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There are a lot of mixed social messages about power. People strive for it, fear it, are drawn to it, angry at it and feel guilty about wielding it. It is suppressed, idolized and ridiculed. From an early age we are taught to conform to the collective, and therefore redirect or deny aspects of our will. Most of us were trained to fear showing our power because we were punished for doing so. When we deny or suppress our power we are restraining our capacity to contribute good creative energy to the world. Power is directed energy.
If you feel guilty about being your naturally powerful Self, here are some reminders of why it’s good:
- Owning our personal power allows those around us to relax because they don’t have to “care take” us or guess about what we need. We’re solid, clear.
- When we express our truth in a vulnerable and authentic way, we’re more powerful and approachable.
- Activating our will power allows us to overcome inertia, move forward in life.
- Setting clear intentions is powerful. Magic happens when we are in this zone.
Disempowered people don’t seem to be living much at all. They carry lots of disappointment, anger, apathy and depression. To stand in our power (truth) we have to be willing to disappoint people we care about in the short run. They may not like our choices but if we make choices to please others, that are not true to our path, we eventually will disappoint them with our lack of full investment in the decision.
Healthy power does not dominate but vibrates truth. The more we align with the truth of our desire to create and allow it to flow, activating directed energy, the greater we feel. The third chakra is where our will resides, our core, the center most pivotal point of our physical body. To release social programs and other self-imposed limitations to our power, we can clean out the third chakra and fill it in with our own vibration.
In the meditation space, imagine a large bubble a few feet away from you. See all the energy that is not yours but in your third chakra move out of it into this bubble. Send the control energy, family expectations, pressure to conform, apathy, anger or fear energies that are in this space out to the bubble. When the bubble is full and your third chakra clear, imagine the bubble floating to a far away place and pop it in your mind’s eye. Then give your third chakra a new color that represents your vibration today (any color but white).
Anodea Judith writes in Wheels of Life, The User’s Guide to the Chakra System, the third chakra is home to “the spark of enthusiasm that ignites power and will.” We all desire to live ignited, inspired lives. We have this ability within us. It’s simply a matter of clearing away what is blocking our natural power so we can live purposefully.
It’s the perfect time of year to clean cobwebs and dust bunnies out of the corners of our life. The budding of spring evokes a desire to let go of what no longer matches our vision to make room for something fresh and new. Both in our physical world and our spirit, clearing energetic space lightens us up and brings us into the present moment.
To prepare ourselves for new opportunities that show-up along our path in love, at work or home, there are some spiritual spring cleaning tools we can use that don’t cost much more than time and intention.
In ancient spiritual traditions energy is cleared and healed with ritual smudging. Smudging is the act of burning sage, sweet grass or other plants, such as those collected near a place where a lightning strike burnt the earth. The sacred smoke purifies an area or object. Combined with spiritual invocation the smoke absorbs and neutralizes any negative energy. It cleanses the space to make way for new creation.
In The Smudging and Blessings Book Jane Alexander writes, “Cleansing a space or our bodies with techniques such as smudging clears away all the emotional and psychic ‘garbage’ that may have gathered over years or even hundreds of years.” Begin with a lit smudge bundle or braid of sweet grass and something to catch ashes, walk through each room of your home or office and take the smoke to each of the corners of the room. If the weather is nice, open doors and windows to allow fresh air to flow through, moving energy with the planet’s breathe.
After you have smudged the space take a moment to sit meditation. Clear your mind of distractions with deep breathing. Notice the grounding cord connected from the base of your spine down into the center of the earth. When you feel clear and centered visualize a large rose in the center of the home or office space. It’s stem running down through the floor, through the layers of the earth and rooting into the core of the planet. Then see a gold thread coming from each of the top four corners of the building or property into the center of the blossom of the rose. See four more gold threads connecting from the bottom corners of the space to the blossom of the rose. Mentally intend that the space is set at your vibration, in present time, today’s date. If you share space with others you can include their energy.
Clearing and owning the space we live and work in can be done as often as we like. It keeps the vibration current and in alignment with our energy. It makes the space more cooperative with our movements and rest. It removes the distraction of energetic holdovers from past inhabitants or events. Ultimately, cleaning our energetic space increases our intuitive clarity.
The January 2011 issue of Discover magazine presented results of research by neuroscientist Lauren Silbert that proved we can get inside someone’s head when they are communicating with us. Her study scanned brain activity determining that “among the most attentive listeners, key brain regions lit up before her words even came out, suggesting anticipation of what she would say next. ‘The more you anticipate someone, the more you’re able to enter their space.’ Siblert says.” Research now proves what psychics have long known to be true, as we engage with the people in our life, subconsciously we are communicating with non-verbal or spiritual energy mind-to-mind. As we hone our intuitive awareness we want to clearly hear our inner-guidance, therefore it is important that our center-of-head space is free from outside influences.
The better we identify and remove the distortions of perception based on other people’s influence in our energy field, the greater clarity we gain. This starts by owning our sixth chakra, the center of head space. The sixth chakra is where our intuition and analytical mind reside. As science confirms, it’s normal for people to get in each other’s space through this chakra since it is the telepathic communication channel. If a person pops-up in your mind unexpectedly, you can be sure they have energy in your space. It is a subconscious way for the person to feel they have some insight into what might come next in the relationship by reading the other person.
As part of the foundational meditation taught in psychic training we start every class with grounding our energy and cleaning out our sixth chakra. There are a lot of fun ways to do this, all are forms of visualization. With your eyes closed try one of these exercises. Follow-up by filling-in that same space with your own energy:
- See that center-of-head being sprayed clean with a fire hose
- Watch everything that is not your energy get blown away by a high-powered fan
- Put a slide at the edge and imaging all the energy that is not yours sliding down and out
- Visualize a bubble outside of your aura collecting up all the energy that is not you, then send that bubble somewhere far away and pop-it.
Through regularly cleaning out any energy in your center-of-head space that is not you and replacing that with your own vibration, you are able to more easily access your inner-guidance and trust it.
When our personal space is entered in a way that feels disturbing, anger can alert us take action. In response to our sense of discomfort, we may physically exit the situation, speak words that give us more space, make ourselves unavailable through non-response or surround ourselves with other people to create a buffer. Unless it is a reoccurring pattern with a person we know, having a boundary violated usually catches us off guard. When we recognize it in the moment we have a chance to respond and shift the energy. Otherwise we will find that we’ve given our energy away and have some self-healing to do.
Recently at a conference out of town, a co-worker asked me to meet over dinner to discuss business. When the opportunity presented itself for me to meet with a critical client at the same time, I asked if we could postpone our meeting. He urged me to say no to the client, because he needed to tell me something important. Over dinner I found myself listening to a long resume of this man’s experience that eventually led up to him admitting that he wanted to pick my brain for insights on how he could better sell himself as a writer and see if I would be interested in selling his writing services for a commission. Over the course of the conversation I noticed my energy getting depleted and activated the Protection Rose tool described later in this post. I was angry at myself for saying yes to his request without a clear understanding of his expectations and angry at him for violating my boundaries. When he finally got to the punch line it was clear that his urgency was to serve his private agenda not our mutual business commitments and I had missed an opportunity to do my job. The boundaries of my time and energy had been crossed.
Anger is a big neon flashing light pointed at an infringement of our boundaries. It may feel like self-criticism if we noticed the boundary being crossed and didn’t stand up for our self, or it may be directed at the person or experience that crossed our boundary. Usually people who push our edges aren’t conscious of it. They are simply on a path to self-satisfaction and operating within their own reference points for what’s acceptable. They may not know any other way to source energy than to take it from someone else. Physiologically anger gives us a surge of adrenaline that is necessary to go to battle on our own behalf. The warrior within comes to assist us with resetting the boundary. We show up for ourselves.
Anger itself is not negative but what we do with anger has given it a bad reputation. Paying attention to the source of our anger awakens us to a boundary being crossed while it’s happening. Only then do we have the opportunity to use our energy tools to hold a healthy space for ourselves. My favorite in-the-moment tool is the Protection Rose. When you feel someone trying to tap into your energy or enter your personal space in a way that is unacceptable, visualize a rose in the space between you. The rose has a stem deeply rooted into the earth. The blossom of the rose acts as a filter, protecting you from any energy coming from the person that is depleting or not in your highest good. This works for phone conversations too. Use of a Protection Rose shifts the experience so you can stay present to take further actions that are in alignment with your health.
Energy is everywhere. Each physical space we enter has its own energy signature. This vibration is influenced by the thoughts, actions and emotions of whoever has passed through the building or room. Spiritual energy is like air, invisibly surrounding us at all times. We breathe in air molecules and our body uses the oxygen but expels the other gases we do not need. We don’t think about what is happening. The lungs brilliantly convert the air to feed our blood and fuel every bodily function. At higher altitudes there is less oxygen in the air. Our muscles move slower because it takes more breathes for the lungs to collect the oxygen needed to move. In a similar way, the spiritual energy in a space directly influences our vitality. A room that is clear and in alignment with our vibration will support a sense of ease. One that is not, may generate an lower vibration in the mind and body.
Some buildings or rooms contain negative residual vibrations of grief, depression, jealousy, anger, violence or pain. The spirit wants to crawl up out of the body to escape the energetic pollution. In response we may day-dream, experience physical exhaustion or begin feeling one of the emotions left in the room or building. I’ve walked into offices where there was a blanket of depression and passive aggressive energy, homes where depression or pain meets you at the door, gathering places where the joyous intentions of past groups raised the entire vibration of the building. When we find ourselves in a space that is lowering our energy it is in our best interest to leave or change the experience.
It is easy to clear energy is a space without interfering with the boundaries of others who share that space. Start by visualizing a large rose with a very long stem in the center of the room or building. See the stem of the rose deeply rooted into the earth. Imagine a golden thread from each of the top four corners of the room running down and connecting to the blossom of the rose. Do the same from the bottom four corners. Intend that you own this space while present so that your experience of it will match your vibration, not the other way around. In doing so you will find that you are able to have a deeper peace while you are in the room or building. This exercise is also helpful to use before bed in your bedroom if you are having trouble falling asleep.
