What if protecting your energy isn’t really about protecting yourself from other people, but more about learning how to stay connected with yourself?
This is Video 10, the final video in my Positive Energy Protection series. If you struggle with getting drained by other people, taking on negative energy, bringing the energy of work home with you, or suddenly feeling terrible after being around somebody when you felt good beforehand, this series has been about giving you practical tools to work with that.
The core idea is not to become afraid of energy or to build walls around yourself. When we build walls, we can also block ourselves from experiencing life fully. We resist, hold and create tension.
Instead, we can learn to become more present, aware and connected with ourselves. When you have tools to work with what you’re experiencing, you don’t have to be as afraid of being affected by what is happening around you.
Awareness Helps You Stay Connected With Yourself
Awareness is at the heart of everything we’ve explored throughout this series.
Practise sitting quietly and connecting with your breathing. Become familiar with what your own energy feels like.
Notice when you feel good. Notice when you become anxious. Notice when you suddenly feel drained or pulled away from yourself.
The more familiar you become with your own internal experience, the easier it becomes to recognize when something changes.
Your point of power is in the present moment.
When you notice yourself being pulled into old patterns, anxiety or somebody else’s energy, you can come back to your breathing and reconnect with yourself.
Learn What energy and Emotions Are Yours and What Belongs to Someone Else
If you are very sensitive or empathic, you may pick up strongly on other people’s feelings and energy. Sometimes you may experience what another person is feeling almost as though it belongs to you.
That can become overwhelming when you already have your own feelings and experiences to process.
Mindfulness and awareness can help you become clearer about where you are.
Feel your feet on the floor. Feel yourself sitting in the chair. Notice your breathing and your body. Get a sense of where you end and the chair begins.
As you become more connected with yourself, you can begin to recognize the difference between what you are feeling and what you may be picking up from somebody else. Pasted markdown
Strengthen Your Own Energy
Rather than putting all your attention on protecting yourself from negative energy, build and strengthen your own energy.
Use mindfulness and present-moment awareness to connect with yourself.
You can also visualize yourself filled with and surrounded by light and positive energy. Use the power of your mind to set positive intentions for how you want to feel and how you want to move through an experience.
The stronger and clearer your own energy feels, the less easily you may feel pulled down by what is happening around you.
Before an Interaction: Know Where You Are and Where You’re Going
Setting intentions is powerful because an intention gives you a direction.
Imagine trying to get to a store without knowing which store you’re going to or where it is. You could wander around for a long time without getting anywhere.
But even if you have a map, you first need to know where you are.
The same applies before an interaction.
Before going into work, meeting somebody, attending a family or social event, going shopping, or moving into another part of your day, take a moment to connect with where you are right now.
Breathe.
Feel your body.
Feel the ground beneath you.
Then ask yourself:
•What am I moving into?
•How do I want to feel?
•What is my intention?
•How do I want this experience to flow?
See it in your mind. Imagine it going well.
You can even imagine putting on the “role” you’re stepping into, like taking a coat off a hook and putting it on. If you’re going to work, for example, consciously step into what that professional role means to you.
You now know where you are and where you’re going.
During an Interaction: Come Back to the Present
Once an interaction begins, it’s easy to forget everything you prepared beforehand.
You become distracted by what you’re doing, the person you’re talking with, or whatever is happening around you.
This is where awareness becomes important again.
Notice when you’re getting pulled away.
Notice when you’re becoming drained.
Then come back to your breathing and your body.
Reconnect with the intention you set beforehand and take the experience one step at a time, one moment at a time.
You don’t have to think too far ahead. You already set your direction. Now stay connected with what is happening in this moment.
Being confident doesn’t necessarily mean knowing exactly what is going to happen. It can mean trusting that you can stay present with what you feel and take the next step.
After an Interaction: Complete It and Let It Go
When the experience is finished, consciously recognize that it is complete.
Perhaps you’ve finished work and you’re sitting in your car. Maybe you’ve left a social situation or finished spending time with somebody.
Take a few breaths and clear your energy.
You might imagine your energy and the other person’s energy as two bubbles that had been touching and now gently separate and float away from one another.
If you imagined putting on a role beforehand, take that role off and hang it back on the hook.
You can also imagine a shower of light moving through you, cleansing away energy you no longer need to carry.
If something bothered you, briefly acknowledge it. Ask yourself whether there’s something you want to do differently next time.
Then let the experience go.
Ask yourself, “What am I doing next?”
And the process begins again.
Keep the Process Simple
Don’t overcomplicate this.
At first, you may need to consciously remind yourself of the different steps. With practice, it can become much easier and more natural.
Sometimes it may only take a few breaths:
Notice.
Breathe.
Come back into the present moment.
You don’t have to know everything that comes next. You can simply recognize, “I don’t know exactly what I’m doing right now, but I’m here. I can breathe. I can take this one step at a time. I can learn what I need to learn or ask for help.”
That is self-empowerment.
It’s developing confidence in your ability to be present with yourself and navigate what is happening as you move through life.
You Don’t Have to Block Yourself From Life
Fear can pull us away from the present moment.
As you practise being present and becoming more comfortable with what you feel, you can build greater confidence in your ability to experience other people’s energy without automatically taking it on or needing to block it.
The goal isn’t to shut yourself away from life.
It is to be present with life.
Be present. Be aware. Stay connected with yourself.
The tools are already there in something as simple as your breathing and your ability to return your awareness to this moment.
Your point of power is in the present.
Explore the Full Positive Energy Protection Series
If you’re discovering the Positive Energy Protection series through this final video, I encourage you to go back to the beginning and work through the complete series.
We explore why you may feel drained or affected by other people, how to become more aware of your own energy, ways to strengthen and clear your energy, and the practical before, during and after process for moving through interactions while staying connected with yourself.
You can also return to individual videos whenever you need a reminder of a particular tool.
Free 1-Hour Video Consultation
If you regularly feel drained by other people, overwhelmed by what you pick up around you, or find it difficult to stay connected with yourself in challenging situations, I offer a free 1-hour video consultation. We can talk about what you’re experiencing and how it affects your life, explore possible underlying patterns and root causes, discuss your goals for healing and change, and look at my therapy process to see whether working together feels like the right fit for you.
FREE Self-Help Mindfulness Series
Mindfulness has been an important foundation throughout this Positive Energy Protection series because becoming more present helps you recognize what you’re feeling and notice when something begins to pull you away from yourself.
My FREE Self-Help Mindfulness Series provides a simple practice that can help you:
•Become more familiar with your own feelings and body sensations
•Connect with your breathing and the present moment
•Notice when you begin feeling drained, anxious or overwhelmed
•Recognize when you’re being pulled away from yourself
•Become more comfortable being present with what you feel
•Return your awareness to yourself during challenging interactions
•Build greater confidence in your ability to move through experiences one moment at a time
There is no sign-up required.
Counselling Hypnotherapy
Sometimes being strongly affected by other people or having difficulty staying grounded connects with deeper emotional patterns, anxiety, past experiences or subconscious responses.
Counselling and hypnotherapy can provide an opportunity to explore those patterns while developing greater awareness of your thoughts, feelings and responses so you can become more present and connected with yourself.
Counselling Victoria:
Hypnotherapy Victoria:
I hope this Positive Energy Protection series has given you practical tools you can return to whenever you need them. These are things I’ve learned through my own experiences of becoming drained by other people’s energy and gradually learning how to stay present, set intentions, navigate interactions and let go of energy afterwards.
Be present. Be aware. Stay connected with yourself.
And remember: your point of power is in the present moment.
Arne Pedersen
