Feeling tired? Exhausted? Lacking concentration? Lacking motivation? Whilst energy drinks, coffee, and pharmaceuticals may offer a quick short-term solution and “hit” of energy, they are not doing you, your loved ones or the planet any favors.

If you’d like to get off the roller coaster ride of energy highs and lows, it might be a good idea to consider other options. Following is a number of lifestyle choices and rituals specifically targeted to help improve energy levels. I encourage you to challenge yourself this next month by making a conscious effort to implement these alternatives in to your everyday life, and take note of how you feel in four weeks’ time.

Invigorate your body and mind. Take a few minutes to give yourself an energizing massage. Focus on your breathing. Stretch and exercise your body. Movement is the key to a healthy body, mind and soul. Moisturize your skin with invigorating oils. Nourish yourself with a well balanced meal and drink an adequate amount of purified water each day. Radiate with life.

Diet

Give up stimulants such as coffee, sugar and mainstream chocolate for one month and make a conscious effort to become aware of the difference in how you feel. Yes, you may suffer withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and fatigue for a couple of days but once you push through these 2 – 4 days, you’ll come out the other end feeling so much better.

Choose herbal teas instead of coffee.

Choose protein rich foods such as nuts, seeds or hummus on carrots, cucumber and celery as snacks instead of chocolate and sweets.

I used to be a coffee-a-day girl… nothing serious… just the usual morning “pick me up” that I became dependent on. But one day I started to think that coffee had control of me and I detested the fact that I “needed” my coffee fix. So I decided to give it up. The first day was horrid. I lay in foetal position for 4 hours with a splitting headache that no painkiller could suppress. But then something magical happened after day-two, I no longer had that “need” for my morning kick starter and it was like a cloud had been lifted off my mind. More clarity. More energy. Myore morning motivation.

General dietary advice for sustained energy, health and wellbeing
Graze rather than overeat. Large meals are harder to digest, place a strain on your organs and can result in indigestion and sleepiness.
Eat a balanced, nutritious diet based on organic and biodynamic wholefoods: fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, nuts and seeds.
Choose a wide variety of brightly colored fruits and vegetables that are in season.
Take either a heaped tablespoon of ground flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, or a tablespoon of blended seed oil. My favorite is Udos Omega 3:6:9 Oil Blend.
Eat probiotic-rich foods to improve your digestive and immune health. eg, kefir
Drink clean filtered tap water and herbal teas.
AVOID alcohol, caffeine, smoking, processed foods and take-out food with added chemicals and processed ingredients; AVOID fat free, diet, low or no cholesterol packaged foods. AVOID cage eggs, dairy and meat that is not pasture fed. AVOID refined table salt, sugar and margarine. AVOID soft drinks, cordial, bottled juices and vitamin waters that are full of sugar and artificial additives.

Exercise
Being unfit and overweight places a massive strain on the body, depleting your energy. There is so much research out there stating that regular exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques, that it relaxes tense muscles, helps you to sleep, improves blood flow to the brain and releases chemicals called endorphins in to your blood stream giving you a feeling of happiness. Oh, and the fact that a little exercise each day is wonderful for improving stamina and oxygenation of the body.

For the next month make the effort to move your body every day. Whether its a brisk 15 minute walk around the block, a half hour jog in the park, a yoga class, workout at the gym, swim at the beach, laps in the pool, or bicycle ride, do something to get your body moving and body sweating.

Personally I really start to feel it if I dont exercise for a few weeks: I become more lazy and sleep in that little bit longer, I become brilliant at conjuring up reasons why I deserve my sleep ins, my mood drops, I lack inspiration and no longer have that spring in my step or vibrant energy that I love so much. The simple truth is that movement is the key to a healthy body, mind and soul. Your body loves to move. It was designed to move.

Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a true holistic approach to healing in that it uses oils extracted from plants and flowers to treat the physical, mental and spiritual body. Essential oils stimulate receptors in the nose which relay messages to the limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates emotions. The use of essential oils is nothing new, dating back thousands of years. The most beneficial part of aromatherapy, in my opinion, is that it can be incorporated into daily life via creams, massage oils, bath oils, compresses and for burning in an oil burner; and that blends can be tailor made to suit your requirements, for example, to uplift and invigorate.

Uplifting and Invigorating essential oils
Lemon is reputed to have properties which can lift the spirits and overcome mental fatigue.
Peppermint is renowned for enhancing concentration and stimulating circulation.
Eucalyptus is renowned for restoring vitality and reviving spirits.
Rosemary is associated with clearing thoughts and is renowned for promoting circulation of energy.

Morning Ritual
Start each morning by body brushing your dry skin to stimulate the lymphatic system. Shower, and then gently massage your body with a light layer of body oil scented with invigorating essential oils to help wake up your body and mind. If you’d prefer not to use a scented body moisturizer then add a few drops of invigorating essential oils to the shower and transform your morning cleanse into an uplifting experience to help wake you up.

Daytime Ritual
If you work in an office, how about going for a walk in your lunch break in a nearby park, around the harbor, by the beach or simply around the block to help clear your mind and improve energy levels for a more productive afternoon. Use the opportunity to fill your lungs with fresh air. Find a quiet place and take a moment to focus on your breathing. With every inhale, breathe in energizing oxygen. With every exhale breathe out stress, fatigue and stale thoughts.

When Im at work, I make the effort to take regular breaks from my computer by getting up and going for a walk around the garden in the sunshine, to help recharge and refresh my mind. It works!

Afternoon Ritual
If you’re one that feels drowsy and lacking concentration around 3pm, please don’t reach for the nearest chocolate bar or coffee cup. It may be due to the natural cycle (and dip) of your circadian rhythm and the associated anticipation of sleep. Try burning uplifting and invigorating essential oils in an oil burner around this time, or sip on a stimulating herbal tea such as gingko, peppermint and schisandra that are all renowned for their uplifting properties.

Most importantly, please remember to be kind, gentle and patient with yourself as you’re learning these new ways of thinking, doing and considering. Keep in mind that every moment in the day is a new opportunity to make a different choice – a choice to help improve your holistic health and happiness that not only benefits you, but your loved ones and the planet we all share.

Improve Your Energy Levels by Sam Sample

Fun, easy, affordable ways to green up…

Youre probably proud of yourself for flipping off the light switch when you leave a room, as I have been since the days of my mother yelling, “hey man, were not independently wealthy!” as if she had eyes in the back of her head. But more recently, it has come to light (pun intended) that just turning lights, TVs, and stereos off when were done with them isnt enough.

Anything that is plugged in can still be sucking power out of the walls connected to your electric bill. When we unplug our microwaves, toasters, coffee makers, televisions, DVD players, video game systems and anything else that is still glowing or has a blinking light while in the “off” position, we are not only lowering our electric bill, but we are making our little contribution to reducing that silly carbon footprint again. Thats what we call two birds, one stone.

This easy little task is even easier if you connect similar electronics, such as televisions and DVD players, to a power strip with an on/off switch. Trust me, I know how annoying it can be to bend over and pull out three plugs and then bend over again to plug everything back in to use them. The power strip is on the floor, just flip the switch with your toe! Seriously, that works. Im all about making these tasks as lazy as possible so you will actually do them (dont unplug your DVR box though, it wont record shows if you do that. Id hate to be responsible for anyone missing an episode of Lost).

Another few things to remember to unplug that may not seem so obvious are cell phone chargers, battery rechargers, and even desktop computers (I looked that up, its safe and doesnt affect your computer). If you are considering upgrading or changing any electronics or appliances in your home, always look for the ENGERY STAR logo (see right), which will help your electronics “sleep” and use less power when not in use.

A new technology surfacing for flat screen TVs is the energy efficient DLP HDTV (Digital Light Processing). With its just-as-awesome flat screen and picture quality, its a great alternative to the LCD and plasma televisions, which can use up to three times as much electricity! My roommate wants a new flat screen, and I just convinced him to get the DLP. Now if I could just get him to turn lights off when he leaves a room! Ill get back to you with my new and improved electric bill next month.

But What Can I Do? Lights Off, Somebody’s Home by Courtney Raney

Photo coutesy gcfairch

Every now and then I read something that strikes a chord, leaving me to ponder over the idea for days and days on end. Last week it was the following extract from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell:

“People say that what we’re seeking is a meaning of life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”

Rather eloquently said, don’t you think?

What is it that inspires and pleasures you, so much so that your enthusiasm for being alive drives you each and every day to build upon that joy?

What choices are you making that bring you closer to reaching that state of being?

What contribution are you making to the community and earth to enable it to be a “better” place for future generations to live in?

If you’re reading this article, chances are you live in a world of information overload, an abundance of choice and the luxury to be, think and act as you wish. Whilst this is a wonderful freedom that we have created, it also brings with it many distractions that “dumb down” our consciousness and divert our attention from what would truly be nurturing for ourselves, loved ones, future generations and the world in which we live in.

Have you ever thought about what consequence your choices are having? (on your life; your loved ones’ lives; your community; the planet; future beliefs, standards and ideals)

Whether we like to believe it or not, there is always choice. It’s very easy to blame something or someone else for our circumstances or lack of, but the truth is we are all responsible for our own choices and can make a different choice when ever we choose to.

The four key areas that I work with, are developing rituals to:

improve energy levels;
encourage a peaceful night’s sleep;
learn how to cope with stress; and
nurture our own self and loved ones more so.

Why? Because I strongly believe that by balancing these four areas in your life helps to bring about holistic happiness, which in turn improves one’s health, life experiences and Joseph Campbell’s idea of feeling “the rapture of being alive”.

Over the next four months I will feature each one of these key areas in a holistic manner, demonstrating how best to make improvements that benefit you, your loved ones and the planet we share.

If holistic happiness is something that you would like a little inspiration with then how about using this next month to become more aware of how you feel, the choices you are making and whether there is any relation between the two.

What Consequence Are Your Choices Having? By Sam Sample.

“Do what you love.” Weve all heard this before. Its great advice, though not many people truly take it to heart. But sometimes doing what you love isnt enough to keep you going. Inspiration, passion, and motivation are difficult things to hold on to. They always seem to slip away right when you need them most.

You know that feeling. Where youre that close to finishing a project, or achieving a goal, or crossing a task off your to-do list … but you just cant muster the energy. Youve lost interest. Youre exhausted. Drained. And you dont know why.

Thats burnout. Its something many of us are all too familiar with. Id like to share with you a few ways that I fight burnout – or prevent it from catching me in the first place.

1. Achieve in increments. When you only focus on a big goal someday, its easy to get burned out by the daily grind. Its like driving toward a mountain in the distance. You can drive for hours, but the mountain doesnt seem to get any closer. And spinning your wheels gets real tiring real fast.

The solution is to give yourself a way to measure and record every little step forward you take. Heres how:

Get a journal, notebook, or calendar. Writing things down is important. Identify milestones on the road towards your goal.If youre writing a book, you could treat each chapter as one milestone. Or, even better, treat each 500 words or 1000 words as a milestone.

If milestones arent obvious, create them. For example, if youre training for a marathon, hold yourself to a progression of distance. If you start out running at your maximum distance, youll plateau very quickly. Instead, start at a shorter distance – even if its very easy for you – then work your way up slowly.

Track milestones in a simple, visual format. Think of the progress bar on a download. One glance tells you exactly how much progress has been made. The format you choose doesnt need to be detailed or comprehensive. It just needs to show that youre moving forward day by day.

Learn to appreciate the little accomplishments. Let yourself enjoy the feeling of getting things done.

2. Train your muse. One of the biggest myths about inspiration that its random. One day youre inspired and motivated, the next day youre burned out – and theres no way around it. Or so they say.

In fact, inspiration is just like any other skill. It may start out as unreliable, but it can be trained and developed into something you can rely on.

So how do you train your muse? The best way Ive found is immersion. Surround yourself with things that inspire you and reflect your goals. Great composers listen to music. Great authors read voraciously. Great marketers attend seminars. Great productivity-ists subscribe to Zen Habits. And so on. Immersion trains your mind to work efficiently in the ways you need it to.

The more that your inspiration becomes a part of your life, the less likely it is to run out when you need it most. With that in mind, be creative. What ways can you connect with your inspiration on a daily basis?

3. Work less. Cut down on the amount of energy and time you spend working. If you have sick days or vacation days left, take advantage of them. Or, if youre self-employed, force yourself to work fewer hours each day – even if that means turning down new projects.

Working less doesnt mean you have to slack off or get less done. It does mean that you:

Eliminate unnecessary tasks.
Take strategic breaks.
Stop multi-tasking.
Seek help from other people.

4. Define success realistically. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with having big dreams and big ambitions. But if youre constantly frustrated by a lack of progress, it might be time to take a step back and examine your goals. Are they achievable? Are you holding yourself to a reasonable timeline?

Heres a good way to do this. Get a piece of paper and write down your big, ambitious goal. Then write down at least 10 specific, concrete steps that will allow you to achieve that goal. Be as detailed as possible. If you cant come up with a series of down-to-earth steps to get you from here to your dream, thats a sign that you need to either redefine your goals or rethink the way youre pursuing those goals.

5. Get more sleep. Youve heard this before, I know. So have I. But that didnt stop me from going against my better judgment and tiring myself out by staying up late to work. Getting enough sleep takes a conscious decision – and, just like any good habit, takes time to develop.

One of the biggest barriers for me in this area is procrastination. I have a tendency to put things off throughout the day, then stay up later as a result. Whats keeping you from getting the rest you need?

6. Take it slow(er). The world tells us to rush things: “Get there faster. Make money quicker. Retire sooner.” And while these things arent necessarily bad, they can easily get us in over our heads. If youre feeling burned out and overwhelmed, its time to slow down.

A few ways to take yourself out of 24/7 high gear:

Spend at least 10 minutes a day in a quiet place, away from distractions. Breathe.
Put together a playlist of slow, relaxing music. Listen to it whenever you start feeling frazzled.
Take a butcher knife to your to-do list. Set a limit to the number of tasks you take on each day and stick to it.
Extend your deadlines. Do you absolutely, positively have to get this done now? Just remember – this isnt an excuse to procrastinate.

7. Get a second opinion. Its hard to spot burnout from the inside. Your close friends and family are likely to identify the signs of burnout long before you do. So listen to what theyre saying. The next time your spouse, parent, or best friend tells you youre working too hard, take it seriously.

7 WAYS … TO STAY MOTIVATED by Jeffrey Tang, via Zen Habits. Get more inspiration from Jeffrey Tang at his blog, The Art of Great Things, or subscribe to his feed.

We all make excuses. But the successful ones are those who can kill them and move on toward their goals.

“Im too tired. I dont have the time. I dont feel motivated. Id rather do nothing. I dont have the money, equipment, space. I cant because” …

Weve all made the excuses. Heres how to kill them…

1. See the positive. Excuses are usually made because we dont feel like doing something – were accentuating the negative. Instead, see the fun in something, the joy in it. And maintain a positive attitude, or youll never beat the excuses.
2. Take responsibility. Excuses are ways to get out of owning up to something. If we dont have the time, money, equipment, etc., then its not our fault, right? Wrong. Take responsibility, and own the solution.
3. Find a solution. Just about every problem has a solution. Dont have time? Start with just 5-10 minutes. Make the time. Wake earlier. Do it during lunch. Dont have a gym membership? Workout at home or in the office. Dont have the energy? Do it when you have higher levels of energy. Youre smart. Figure out the solution.
4. See your goal. This is your motivation – your reason for doing it. Sure, you could just lay on the couch, but if you think about why you really want to pursue a goal, youll be motivated. Visualize that goal and just get started.
5. Be accountable. Have a workout partner, a project partner, a team, someone to report to. If you have to meet a coach or partner, youre more likely to do something.
6. Go ahead and make your excuses. Then do it anyway.
7. Watch this. Then go an do it.

Photo: Focus on the enjoyable and the positive

7 Ways to Kill Your Excuses by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. Follow him on Twitter.

As Christmas day nears, I’ve been thinking about jolly ol’ Santa and his love for milk and cookies … how his turning vegan could be the biggest gift to vegan activists everywhere.

Imagine the influence he’d have. Children worldwide would be begging their parents for freshly-made almond milk with a side of raw vegan truffle balls, forget the cows, thank you very much.

So, without further adieu, here is my letter to Santa this year-10 reasons he should go vegan. I just hope he gets it on time…

1. Your cholesterol levels, Santa, would be back to normal. No more need for those pesky GP visits and poisonous pharmaceuticals;

2. Your energy levels would skyrocket, especially if you adopt a mostly raw diet. Raw, live foods are packed with enzymes, which are the givers of life. Kids everywhere want to see you around for a long time to come. Eating raw and vegan is healthy for you, animals and the planet.

3. Santa, I know you love animals. What bigger gift could you give to them than not eating or wearing them?

4. I don’t mean to be rude, Santa, but being overweight is a serious risk to your health. Did you know tummy fat raises your risk for high blood cholesterol by about 50 percent? A healthy vegan diet will have you at your optimal weight in no time.

5. Most cookies are laden with butter and processed sugar. Many of the mass-produced kind are even worse, with ingredients made up of numbers and boasting names impossible to pronounce. Santa, do you know where your cookies came from?

6. Drinking cows milk has been linked to all sorts of dis-eases, including asthma, osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and more. Making milk from nuts is a cinch and doesn’t require harming animals or using massive amounts of the earth’s energy.

7. I hate to be the one to break it to you Santa, but that big fur collar that keeps you warm as you deliver your presents once belonged to real, live animals – defenseless creatures who were tortured and skinned without a second thought. I’ve also been told that fur has formaldehyde in it, which has been known to cause cancers. I don’t want you getting sick, Santa.

8. I know eating on the run must be tempting to a busy man like you, Santa. But I think you should know that fast food meats have thousands of additives that are addictive and fattening. Much of the meat on menus today are also full of pesticides and hormones.

9. Bacon and pork may be tempting, but did you know that pigs are more intelligent than dogs? Word has it they are intelligent as a three year old. I know you’d never eat a three year old, would you, Santa?

10. Those fancy leather seats in your sleigh may be comfy Santa, but did you know how many cows died to make them? If you compare your ride to the average Mercedes Benz, my guess is around seven.

So Santa, if you’re reading this, I urge you to take the pledge. Go vegan in 2010. Imagine the energy you’d have delivering presents next year. Those rosy cheeks would have a truly healthy glow, Mrs Claus could learn new culinary skills, whipping up raw vegan recipes to share with the elves. I’m certain Rudolph would be grateful too, knowing for certain he won’t be re-named venison when it’s time for retirement.

And to PETA, I think I’m onto something. I’ll let you take it from here.

10 Reasons Santa Should Go Vegan from Diary of a Vegan

Salt is a vital substance for the survival of all living creatures, particularly humans. Water and salt regulate the water content of the body. Water itself regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working it’s way into all of the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic wastes of cell metabolism.

Salt forces some water to stay outside the cells by balancing the amount of water that stays outside the cells. There are two oceans of water in the body; one ocean is held inside the cells of the body and the other ocean is held outside the cells. Good health depends on a most delicate balance between the volume of these oceans and this balance is achieved by salt – unrefined salt.

When water is available to get inside the cells freely, it is filtered from the outside salty ocean and injected into the cells that are being overworked despite their water shortage. This is the reason why in severe dehydration people can develop an “edema” and retain water.

The design of our bodies is such that the extent of the ocean of water outside the cells is expanded to have the extra water available for filtration and emergency injection into vital cells. The brain commands an increase in salt and water retention by the kidneys. This is how we get an “edema” when we dont drink enough water.

Initially, the process of water filtration and it’s delivery into the cells is more efficient at night when the body is horizontal. The collected water, that mostly pools in the legs, does not have to fight the force of gravity to get into the blood circulation.

If reliance on this process of emergency hydration of some cells continues for long, the lungs begin to get waterlogged at night and breathing becomes difficult. The person needs to sit upright to sleep. This condition is a consequence of dehydration. However, you might overload the system by drinking too much water at the beginning. Increases in water intake must be slow and spread out until urine production begins to increase at the same rate that you drink water.

When we drink enough water to pass clear urine, we also pass out a lot of the salt that was held back. This is how we can get rid of “edema” fluid in the body; by drinking more water – not diuretics, more water!

In people who have an extensive “edema” and show signs of their heart beginning to have irregular or very rapid beats with least effort, the increase in water intake should be gradual and spaced out, but not withheld from the body. Naturally, salt intake should be limited for two or three days because the body is still in an overdrive mode to retain it. Once the “edema” has cleared up, salt should not be withheld from the body.

Salt has many other functions other than just regulating the water content of the body. Here are just some of the more vital functions of salt in the body:

1. Salt is most effective in stablizing irregular heart beats and is essential to the regulation of blood pressure (despit what we’re told)
2. Salt is vital to for the clearance of the lungs of mucous (essential for asthma cases)
3. Salt is vital for the rapid healing of infection and viral overwhelm
4. Salt is vital for balancing sugar levels in the blood (an important element for diabetics)
5. Salt is vital for the generation of hydroelectric energy in the cells (the body’s power source)
6. Salt is vital for the absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract
7. Salt is essential for preventing muscle cramps
8. Salt is critical for making the structure of the bones strong (osteoperosis is largely the result of a shortage of water and salt)

To discover more on salt, check out my Farmacist Desk Reference (FDR). It contains over 1,600 pages of self-care, health and healing wisdom. It’s the world’s first Encyclopedia of Wholefood Medicine. CLICK HERE to find out more.

The Dirt on Salt (and Water) written by Don Tolman. Copyright. All Rights Reserved.

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Don Tolman International publishes the popular P.O.W.E.R (Pearls of Wisdom, Enlightenment and Results) weekly eZine with over 9,500 subscribers from all over the globe.

If you’re ready to discover the wisdom and power of Self-Care and Self-Education and receive FREE tips and EVENT news from Don Tolman International, join our online community today and you’ll immediately be emailed a FREE eBook entitled “WHAT MAKES A BALANCED DIET”. Subscribe to: P.O.W.E.R. now!

Who doesnt like a great workout to get your adrenaline going and have a burst of energy? But is that burst of energy slowly draining the environment? Eco-expert Kim Carlson is encouraging workout enthusiasts (and those less enthusiastic) to green their routine. Before hitting the gym, check out Kim’s top 10 tips to consider when greening your workout.

Solar chargers for iPods/mp3s - The suns renewable rays are a great way to power up your workout gear without toxic disposable batteries. But make sure to buy one with the right adaptors for your cell phone and other electronic gadgets too.

A girlfriend Skyped me this morning. She recently moved back from London, has already changed states, has been through a bunch of short-lived jobs, and on Thursday was frog-marched out of her latest boring admin position. She is lost, directionless, and has no idea what to do. “And to top it all off,” she said, “My knees are killing me. I think I have arthritis. I’m off to get some herbal drugs.” I raised my eyebrows and responded, “Um, hel-LO… do you know what legs and knees symbolize? Your direction in life!” She was stunned. But it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Last week, another friend was in the middle of a conversation when her nose started bleeding. Just like that! How bizarre! Whose nose starts bleeding during a conversation?! I went home and found my bible – The Body is the Barometer of the Soul So Be Your Own Doctor by Annette Noontil – and emailed her what nose bleeds mean: “Bursting a blood vessel! Not satisfied with self, so pushing yourself too hard to show that you are able to do things as well as others.” The idea that everything that goes wrong with your body is directly linked to an emotion was explored a few decades ago by Louise Hay. In You Can Heal Your Life , Hay outlined a bunch of common and rare ailments and gave their corresponding emotions. Thus, mouth ulcers mean “Stagnating, and keeping the habit too long, frustrated that you are not outflowing better than you are, when you cannot say how you feel”, while breast cancer indicates “not nurturing yourself; doing for others before you”.

In our holographic universe where everything is intricately connected and it’s all just a big pot of vibrating energy, everything that is felt in your head / heart is automatically projected out into the reality around you. Thus, life mirrors back what’s going on deep inside you. And the stuff that you push deep down, suppressing for years and years? Well, the energy of those thoughts and feelings has to exist somewhere — so we hold them in our livers, our stomachs, our breasts etc, in the form of cancers, abcesses, tumors and other strange growths. This is why instant healings (aka spontaneous remissions, or medical miracles) have been known to occur: when a person is able to release a major emotional blockage they’ve been carrying for years — or lifetimes — incredible energetic changes take place as peace and freedom returns.

And don’t think that what’s going on in your head is limited to the physical symptoms your body is experiencing: if you drop a glass, see a white owl, run out of petrol, get fired or stub your toe, that’s all a reflection of what’s going on inside you, too. In fact, Noontil’s book contains a fascinating section showing how what’s wrong with your car has a direct correlation with your life! (A flat right front tyre = a fear has stopped you being in charge of your physical direction; forgetting where your car is parked = not able to find your [life] direction).

The message here? You’re not a victim who ‘gets sick’ because of forces out of your control. Stuff doesn’t just ‘happen to you’. You are responsible for the thoughts in your head, and thus the energy you project all around you. You are in control. If life seems to be hitting you hard, what is resisting or conflicting inside you? Focus on that, and true change and healing will begin.

Life is a Mirror by Miss Psychette

As children we’re raised on Utopian ideals of community based on cross religious and cultural variations of ‘love thy neighbor’. But where exactly do you draw the line when it comes to negative, energy-draining, drama-inducing people who seems to thrive on negativity? Negative people are black holes, the “Blue Meanies” of our world.

Walking vacuums, they drain the life and energy out of anything they come in contact with, and they’re seemingly incapable of offering anything positive in return. When cornered in conversation, creative (borderline desperate) measures pop into your head – the heights of imagination reached to avoid contact saving you from further torment. The mere mention of their name spreads a grimace across faces, followed by pained and feigned smiles whenever they enter a room.

No matter how much we may insulate ourselves, we can’t isolate ourselves from negative people. Yet, what we can do is learn how to deal with them, and here’s how:

1. Empathy and understanding – Negative people are unhappy people. People with cemented negativity are classic disappointment cases. They’re disappointed in some aspect about their lives. They usually feel inadequate about themselves and so rather than address that, they project this inadequacy onto everything around them – this allows them to deflect attention away from themselves and onto what they consider as outside or separate from themselves.

Negative people are faced with one to two dilemmas. First, they don’t want to recognize their own perceived shortcomings. I say “perceived” because there may not be anything necessarily wrong with them, but in their own mind they have or are failing somehow – and that is a very harsh reality to deal with. While we may see absolutely no shortcomings, one’s own reality is a powerful force and it takes an immeasurable amount of discipline to master it.

The second dilemma involves a great deal of insecurity. With the premise being that negative people are unhappy because of their own perceived inadequacies, it follows that because they’re unhappy, they will project negativity onto others in order to deflect attention away from themselves. This is a classic bully scenario in that bullies typically attack others because they themselves somehow feel attacked by the outside world.

There is a two-fold importance of understanding negative people. First, it takes power away from them and they no longer have a control or influence over us (particularly true if your negative person is a ‘loved’ one). Second, understanding them fosters empathy – a key ingredient for our own spiritual development.

2. Assert Yourself – Being emphatic doesn’t mean you have to be a fool. Just because you understand someone doesn’t mean you have to tolerate being a victim of their negativity. Negative people come in all forms. If it’s someone you’ve randomly met, or if it’s a brief encounter, there isn’t necessarily cause to assert yourself. However, if you’re working with this person or if this person is in your family or circle of friends and associates, it’s critical you assert yourself.

End of the day, despite human evolution and advancements in civilization, we’re still in a figurative jungle. If you’ve ever observed animals, even domestic animals, you’ll notice there’s a hierarchy in which daily exchange plays a big role in. How you let someone treat you determines how they will treat you in the future. Simplified, if you let negative people project venomous thoughts toward you repeatedly, you’ve granted them the permission to continue doing so.

Asserting yourself doesn’t mean being violent or being aggressive. It means being calm yet having a firm conviction. It means letting someone know their behavior is unacceptable; letting them know where they stand with you. It’s basically a warning light and it will either solve the problem or show you an important truth about this person if your asserted stance fails.

3. When Assertion Fails - If being assertive failed, then you’ve just learned a very important piece of information about your negative person: they don’t care what you think. This is particularly important to know if your negative person is someone close to you to whom you feel some sort of obligation to.

If your cool and collected dialogue letting them know how you feel ended up falling on deaf ears, then you may want to seriously reconsider your relationship with this person. They clearly don’t have your best interest at heart at this point and you have to consider how much of yourself are you willing to let compromise. Thoughts and words being a powerful thing, how much of this continued viral negativity are you really willing to let into your mind?

4. Open Door Policy - If keeping your distance from this person isn’t an option, then you have the option of redefining your relationship. Relationships are often a swinging door in that things can go both ways. The point being that if you discuss your personal life, the details of your day, daily problems, etc, you’re opening the door and giving the green light for their negative interjections. No matter how much you may be itching to vent or make small talk, make sure you keep YOU out of the conversation.

If you don’t want their negativity, then don’t give them the opportunity to comment. It’s as simple as that.

5. Shifting Perspective - Going back to why negative people are negative, if you’re feeling especially heroic, you do have the option of trying to get them be more objective about how they see things. However, this is no fool’s errand. While some people just need a positive force in their life, something encouraging and different from the negativity they themselves were indoctrinated in at a young age, the fact is that some people genuinely enjoy being miserable. It’s become so much their security blanket that they feel more comfortable in this frame of mind.

This degree of negativity requires a profound level of self-realization to shake, and if it is in their path then it’ll come to them when the time is right – usually sparked by some small yet cataclysmically defining moment in their lives.
While you may want to help ‘reform’ your negative person, remember that at some point you may have to simply throw in the towel for the sake of your own sanity.

6. Grace – Grace is more than just an admirable quality; it is a lost art and an incredibly powerful tool. Grace is about calm, integrity and a resounding sense of self – and with negative people, having grace means never indulging in their gossip, never showing interest in anything negative they have to say (no matter how much you may be itching to get the scoop).

7. Ignore them – Negative people are attention seekers. Nothing will bother them as much as if you just simply ignore them.

7 Ways to Deal with Negative People written by Shireen Qudosi.

Photo by: Made Underground