Thursday, May 26, 2011

Protect your energy...

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As I sat watching the final episode of Oprah, tears ran down my face. Although there were many affirmations in this farewell, I saw nothing cliche about the words being spoken. They were life lessons for me. Some confirmed what I already knew. Others sowed new seeds into my life.

Particularly, I was drawn to Oprah’s discussion of energy. Over the past few years I’ve worked very hard to change how I interact with people and who I let interact with me. However, I admit that I’ve not by any means perfected the golden rule. There are times when I’m so thrown off by people’s energies, I let it affect the way I deal with them. If I believe you're a negative person, there's often nothing short of amazing you can do to inject yourself into my life.

I often get criticized by people who claim “I don’t like anyone.” For as long as I can remember I would walk into a room and automatically retreat or gravitate towards those few people who made me comfortable. It took me awhile to understand why I did this, but I later realized I was protecting my own energy.

As a result, I’ve been labeled standoffish by some, inherently evil by others *shrug* I take grave offense to this, especially from those who don't know me. What I am is a person who will give you the shirt off my back. However, if you start complaining about how itchy the material is or the color not complimenting your skin, I have no problem snatching it off of you. I know what it's like to be tricked by people who didn't need my help, but were using me to get out of helping themselves. I know what's it's like to offer up my friendship and struggle to dissolve relationships, even when people have proven my hurt was the least of their concerns. Nevertheless, as my granny told me "Baby, you've got to cut that umbilical cord."

No longer do I deal with ungratefulness. Nor do I deal with people who take without giving back. Life has taught me to be respectful of people’s kindness. Regardless of how I feel about the way people are “supposed” to act, I have to acknowledge kindness is a choice. Each time people choose to exert kindness they are agreeing to share with you a bit of their positive energy. Respect their choice, hold it in high regard, and do not take advantage. An individual's humility is not your infinite resource.

Also, understand you may not be the sole recipient of someone's kindness. Each time you use someone for your own self interest you deplete them of their energy. You deplete them of the blessings they can sow in the lives of others. Furthermore, you inhibit yourself from developing and sustaining your own positive energy. You can't constantly receive and not expect it to have negative effects on your growth. Too often people get caught up in their egos. It's easy to believe the great things people do for you is a direct result of how wonderful you are as an individual. That somehow they're rewarding us, for simply existing. Thus, we place more value on what we receive, as a testament to our character, rather than what we give.

As I stated, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination the best at reciprocation. However, my goal is to continuously acknowledge my faults and constantly seek to improve. My energy may not be perfection, but it is potent and it is pure.
 
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