts in the Guidance Series we looked at managing external energies and influences. We know that energy that is not our own rarely enters us without some sort of–usually unconscious–participation on our part.

In Part 2 we’ll consider types of interaction that can open us up to energy transfer.

Over time I have developed the opinion that our experiences of taking on energy are lessons. These incidents point out how or where we need to shore up and clarify our sense of self, intentions, boundaries, or energy fields. By using these experiences to learn from we put them to beneficial use. This attitude helps us relax excessive vigilance and learn to keep ourselves safe without having to isolate ourselves. We may still find the barrage of impressions we receive from other people overwhelming, and need time alone to recharge, but we will be in better shape and more comfortable around people. This development takes time and practice.

In the beginning of this learning process it is easy to view unpleasant energy influences as originating from outside self. They may indeed originate outside of us–but the parts of us that allow them IN are INside. At this stage we may respond defensively or feel unsafe around people whose energy impacts us.

As we develop more mastery and therefore choice about what comes in, we feel safer and our perspective begins to change. We learn to work with our own energy and emotions to prevent energy transfer instead of having to avoid people. We may still choose to avoid some people, but we can deal with a broader range of energies when we necessary. Our responses and boundaries make us less susceptible to unwholesome influences. We also become much more skilled at removing energy that DOES get in. Clearing ourselves becomes more like cleaning mud off your shoes and less like being a target.

Exploring the ways and the reasons why we leak OUT energy around others takes this Work to yet another level of experience. We gain even more choice about how we spend our precious vital force.

Learning how to minimize leaking is a wonderful discipline in the ongoing development of energy management–and eventual mastery.

When and how do YOU leak energy?

What do you tell yourself about why you do it?