Negative Energy!

[meche]

I was just wondering if anyone else is effected by their surroundings and other peoples moods/problems. I'm just coming through a mild relapse of anxiety but there is such a negative energy in my work place today which makes me feel extremely nervous & uncomfortable. People are off ill (one seriously), someone walked out this week, another got a written warning, everyone is mega busy and getting stressed, I have a colleague who sits next to me with relationship issues & keeps moaning...... grrrr! I don't feel panicked by any of it but I hate negativity both at work, home & just in general. It makes me feel unsettled! :frown:!! xx

[Baggs]

Oh yes - I regularly go to self-help meetings and sometimes everyone is so miserable that I come out feeling worse. Just got to grin and bear it I guess.

[swgrl09]

Yes, definitely. Do you have anything that helps bring positivity to your day - like some aromatherapy oils or music - something to break up the negative?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes definately. Its like when its a dreary day and you feel your mood drop.

People who are negative and drain your positivity are known as 'power sappers'. You can find yourself changing to be like them, I know I did, by getting sucked into all the moaning so its always worth keeping some level of distance.

[MrAndy]

I work in a toxic environment it drags me down,I have tried to learn to rise above it.THats all you can do or find another job

[PanchoGoz]

Mr Andy's phrase "toxic environment" is vey apt, as well as toxic people. And when you can't escape them you just have to be affected by them. I find the same when negetive energy drags me down. I find though I can do the opposite and rise above it with happiness and sometimes that can lift other people and, perhaps, cure the toxicity! I do this with the moody old ladies at work, they are so moody it's actually funny and lifts me right up and I can get them to smile and even laugh sometimes. Perhaps you could turn it around and make it funny, make it your own little in-joke and rise above it.

[Rennie1989]

Gah, I feel the odd one out!

Sometimes others' mood can affect me, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I come into work and feel so positive that other people can't affect me, whereas I can come in indifferent and be affected by the smallest of things. Other times I can come in feeling naff and stay naff regardless of the atmosphere.

So, I'm dependant on 'me', I guess.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think thats also true though Rennie because people only affect us when we let them. So, when our defences are down, we are more open to their negative energy spilling into us.

I was reading a yoga mag yesterday in Tesco and there was an article about how they believe we have a shield of energy around us which we can expand to keep people out or reduce to bring it closer to our internal organs so we can touch the world in a more intimate way. When we push that boundary out too far it was talking about being disconnected from people and our surroundings, lacking in emotion or empathy, etc.

So, despite it sounding a bit yogi, perhaps there is something in this, just maybe in a more psychological way, where we are sometimes more suspectible and trick lies in forcing that boundary back out again?