Have you ever cried for no reason or expressed emotions for inexplicable reasons? Well, this could mean one of two things: There actually is a reason and you’re just avoiding it, or you’re sensitive to energy around you.
For example, I attended a funeral last week and immediately after walking into the room, I felt a dense and heavy energy. For a few days afterwards, I did not feel like myself. Yes, many may attribute this to mourning, but to me death represents more of a celebration than a goodbye.
I realized that at least some of the emotions I was feeling didn’t seem like my own because they weren’t; I hadn’t energetically cleansed myself since the ceremony, so I was still extremely susceptible to other people’s energies.
Learning to Accept and Love ‘Negativity’
Before you go blaming all of your emotions on “being sensitive to ‘negative’ energy,” let’s clarify what exactly ‘negative’ energy is.
There seems to be a genuine misunderstanding surrounding negativity within the New Age Spirituality movement. When discussing negativity, I often hear people say “negativity is non-existent” or “all that exists is the Light.” Yes, the fact that we come from and are one with Source (or Love or Light) is a universal truth, but that doesn’t mean we may not perceive and believe in negativity, which makes it something we feel.
We are all souls, individual fragments of Source manifested, and we’re here expressing our human experiences. Part of that experience is living in a dualistic world at this time, and in this dimension, duality still exists: light and darkness, love and fear, negative and positive, and so on.
So, if a perceivably negative emotion comes up after you suffer a trauma, to brush it off by saying “you don’t exist” may lead to you suppressing that emotion. The point isn’t to run away from darkness, but rather to face it head on and accept it. After all, could we fully appreciate the good times without the challenging ones?
I say “perceivably negative” because, when it all comes down to it, it’s all about your perception. What makes something negative negative in the first place? Our minds and particularly our egos develop these programs that can cause us distinguish right from wrong and positive from negative while in this world. However, would we still view things as negative if those programs weren’t there?
There isn’t a simple answer to this question, but I’ll try to provide you with an example. Earlier this week, my door broke as I was leaving my house to meet a friend. My mind immediately started to elicit a stressful response to what had happened, so I originally perceived the situation as an issue or as a “negative” situation. However, I decided to remove myself from the drama my mind was quickly creating, silence it, and follow my gut instead.
My door breaking actually ended up being a wonderful opportunity for me to fix it myself! I’m a young woman without much experience using tools, so I felt extremely empowered after I fixed the door myself using the random tools I had. The situation that many would perceive as a negative, to me, was actually a positive experience!
You can do this with anything in life. For example, if you’re super late for a meeting, perhaps you avoided a car accident as a result. If you get fired from a job, perhaps you would’ve been miserable if you had stayed. The moment you decide to change your perception and look at things for what they are, the more you’ll understand that everything is in perfect order and somehow serving you.
How Do We Define and Recognize Negativity?
So, how do we define negativity? Well, it’s important to acknowledge that what we define as negativity has a lower vibration than what we define as positivity. In simpler terms, imagine a time where you could feel something as being ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ I’m not referring to the programs stored in your mind and societal constructs, but rather your intuitive feelings. For example, you may have had this sinking feeling in your gut when something felt “wrong.” That’s your intuition picking up on vibrational frequencies! And there is science to back that sort of feeling.
Everything has its own vibration and frequency. When you really think about it, everything is made up of energy, so this makes perfect sense. For example, when it comes to various emotions, these can raise or decrease your own vibration, causing us to emit a different field. The HearthMath Institute has actually scientifically proven this, as their research shows that positive emotions create physiological benefits in your body and negative emotions have the opposite effect.
Much of HeartMath’s research is actually on the heart. Their findings show that the electromagnetic field emitted from the human heart can be measured and that by simply shifting our emotions, we can alter the information that’s coded into these heart-radiated magnetic fields. The heart has a system of neurons with both short term and long term memories and so, when heart signals are sent to the brain, they affect our emotional experiences. In fact, HeartMath has shown that by thinking positive thoughts, you can boost your immune system.
If you’re interested in learning more about vibrations, frequencies, and the law of attraction, I’d suggest listening to Kevin Trudeau‘s audio CDs. His work is fairly controversial; however, I find a lot of truth within it.
How to Rid Yourself of Negative Energy
If you’ve noticed you’re susceptible to negative energy or feel you need to block yourself from it, here are a few things you can do:
Energetic Shielding
I’m a huge fan of this, but you need to be careful about your intention behind it. All you need to do is envision a white light (or specific colour that resonates with you) around you that’s “shielding” your body from any outer energies. For example, I’ve done this at funerals, while driving, or in other settings people perceive to be full of negative energy or danger.
However, if you’re energetically shielding yourself from the negativity you’re perceiving to be coming from another individual, this may be a good opportunity to look inwards. Why is it that you’re perceiving this individual as being so negative? Since we’re all, at least to some degree, reflections of each other, if that individual has a trait you’re perceiving to be extremely negative, perhaps that trait is one that you hold within you as well.
It’s also important to note that energetic shields force you to spend a lot of energy holding them up. If you’re consciously thinking about creating and maintaining that field, then you may not be fully present. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with energetic shielding — it is a beautiful practice with many excellent uses — but you should consider the intent behind your shield as well as weigh your other options before using one.
Cord Cutting
Emotional cords are bound to you, often from specific events, traumas, and/or from other people transferring energy to you, and they can be considered as positive or negative. For example, positive cords can be found when you’re in love, as your partner wishes the best for you. Negative cords could be created from your own self-judgement or from someone pushing negative emotions onto you. Whether the cords you have are positive or negative, it is ideal to have no emotional cords whatsoever.
Sound Reiki Healer Catherine Varga shared this simple method with me to release energetic/emotional cords. Whenever you feel an energetic tie or emotional cord has been established, you can release it by physically pulling it out of you. Once you notice its presence on one of your chakras, you can use your hands to pull the cord out of you, as if you’re pulling a rope, and then visualize it leaving your body.
Washing Your Hands or Body
Much like your physical body, your energetic body needs to maintain good hygiene, too. Water is one of our greatest assets because it can cleanse both our physical and energetic bodies. An excellent way to rid yourself of other people’s energy is to actually physically wash your hands or whole body. As you feel the water flowing down on you, envision all of the negative energy washing off too.
Sage or “Smudging”
Not only does sage smell awesome, but it can also cleanse your home and your body of negative energy. Smudging with sage has been used for many years to cleanse people’s energetic auras and rid outer environments of negative energy.
Final Thoughts
It’s important to note that negativity can always serve you in some way. Your soul chose to incarnate onto this planet and experience duality, so how can negativity be “a bad thing?” Don’t run from darkness; treat it as a learning opportunity. By learning about and accepting the darker parts of ourselves and the universe, we can begin to fully appreciate the light.