Have you ever been in a really bad mood and then some random stranger smiles at you, and suddenly you find yourself smiling back? It’s as if you took on their energy and good cheer. You may find yourself feeling lighter, and perhaps you take that good energy and pass it along to someone else via a nod or smile. Or have you met someone at a party or a social event and had an instant connection or chemistry with this person? That’s all energy. Even that feeling of déjà-vu, which is a feeling of already having done something or been somewhere, is a form of energy. We are made of energy, so it is no surprise that it can be passed back and forth to each other like a shock, or electrical current, or even telepathically. When you instantly vibe or click with another person who has a similar energy field as you, it’s called resonance. This happens almost on an unconscious level. You feel drawn to this person without even realizing it. It can happen in reverse too. You can be repelled away from someone who has a different energy than you. We have all met people whom we immediately feel a need to step away from, or we just don’t feel right being in their circle. Some people can bring the weight of an entire room down when they enter. I wrote about this in Gather Seeds of Hope with the poem “Lessons.” Our best bet in those cases is to distance ourselves from that person or situation, lest we take on some of that negative energy ourselves.
I remember early one Sunday morning I was on my way to volunteer at the local animal shelter which I did along with my best friend every week. I was sitting at a red light and there was hardly any traffic at that hour. A song came on the radio that haunted my memories, and I started to drift into a bit of a trance as the song carried me back in time. Now…I admit that zoning out while behind the wheel is not the smartest thing to do, but since I was the only one on the road (or so I thought), I allowed myself to go with the flow and indulge the memory. I didn’t realize the light had changed from red to green, but I was quickly jolted out of my trance when a man in a pick-up truck behind me laid on the horn. And I mean he laid on the horn! I glanced in my rear view mirror and he was all kinds of angry. His arms were flying around and I could tell he was cursing me out like a sailor. I hit the gas and quickly took off, barely looking from left to right to make sure the intersection was clear. In an instant, the peaceful vibes I had felt during the morning drive and while listening to that song were long gone. I found myself shaking with nerves over his reaction, and my mood instantly shifted. First of all, I was embarrassed that I had allowed myself to zone out like that. It is important to be aware of surroundings, even on a beautiful morning, so I inadvertently put myself in what could have been a dangerous situation if something arose. But more than that, I had absorbed his anger. Here I was going to do something I love by helping out homeless shelter pets, and with one interaction that good mood had evaporated. I am well aware that we control how we respond to situations, and I could have shrugged off his reaction and kept singing along to the song on the radio, but the moment was gone. He took that from me with his anger and overreaction. I had taken on his negativity and it stuck to me like the cat hair at the shelter. Eventually I was able to put it behind me, but as I mentioned I was embarrassed. I didn’t disclose to anyone what had happened, so my friend and fellow volunteers were unsure why I was in such a mood. But the truth is, he is the one that should have been embarrassed. He definitely overreacted. He had hit me with a one-two punch when a little nudge would have done the trick. However, we never know what anyone else is going through and maybe something had happened in his life that morning or the day before that caused him to be in such a negative state, similar to the man in the poem below. That theme of giving grace to others because we never know what anyone is going through is a common theme in my second book “Scatter Seeds of Kindness.”
Sometimes we can help to create our own destiny. I am very much a believer in the law of attraction, which states that positive thoughts put into the universe bring forth positive reactions, and negative thoughts or actions bring about negative results. Because the law of attraction believes that thoughts are a form of energy, then our thoughts have the power to shape our outcomes. Does it always work? No. I have had times where I have had very positive thoughts about something, but the result was neither positive nor negative. But I think the law of attraction is more of the rule, not the exception. We all have bad days and bad thoughts, and hopefully the universe doesn’t grab those bad thoughts and turn them into a negative result. I don’t think that’s how it works. Although I do sometimes feel like it’s a punishment if I have a negative thought and then something doesn’t go my way. I feel like maybe I deserved or asked for the bad outcome. But I think overall if we are good and positive people, helping out others and trying to put those good vibes out into the world, we will be paid back in kind, and the negative thoughts that we all send out from time to time will be overruled in lieu of the positive energy that we all have the power to transmit.
The Energy You Send
A man sits in a traffic jam
feeling like an animal in a cage.
He curses at the other cars
As he flies into a rage.
He honks at other drivers
With a finger in the air.
As he passes by, he turns to them
With an aggressive stare.
When he finally arrives at work
His boss is waiting there.
She calls him to her office
And tells him to take a chair.
It’s not the first time he’s been late
And so he’s reprimanded,
As he crumbles up the warning note
That he has just been handed.
Later on, returning home,
He is cursing about his life.
The day keeps getting worse
As he argues with his wife.
He finally goes to bed
And has a restless sleep
As bad thoughts swirl around his head
And into his dreams they creep.
The next morning, he’s still frustrated
And his anger, it is pent.
How much of his bad day stemmed
From the energy he sent?
How much of our energy
Comes back to us in kind?
How much are we impacted
By the thoughts we leave behind?
The very next day a woman awakes
With hope and gratitude.
She slept so well and all her blessings
Transfer to her good mood.
She gets into her car
To do some things that must get done.
She rolls down all the windows
And smiles at the sun.
She waves to a pedestrian
As she sings a cheerful song,
And catches every green light
As she sails right along.
She pulls into the parking lot
As the song she loudly sings.
The closest spot is waiting
And she gathers up her things.
She waits for the man behind her
As she opens up the door.
She has no way of knowing
It’s the man from the day before . . .
The man who had such a bad day
And an equally awful night.
She smiles at him as she wonders
Why he’s so uptight.
But her energy passes to him
Like the smallest lightning bolt.
He feels something as they pass,
Akin to a jolt.
Somehow he feels lighter
As he thanks her for being kind.
In turn, he waits and holds the door
For the next person in line.
He is gracious to the cashier
As he gathers up his bag.
For reasons he cannot explain,
His bad mood starts to lag.
He gets into his car
And is suddenly grateful for the day.
He cautiously backs out of his spot
And patiently drives away.
He turns the radio louder
As he hears a familiar song.
He surprises even himself
When he begins to sing along.
The woman had no idea that
The energy she gave away
Had influenced another
And made a difference in his day.
Good or bad, our thoughts have power,
It can’t be denied.
How many times do our thoughts reflect
What we feel inside?
Right or wrong, our thoughts have power,
Whether upbeat or negative.
The things we think and say
Become the energy we give.
We project these thoughts into the world
Even if we don’t realize.
The universe is all-knowing,
So our bad views we can’t disguise.
The law of attraction shapes our lives
More than we may admit.
Our lives may be impacted by
The energy we transmit.
Our energy comes back to us
Like it’s been ricocheted.
Suddenly we’re lying in
The bed our thoughts have made.
Those negative thoughts may leave our minds
And start to gain some traction.
Like a self-fulfilling prophecy,
Our thoughts can lead to action.
And that action can be good or bad;
Our thoughts can have the force
To lead us where we want to go
Or throw our lives off course.
So whether your thoughts are bright,
Or more dark than you intend,
The universe will receive
The energy you send.
