How to create positive energy
People talk about energy all the time. I’m sure you’ve heard someone talk about a person who just had really ‘good energy’. Or a place that filled them with ‘positive vibes’. Outside of the fact that this person or place just made us feel good, do we really know what we mean when we refer to something as having good energy? If everyone was walking around with positive energy, picking up positive vibes from passerbys and bringing these vibes into any and every situation - wouldn’t the world just be a blissful place? Of course it would - but it’s not that easy. As much as I would love to have positive energy every moment of everyday, we all know it’s a lot easier said than done. There’s days when you just don’t want to get out of bed or when you can’t shake that comment someone made about you that’s got you in a funk. That’s natural. However, what I find does help to maintain a sense of positive energy is understanding the neuroscience behind how this works. It’s easy to say things like ‘be positive’ - but what does that really mean? How do we actually attain positivity and have it stick with us?
It all boils down to our thoughts.
Every single thought that you give attention to actually creates a physical response in your body. This physical response defines how you carry yourself, how you act and how you are perceived by others - aka your energy. To explore this point even further, it’s important to understand the neuroscience behind this concept. Our brain contains thousands of ‘receptors’ - the part of your brain that receives signals from your brain’s neurons. Each neuron uses neurotransmittors to send signals to the receptors of nearby neurons. Each receptor is tied to a specific peptide (protein). Every single emotion we have releases it’s own flurry of peptides which flow through the body and connect with receptors. Once this connection happens, the entire structure of a brain’s cell changes. Our emotions trigger the signals to these receptors which causes a change in the structure of our brain cells. Guess what triggers our emotions? Our thoughts.
Zoran Josipovic, a research scientist and adjunct professor at New York University did a study of brain scans on monks to determine how their brains reorganize themselves. In an article in the BBC, Zoran summarizes one of his findings as the following; “When one relaxes into a state of oneness, the neural networks in experienced practitioners change as they lower the psychological wall between themselves and their environments.” If you were to think back to a person who has ‘great energy’ - think about your interaction with them. Were they really connected to you in that interaction? Did you almost feel like the two of you were one when you were having a conversation? This is because in that moment, you were both present. Either you or them removed the psychological wall between yourselves and your environment - heightening the positive energy you felt around them.
We are all made up of energy and the beauty is we get to decide whether that energy is ‘positive or negative’ just by changing our thoughts. However, just like anything, changing our thoughts requires training. Similar to when you’re training your body for a specific fitness goal, your thoughts require the same level of dedication in order to evolve. The best thought training gym out there is already available to you for free and fully accessible any time you need it - Meditation. Meditation has been proven as one of the best ways to restructure your brain cells by training yourself to think new thoughts - or even better - training yourself to think no thoughts at all. My favourite way to meditate is through meditative breathing. Inhale for 4, hold for 4 and exhale for 4. Each time releasing your mind of any thoughts it may have. It usually takes me a few breaths to get into a state of total ‘blankness’ but when I do my mind feels so clear and any anxieties that had been creeping up throughout the day are completely washed away. Another form of meditation that I love is visualization. Visualization is simply when you hold an image of who you want to be in your mind the entire time you’re meditating. The idea is that you’re convincing your brain that you’re already that person which causes it to think the thoughts you would think if you were the person. Slowly lining you up to BE that person. Below are a few of my favourite go-to meditations that I use when I need some guidance around how to do this.
1. Manifesting Meditation - Gabby Bernstein
2. 6-phase meditation - Vishen Lakhiani
I do these meditations at least once a day in the morning and have now started incorporating them into my evening routine as well. Remember that training requires daily dedication so in order to see a difference in your thoughts, it’s important to practice meditating or a form of ‘thought training’ that works for you every single day. You are not your thoughts you are the matter behind your thoughts. Instead of letting your thoughts define you - try defining them and see what happens.