Whenever I’m explaining energy, I describe it as a spectrum that runs from one endpoint to another. I actually see it as a circle. The most powerful ends of the spectrum actually touch, like when you’re looking at the spectrum of colors. From science class, we learned that the rainbow starts with red and goes to violet. Violet then continues its journey, becoming red, and starts the cycle again. Energy is the same way. There are people who spend their time telling themselves that they are the pinnacle of the positive, not realizing that they have actually moved their position into the negative. This is the energy position of cults and other avenues for spiritual abuse.

We are all on the spectrum somewhere, and we don’t stay in one place on that spectrum all the time. Even the most evil people have moments of kindness. In Las Vegas, at the now-closed Tropicana Hotel, there was a thing you could go to called the Mob Experience. It was an interactive participation thing with actors. You were guided through the experience as if you were part of the mob. I really enjoyed it. One of the things I found fascinating was to learn that the mobsters would order a hit for Saturday night but be in church with their families first thing Sunday morning. That is what you call major compartmentalization. Then you have the people who say they want to help the world but will do nothing for the homeless population in their town. This is a prime example of the complexity of people and how we choose to use energy.

As people of power, people who work with energy, we have to become more aware of all of our interactions with energy, both positive and negative. To gain control over the use of our power, we must be aware of when we are setting intentions with it, whether we meant to or not. We also need to be prepared to counteract it if we send out negative intentions accidentally in a fit of temper or fear. We are not meant to be perfect, and we will never be, but as people who want to contribute to the greater good of our world in the way that only we can, we have to be aware of why we do what we do and what we get out of doing it. A positive action that is motivated by something negative contributes to the negative energy around something, not the positive.

I had a friend who bought some cute sacks to put Christmas gifts in. She let the recipients unwrap their gifts and then asked for the sacks back. She wanted them to see and appreciate the bags but not keep them. I worked with a woman who only gave gifts to people for Christmas who had already given her something. It’s not about gifts. It’s about the energy attached to the gift. Any gift given with “strings” is not a gift. It’s an expectation. These people turned what was supposed to be a positive experience into a negative one with the energy of withholding that came with it. There were “rules” that had to be followed in order to get the gift. That is flipping over to the other side of the spectrum of energy. For me, the answer to that would be, “No, thanks.”

If you give only to receive, you are generating negative energy. If you do something only to get something, you are generating negative energy. If you say something only to get what you want, again, you are generating negative energy. Be aware of how you interact with others and the motivations that may be underlying them, and of course, be conscious of the energy that may be underlying how others interact with you.

We move on the spectrum, going back and forth between positive and negative. No one can be positive all the time. Everyone has challenges to overcome. The objective is to stay within the spectrum of positive as much as we can despite our challenges and stay away from the negative as much as we are able. Mindset is important here. People who have survived the most dire of circumstances managed to do so by keeping their thoughts focused on the smallest thing for which they could be grateful. Even if you are in the depths of negative circumstances, you can remind yourself that it will change. It might be for the better, or it might not, but as long as there is change, there can be hope. That is enough to encourage you to keep going and to put you on the positive side of the energy circle.