negative energy
Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired
I first learned of the HALT acronym when I joined Alcoholics Anonymous many years ago. In hindsight, had I applied its simple, yet powerful technique, I might have avoided several slips along the path to my sobriety. I also realize now that the HALT concept is an integral part of loving ourselves, and it thus assists us more on our spiritual path to greater serenity.
HALT is an acronym for:
H – Never get too Hungry
A – Never get too Angry
L – Never get too Lonely
T – Never get too Tired
During one of my heavy drinking episodes, many years ago, I was working a job which required me to be away from home constantly. I was working extensive and erratic hours with a team of co-workers who were all heavy drinkers.
At this time I was subject to everything in the HALT scenario. I was often hungry, because we were pretty much on call to travel anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. I never knew when I would next be able to eat. In hindsight, I guess I could have been better prepared with personal emergency provisions, but we were always promised that the next trip wouldn’t be so grueling.
I was also constantly angry at the company for exploiting me. The amount of erratic and long hours we slaved was not what we had signed up for.
The Challenge To Remain In The Light
What is the one area of your life that you would prefer to improve or change entirely? Mine without question would be to remain in the Light.
We live in a digital age, where we have instant access to information of all varieties… some truthful, others not so accurate. Once in a while this leads to something of value, but for the most part it is just a bombardment of noise, which is mostly designed to make us purchase and consume more products and services than we really need.
Scare tactics, for example, encourage us to buy more medication and nutritional supplements than any reputable doctor would recommend. Fearmongering convinces us to install excessive additional security for our homes. And airbrushed models tempt us into buying an endless assortment of goods that seldom add much value to our daily lives.
Meanwhile many of us have the tendency to complain about the government, the exorbitant rates charged for our monthly utility services, and the escalating cost of food and basic necessities.
The personal challenge for me is to allow myself the guilty pleasure of discussing any of these topics without vibrating into a negative state of mind. I can physically feel, in my body, the moment my energy starts to get into that negative energy frequency.
The Integrity Of Being Non-Judgmental
This is the age of being non-judgmental. So, does this mean you love and accept your neighbor who is a registered sex offender? Do you not say anything to your best friend when her partner is cheating on her, or stealing from her, because you don’t want to judge and be negative? Where does being non-judgmental begin and end? And what if non-judgment is really cowardice instead?
Native people all over the world, before so-called civilization, did not have police or prisons. Tribal members held each other accountable, on many different levels. You could not act in a way that was harmful to the rest of the tribe, without someone calling you out and bringing you before the elders, the shamans, or the tribal council. Tribes would punish or exile any person that caused harm to the tribe.
These days, if you dare call anyone out for their misconduct, you risk being branded as negative and judgmental, and told you need to practice unconditional love. Sadly, this means that it usually takes decades of abuse, before something like the Me Too movement, or any form of human or civil rights abuse is finally brought into the light and confronted.
Sociology and Social Psychology label tribal culture as form of collectivism, meaning the good of the majority comes first, before the needs of the individual. But in some circles fearmongers prefer to label collectivist behavior as ‘socialism’ or ‘communism.’ Continue reading
Moving On After A Relationship Breakup
I sometimes have clients who are struggling to move past a recent break-up, or they want to know if they will get back together with an ex. Focusing on the past, by wanting to go back to a happier time, or a relationship that left us sad when it ended, prevents us from living fully in the present. And this may be blocking your path to true happiness.
On the flip side, sometimes the universe will block your forward movement, because you are not truly ready for it. If you need to go through a period of grieving the past, do so in the healthiest way by looking towards the future.
The next chapter for you will be richer if you focus on the path ahead, be it with your ex in a new realm, or someone new. Just know the energy that you give out when you are stuck in the past does not welcome new relationships into your life – at least not healthy ones.
No one wants to go through the pain, sadness or loneliness of a breakup. In my mid-20’s I ended a very serious five year relationship. He had already bought the ring. I knew we were close to making a bigger commitment, but he had broken my trust many times in the relationship.
So, as I looked towards a future with him, I knew I no longer wanted to continue. The relationship ended abruptly and all contact with him was severed, like a death. As I look back I realize it had to end this way, as the relationship was only going in one direction, and I no longer wanted it, even though I still deeply cared for him.
Protect Your Energy From Toxic People
It is vital to protect ourselves energetically from toxic, negative people. It is essential to our health and well-being. To one degree or another we’ve all have experienced negative, toxic people. These people are sometimes easy to detect, but not always.
The most typical scenario I have encountered is the unkind or rude family member, or distant relative. These are also the most difficult to dealt with, because we often time have no choice but to spend time with them at family events and gatherings. Usually we feel we have no choice in the matter, bit this is actually not true. We do have a choice.
We don’t have to attend every family event. If you know the toxic person is going to be there, you simply don’t have to rise to the occasion. Stop feeling guilty for not attending. Of course, there are usually other family members who make you feel like you have to be there. “It just won’t be Christmas without you,” they might say. But what it really comes down to is your personal well-being. Sure, you may only have to absorb their negative energy once or twice a year, but just like once you have heard something disturbing you can’t ‘unhear’ it, once you have had the experience it is now a part of your memories.
I prefer to be proactive when it comes to managing my energy. And we do have the right to decide who we choose to spend time with, or not. I prefer spending time with those relatives and friends who are compassionate and kind, instead of those who lack tact, are rude, cruel and inconsiderate. I prefer to avoid those who think their opinions are fact, and who are constantly dropping poison upon others with their negative comments. Not okay. Not ever.
Change Your World With The Butterfly Effect
Simply defined, the Butterfly Effect is the phenomenon where a small, localized change in one part of a complex system can have large effects elsewhere, like an escalating ripple effect. The idea came to be known as such when a meteorology professor, Edward Lorenz, suggested that the flutter of just one butterfly’s wings could ultimately cause a tornado on the other side of the planet.
We all have beautiful opportunities to introduce the positive in our lives. We can do this by shifting our energy around with regards how we choose to view a particular person or situation. In this way our thoughts and actions can act as those butterfly wings that shifts and effects people, events, and even environments throughout the world.
It’s A Wonderful Life, a 1946 American Christmas fantasy film, demonstrates how every man’s life touches many other lives, and without the presence and actions of those other people, so many things might be different. The point is, we often have no idea how significantly our lives affect others. When we think back over our own life experiences, and the experiences of others, it often becomes clear how we have all been touched by the so-called Butterfly Effect.
Crippled By Our Failure To Express Honest Emotion
Expressing our truth openly and honestly, provides a channel for further rites of passage in real intimacy. When we do not convey what is actually bothering us, we impede our communication and inadvertently cripple our relationships.
Because we are gods in the making, who have temporarily assumed a physical form as human beings, we are subjected to the basic emotions of earthly existence. These undeveloped emotional sensations constitute real and necessary experiences, while we take on the Earth experience.
When we are unwilling, or seemingly unable to express these innate feelings, an overt shyness takes hold which manifests as a manipulative need to gain control over other people. As paradoxical as this may seem, repressing our true feelings can make us ever more capable and adept at employing a favorable charismatic strategy over people and situations in order to remain ‘hidden.’
To cover up a deep sense of experiencing oneself as ‘wrong,’ accompanied by a genuine knowledge of presenting oneself as ‘phony,’ a loss of innate power is reverberated throughout the body and mind, coupled by the need to present oneself as invincible and correct.
The soul knows this act of contrition is deceptive, but will support the gesture, so that the human enacting her role may survive in her particular social environment. The person will continue to enact a subversive way of calculated behavior, by seeming to comply, but all the while, determined to be more perfect, right and flawless in personal presentation. In other words, to get her way in the end, a deceitful manner concocts undue pressure, along with the vulnerable defense of protecting one’s motivations from being detected.