It’s been a while since my last post and that’s because things have been busy, busy in my life! When I was younger I thought we young folks had more problems to deal with than the older generation. Now I realize the opposite is true! The drama never ceases does it? I know we came into physical life to experience all manner of things, good and bad, but it sure seems to me that it’s the bad stuff we must contend with more often.

As to our being here to experience all manner of things…well I’m talking about our spiritual self, or as some call it … our “higher self”. Since our spiritual self does not live under the many restrictions we endure in the physical world, I can only surmise that we are here on a quest to learn how to overcome adversity … negativity in all its forms. Now why we need to learn that, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s because even when we are in spirit we limit ourselves. So to help us break free of those limitations…we come into physical life. I mean really, if we can figure out how to overcome all the crap that happens to us here and do it without the benefit of our spiritual knowledge (thanks to our ego’s making us forget about where we come from and who we really are) well, we can overcome anything! Right?

I’ve been dealing with negative stuff my whole life … in one way or another. If I’m not mistaken, I’m going to say that most of us have. Life is hard. Aside from acts of nature, which certainly do contribute to our pains and sorrows, the majority of the unpleasantness in our lives comes from humans. The fact is, and I don’t see how it can be argued, we each have the ability to make the lives of others (and ourselves!) either pleasant or unpleasant. Given that…why do people choose the latter? Is there truly any joy in making other people sad, upset and angry? It seems to me that we are moving into a direction where people are all about pleasing themselves without giving any consideration as to how that might affect anyone else. I don’t get it. But then, that’s why I’m here isn’t it? To “get it”…to figure it out…and break FREE!

Although I would say the last twenty-five years of my life have been pretty good for the most part, they have also been some of the most challenging. I’ve had to deal with and overcome one unpleasant situation after another…and have done so! I always remind myself of that when things go sour. “Deb,” I say, “You’ve been dealt crap before and you got through it just fine, you’ll get through this as well!” Yeah, I’m my own cheerleader! In fact, we ALL should be our own best champion! Fact is, you must like you and be rooting for you before you can do the same for anyone else!

When I started the Tess Schafer-Medium paranormal mystery series, I wanted to write stories that explored the realms of spirituality and the supernatural. I wanted a character who was strongly connected to the spiritual world. As story after story unfolded, I learned along with Tess about the possible encounters with the paranormal and what to do about them. As a result, I grew in understanding of things that were there inside me but never really expressed. My character deals with things that are on a much larger scale than anything I have had to deal with and through HER experiences, I am learning how to deal with mine.

I am as fallible as every other human on this planet. Although I wish otherwise, I’m quite guilty of the fact that I get upset, angry, hurt and pissy. I can be riled to the point of wanting to strike back with the same venom that’s coming at me. Thankfully, I don’t stay locked into those nasty emotional states for very long. I’ve learned to pull myself rather quickly out of the quagmire those situations create. We are a reactionary lot, we humans. Many of us will react in kind to whatever is happening to us. When reacting to positive situations, well, everything is just hunky dory isn’t it? But when reacting to the negative stuff…oh boy, things can go from bad to worse in mere seconds! Luckily, although I often have a negative initial response to bad situations, I soon calm down enough to listen to that “small voice in the back of my head” (which is our soul speaking to us by the way!). Another “voice of reason” is my conscience (another means for our soul to speak to us!). After I react to a negative situation in a similar manner and things escalate…because that’s what happens when you fight fire with fire…you get a BIGGER fire, I withdraw from the siege and get myself back under control. Once I’ve accomplished that, I activate that light of mine and move into a more positive vibration. Although I wish I did this BEFORE things got worse, it’s hard sometimes to reign in charged negative emotions! When someone attacks us, that “flight or fight” instinct really kicks in! Now sometimes if you fire back bigger and better than what is lobbied at you, the other party will back off, but the fact is this: the situation is not resolved. It’s merely gone into “stew” mode. It’s brewing and getting worse. Eventually it will break out into yet another fire. Who wants to go through life dealing with all those dang, unpleasant, annoying and hurtful fires? Not me!

Seriously, the ONLY thing that conquers negative energy is love. That’s it. Nothing else. Now I know you can’t go around hugging your enemies but you can do this…you can use your spiritual power to calm the negativity between you! In my paranormal series, my main character Tess is constantly telling the other characters that they can use their spiritual energy by imagining a light within them. It is one of the most effective forms of protection you can ever use!

How you might ask? Well, here’s another thing I am learning to understand through my stories…our imagination is our way IN to the spiritual world! It honestly, truly is! INTENTION is how we direct our spiritual power! FOCUS is how we connect with it. Now, I’ve put it in action time and time again, I know it works. And yet I still will often react negatively to negative emotions and actions directed either at me or to someone I care about. Luckily, once I realize what I’m doing, I back off, regroup, and put some light on the situation. No matter how combative I can become, I really do just want to live in PEACE! I want to be in HARMONY with others and with my own self! I want to be happy and I want everyone around me to be happy too! I’m sure many of you feel the same way! But we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t fall short of those ideals every now and then. And if we do, there’s no darn reason why we can’t withdraw from the negativity and bring ourselves back into a peaceful state. Until the next time. It’s an endless cycle. ENDLESS! (sigh)

So, here’s how to deal with negative energy. Here’s my “secret”. First, though, you must understand that we are all spiritual beings having an experience in the physical world. Our body is the vessel in which we go through the earthly experience. We are born into physical existence with an ego. Our ego helps keep us here (for otherwise, we’d want to go right back “home”!). Our ego makes us want to live as long as possible, to fight death, to fear it even. Our ego is what makes us react in kind to negative energy…it’s programmed to fight back so don’t feel bad about having those feelings! Our ego kicks in on a constant basis to help us ward off attacks by others and to keep us grounded in the physical world. Given that, our ego will accept only what it knows or strongly believes. I’m sure many of you have figured out that GETTING it to know and believe anything is NOT easy! The ego has a lot of defenses in place, but again, that’s to help us live in this crazy world! You see, our ego has put a wall of forgetfulness around the fact that we are spiritual beings with spiritual power! Some of us, however, have managed to get past the ego’s defenses (at least for temporary moments of time) and when we do, we can utilize our spiritual power! Meditation and Yoga is one way around the ego. Hypnosis is another. So is sleep! Our ego is connected to our CONSCIOUS mind so when we go inward to our subconsciousness (where we are operating from within our spiritual self) the ego has no effect there! Sometimes we can get our ego to accept things we learn during meditation or spirit contact but not always. It’s just another battle we must overcome…our ego and its blindness to spiritual truths.

One way to get past the ego’s defenses is by use of our imagination! Our ego thinks…oh, that’s just pretend stuff, all in the head, it’s not REAL…and so it doesn’t interfere! But understand this…the spirit world DOES exist, we ARE part of it, and our imagination allows us to connect and interact with all that’s “there”. I put quotes around that last word because in actuality there is no “there”. We have only HERE. Our third dimensional mindset, though, can only comprehend things spatially and linearly. Meaning we have “here” and “there” as far as space and distance are concerned, and when it comes to time we think in terms of “now” and “then” or “later”. However, in the spirit world, there is only NOW. But that’s for another discussion and not this one.

Let’s get back to protecting ourselves from negative energy. So, although we are in a physical body which is ruled by the ego, that doesn’t mean we cannot interact with our spiritual self. We need only to become AWARE of it! So, given that, we can tap into our spiritual power whenever we focus inward. If you can’t BELIEVE that, then fine, PRETEND it! (the “fake it till you make it” mentality at work!).

So, imagine this: within your physical body, you have your spiritual center…your spirit body if you will…and when you are not putting any focus on it, then it is dormant and lets us experience the dramas of life however our ego plays them out and reacts to them. BUT, if we consciously focus on it…BOOM! Our spiritual power is accessible to us! Now here’s something important to remember…when your intention is based on LOVE, the energy is positive and great things will come of it, but if you access your spiritual power with negative intentions, well, things are only going to get super worse, super quick! Spiritual energy is driven by intention, as I mentioned earlier.

Okay, now that you are imagining this “ball of energy” (for lack of a better way to explain it) within you, picture it growing bigger and brighter until it is filling your entire body. Once you have this image clear in your mind, imagine that light is glowing outwardly all around you. This spiritual light protects you from negative energy. However far you expand it out around you, that’s how far from you the negative energy will withdraw. If this energy is coming from a person (and it usually is), then surround them with light too. Now, you can’t overcome another person’s will and make them feel or do things BUT you can dissipate the negative energy between you and they will back off. You see, it’s THEIR choice if they want to continue with their negativity but its YOUR choice not to let it affect you. Their bad energy cannot affect yours if you are “powered up”. Our spiritual energy brings calm to us. It protects us from receiving more harm. Others can’t launch attacks at those who are encased within the protective shield of their spiritual light! They just can’t do it!

If you are in a place where bad energy is going on then quickly imagine your inner light growing bigger, brighter and surrounding you. Once you’ve got that vision in place, expand it out into the space around you and watch the negative energy withdraw! Your spiritual light is REAL despite the fact that you are using your imagination to access it! By FOCUSING on it, you bring it into your conscious awareness, and when you place the INTENTION of protection upon it, then that is exactly what it will do! Intention, as I said…and it’s worth repeating…drives the spiritual force within you! Just understand this: you can’t control others with your light, you can only ensure their negative energy can no longer affect you. Although the chances are they won’t understand why, they’ll take their negative selves and beat a hasty retreat!

Now, this works when negative spirit energy (such as a ghost) is around you as well. Many people write in to tell me that spirits are bothering them and they are scared and want to know what they should do. Well, the first thing they need to do is protect themselves. They need to focus on their inner light and put it to work! The negative entity will retreat from their vicinity and the more they expand their light, the further away it must go! That’s how you stay safe. I know, it sounds too easy. It sounds too simple. But whoever said it had to be hard? Oh yes…that ego of ours! (smile)

After a recent incident where negative energy was lobbied at me and my family, I came to understand that I need to be more aware of myself in the spiritual sense, especially when situations like that occur! I need to remember to work with my “light” instead of trying to return the negative energy with more of the same. This recent experience really opened my eyes to the fact that I have a lot of work to do in this area of my personal development. I’m determined to do better about not getting sucked in to the negativity of others. As soon as I sense it going on…I’m activating that light of mine and dealing with it in a POSITIVE manner. At least, that’s what I am going to strive to do! I know my ego is going to interfere as often as possible but I’m going to keep working at it until I have it mastered! Besides, there’s too many great things happening to give focus to the bad stuff.

My motto is this: All things work out in the end, so if it hasn’t “worked out” then it’s not the end.

To make that motto really work for me, I need to use my light a lot more!

So with that, I’ll end this post. PEACE be with you all! And here’s to that light of yours…let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!