Energy I want to get into light and spiritual energy a bit more. When you flip a light switch, you release the flow of electricity into the next stretch of wiring so it can power a light fixture. The light bulb uses the electrical energy to make light, which spreads it out into the room. In this way, light is available to bounce off things so your eyes can perceive them. Many forms and sources of energy exist. We've spent centuries discovering them, defining them and learning to use them. Electrical energy is one of the most commonly known because we've developed so many ways to generate it, distribute it and apply it. We're learning to convert sunshine and wind into usable power. We've learned to split the atom for nuclear energy which would be an abundant source of power but it's also a dangerous process with hazardous byproducts. We can see the operation of magnetic forces with simple demonstrations using iron filings. We know of gravitational force from observing its effects, not only on this planet but elsewhere within the universe. We're perfectly happy to accept the concept of energy when it can be demonstrated in a physically quantifiable way. We understand that flipping a switch can turn on a lamp. It took a while for us to accept the unseen magic of electricity, but we've now grown used to it. We are, in fact, quite dependent on it. There are other energies at work, which we still seem reluctant to accept. These may not be described using science or mathematics, in a strict sense. I don't know if we shall ever come up with a formula for emotional energy but surely we must accept its existence. When you're at a football stadium and your team gets a touchdown, don't you feel the surge of power in the excitement around you? When someone you care about is sad or happy or angry, don't you feel the pull at your own emotions? Whether it's to barricade yourself from feeling the same thing or to sympathize with them, there is a reaction. The flow of energy is there. You determine whether the switch is flipped off or on or perhaps you allow a small stream of energy to flow through you, but not the whole power of it. You could call that a dimmer switch. Observe children at play. They are bundles of energy and they're releasing it out into the world. It's there for the taking. When the children go home, they don't scoop up their spent energy and take it with them. It's still out there, floating, freely available to all who pass by the play place. Eventually it will dissipate into the general pool of energy. The same emotional energy may be felt at a restaurant where a group is gathered to cheer their favorite team. Energy radiates from a table full of people who are gathered to laugh and enjoy each other's company. By the same token, notice how you feel as you pass a funeral procession. Do you feel the heaviness of the mourners? What weighs on you? Are you really reacting only to the identification of a funeral and its significance? Or are you feeling the heavy emotional energy being released by those who are collected to pay respects to a loved one? I believe that emotion radiates outward from people, unless they are working to seal themselves in. I think we can all pick up on it, if we want to. Our egos may have us too tied up in ourselves to notice more subtle emotional energy, but very few can ignore the free flow of energy where many are gathered with a common emotional direction. The rest may be absorbed or otherwise influence us, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. Consider the way electrical energy travels. It takes the path of least resistance. That means, it will flow on the pathway that is easiest or most accepting. Electrons will not and cannot try to force their way through anything. They simply go where the easiest route is available. Electric current flowing into your house will meet resistance when a light switch is off. It doesn't stop and wait there. It continues to flow past that switch and on to the next possible outlet. When the switch is flipped on, then part of the electrical force can take the side trip to your lamp, while the rest moves on down the line. Now ponder what sort of emotional energy surrounds you all day, every day. If you are constantly in the midst of people who are griping about work or their mundane woes, doesn't this affect you? If you join in the discussion and share your own griefs, you are jumping into the stream of that negativity. By doing so, you strengthen that dark energy by adding your own to it. In contrast, notice what happens when you're in a group of people who are having fun. Even if you start out in a lousy mood, don't you find their joy and enthusiasm contagious? Aren't you sometimes drawn into their positive energy despite yourself? Watch your reaction to others who are bemoaning their lives. Does it drag you down into the abyss with them? Does it make you focus on things that you hadn't thought were so bad but now that they bring it up, you catch yourself searching for something in your life that's bad too? Don't let others draw you into their negative energy in this way. Commiserating and sympathizing is one thing. Trying to find something bad to talk about so you can join in, is something else. Why wade into that dark pool where they are swimming (or drowning)? Do you feel better because your life doesn't seem so bad by comparison? Be careful with this one. If another person's trials cause you to stop and count your own blessings, then you have converted some negative energy into positive energy. This is a good thing. However, if you find yourself pleased that someone else is having difficulty, then you need to reassess your own values. Enjoying the negative impact on another person, even if you dislike them, is to take on more negative energy for yourself. Think of it this way: If you demonstrate that you like negativity, you will get it. If you focus on negative thoughts, then negative actions and energy will be attracted to you. As noted before, you are more likely to find what you are looking for. So, if you keep looking for bad things, there will be plenty to satisfy your search. Conversely, if you look for the positive, you will find it. When you demonstrate that you like positive energy, you are more likely to draw it. If you work to generate positive energy, others will be drawn to you to share in it and add to it. Even more power than this is an ability to convert negative energy to positive. You can do this. There are ways to tell the most dire happenstance but with humor or compassion. Not only will it lighten your own spirit, but it will also spread the light to others. They may learn from you and help you convert your own negative energy some time when you desperately need it. Be aware of the energy around you and what you take in. You control your own switches. You can accept negative energy or let it pass by you or perhaps try to convert it into positive energy for yourself or others. When you come across a pool of positive energy, like children playing or a group of people laughing and enjoying themselves... soak it in. You don't detract from their enjoyment. They are a source of light, radiating out into the pool of energy available to all of us. Be sure to let the light flow into you then pass it on to others as you can. Think about the whole pool of energies within the universe. If suffering is eased for one person, for even one moment, then the suffering within the universe is lessened by that much. If joy is shared with one, then the sum total of joy has been raised by that much. When a little more light reaches one and another and another, then we all stand in more light. We can all feel a more positive flow of energy. How can this be a bad thing? How can you not be a part of spreading light and the positive energy throughout all that is? You benefit directly from sharing light because in order to share it, it must pass through you. Be mindful of your own energy and your impact on the whole circuit. (Energy)

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