Energy Shifts: How They Affect Us Personally and Collectively
THE WORLD OPERATES AS ENERGY
Underneath the surface of matter, everything is energy. What we see as solid is made up of moving particles, atoms, protons, electrons, you get the drill. These moving particles interact with each other and emit vibrations and frequency into the world around us. Our own thoughts, emotions, and behaviors also emit energy into the invisible field we live in. Whether you are aware of this or not, we are moving amongst waves of energetic information all day long. Step into a crowded room and you will feel the energy level is much more active than when the room is empty. If you are sensitive, you may feel the continuous sea of ever-changing energetic information. If you do not feel energy, but you have a keen sense of when things feel different, you can notice how quickly you or people around you are affected by what happens in the environment.
When you are unaware of this phenomenon, it’s easy to simply react to everything you encounter. Living in a reactionary state of mind leaves you believing everything is being done to you and how you react to it is out of your hands. It’s true that many things happen out of our control. Life happens every day. Things we least expect shock us and leave us feeling incredibly distraught. However, there is an alternative. You can make a choice in how you see every situation you encounter. There are many different options you can choose, it’s simply a matter of knowing you have the ability to see how you wish to see. This doesn’t mean the physical experience will change, but it does mean the way in which you experience it will.
SHIFTS IN OUR MOODS
One of the number one ways to work with your own energy is to notice how your moods shift throughout the day. You can be enjoying the moment, feeling joyful, happy, and full of laughter, then someone says something that offends you and now you are crushed. That gut-wrenching feeling just pulled you into a feeling of anger, disappointment, and disgust from this person’s diarrhea of the mouth! Look how fast this transfer of energy happens. It’s immediate. And it’s possible that this encounter will keep you in this state of mind the remainder of the day. You may even get up the next day and still be foaming at the mouth you’re so upset. As human beings we feel emotional about most things in life, don’t we? Sometimes the emotional mood swings can be so extreme we feel like we are totally out of control.
What is a mood anyway? How does it happen? How can we go from feeling one way, and in an instant go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum? Isn’t that wild? Typically, the mind will attach itself to a feeling, an emotion, an idea, a belief, a concept, an experience, or any other life circumstance which creates the mood we are in. Think about it in your own life for a moment. When something bothers you, you are thinking about it. The mind is grabbing a hold of it so tightly and will not let go. All it takes is another stronger thought to come along and you’ll be lured into a different mood. It’s extraordinary how much a thought can control how we feel. When we lack awareness, it seems we are just a product of our reactions and our feelings. This cycle continues over and over again and changes our moods accordingly. Just test it in your life and see what happens. How often does your mind grab ahold of something and simply won’t let it go?
Eventually you may get tired of being on the Ferris wheel. When is it time to exit the ride? What can you do to shift your energy so that these moods become less extreme? Is there a way to flow with what is happening around you instead of becoming everything you encounter? Energy can be very powerful. When you are not seeing this yet, you believe life is happening to you. As the curiosity within builds and you desire to feel differently, then you are able to create the space for learning. You must learn how to allow energy to flow through you instead of becoming you. You shift out of feeling like a victim in sea of madness, into a confident grounded person who can choose how to see life. These two perspectives are very different things. Taking on someone else’s energy, getting trapped in your own, and believing you have no choice in the matter can make life very difficult. When you learn to step out of the mental chatter and realize you can absolutely choose how you experience life, the door swings wide open toward the path to freedom.
GROUP OR COLLECTIVE ENERGY TRANSFER
Groups of all kinds can have an effect on the way you feel. Whether it’s small groups of friends, family, or co-workers, the way other people feel can find a home in your personal space. It’s difficult to know if you are being influenced by the masses or not. Sometimes we get lured into believing certain things just because the group does. Small scale groups, larger community organizations, as well as the entire global collective can have a huge impact on our own energy field and how we feel. When you are unaware of this, it just happens and you become a product of what everyone else wants you to do. When you are able to pull away from the collective, or whatever group you are surrounded by, you can begin to find your own sense of self. Connecting with the field of awareness to see if you are truly in line with what is happening or if you are simply being influenced to believe something that may or may not resonate with you.
If you are someone sensitive to the energy of others, or the energy of groups, then you might feel bombarded from all directions and have no idea what is yours, and what is coming from other people, let alone the collective mentality. We are affected on so many levels and it is easy to fall prey to this unrecognizable attack. When you begin to notice your moods are being affected by events that are out of your control, you can start asking yourself, “Do I need to let this bother me so much? Can I find my own sense of self, my own energy field in the midst of whatever the group is emitting?” Yes, you absolutely can. It takes dedication and practice in order to discern what is your energy field, and what is the collective group, but it is possible. You don’t have to become the people around you. You don’t have to take on their energy if you don’t wish to. Taking time to learn how you unknowingly take on group mentalities can shift how you feel.
Just look at the last few years and notice where you were taking on the collective’s energy. The pandemic certainly affected people in a variety of different ways. People had onions, opinions that pulled people apart, and many families had animosity toward each other. Some felt they knew what was best for everyone else, and it’s easy to hold on to this energy in your own space. The collective energy has a huge pull on us whether we know it or not. We often feel the right thing to do should be the right thing for everyone, when maybe it isn’t. Feeling pressure from others can persuade us to do something we may not be onboard with. Notice in your own smaller group environment where you get pulled into what everyone else thinks you should be doing. What do your friends think? What does your family think you should be doing? Is this what feels right to you? Or are you simply trying to please others while you deny what is truly right for you? If you begin to look at how you are influenced by those around you, or how you are impacted by the larger collective, you can start to make changes that clear your energy field instead of continuing to bring it down.
MANAGING YOUR OWN ENERGY
You can’t control other people or the energy they give off. That is wishful thinking, not to mention impossible. We are all essentially responsible for our own state of mind and the energy field we inhabit. Imagine if we had all been taught how to manage our feelings, our emotions, and beliefs on the energetic level as children. Life would look differently today. However, it is never too late to work with your own energy field, to clear your field daily just like taking a shower. Most people have some sort of personal hygiene routine, why is this any different? Can you manage your energetic hygiene like you do your physical hygiene? Does the energy of others or from the collective have to rule our state of being? Can we work with these energy shifts and their effect on our moods to find a sense of stability and peace, even as we experience life’s turbulence? Of course we can.
First, stepping out of thought and realizing there is a decision to make about how you see every situation in life is a step toward liberating a repetitive emotional cycle. It will also facilitate a shift within your own energy field from feeling heavy and stuck, into feeling lighter and able to move freely. One of the very first things to do anytime you are upset, offended, or angry is to go inside of yourself. If you can, close your eyes, detach from the comment that just destroyed you, and focus on the stillness within. Use your breath to breathe in slowly and deeply, followed by exhaling just as deeply. Repeating this process a few times will pull you into a calmer state and allow the awareness within you to come forward. Use this simple task to ground yourself from whatever irritation you have experienced.
Then, examine your thinking. What just happened? What did you think about the situation? What specific thought did you attach to? Do you see a reason to hold on to this? Can you see a reason to let go of this attachment? Is it serving or hurting you? Evaluating your own thinking can give you the space to get real with the situation. It also allows you to see what you are doing. Are you able to find the calm within and let go of the concept, idea, thought, belief, emotion, experience, or feeling that is holding you back?
Finally, de-personalize. Is everything you hear always about you? Do you take things personally when they aren’t personal? Watch how quickly your ego mind will grab a hold of a comment and see it as a personal attack, when maybe it wasn’t. Can you stop taking everything so seriously and allow yourself to lighten up. When you see that not everything is about you, life becomes easier. It becomes clearer and you feel much more relaxed in your day-to-day life. Taking yourself out of things that don’t involve you opens the door to true freedom. Knowing how to discern between something that is about you and something that has nothing to do with you makes life much more manageable. Taking everything that happens in the world as a personal attack is a lot of heavy energy to carry around. When it’s not about you, why carry this load? It’s not necessary and only inhibits you from discovering the peace within yourself, and the peace you could extend to others. Using these simple tools as you walk through your life can filter the energy from your own personal space and make your life lighter, freer, and much more manageable.