(This blog was originally posted on May 7, 2014)
Vampires
are very popular these days. They show up as main characters in popular
television series and movies. They are heroes (or anti-heroes) in novels for
young-adult and adult readers. The Count on Sesame Street teaches young viewers
about numbers and counting. Finally, vampires represent a powerful metaphor to
describe a person who literally drains someone else of positive energy and
emotional fortitude. Maybe you even know or have someone like this in your life.
Like the creatures represented in literature and on film, emotional vampires
“prey” on just about anyone they can sink their emotional fangs into. Just like
Kristen Wiig’s character of “Penelope” on Saturday Night Live, they
are very needy individuals who try to one-up every other person in the room in
order to feel more confident and in control of their lives.
However, like
the supernatural creatures they represent, emotional vampires share specific
characteristics and must also observe certain behavioral protocols that make
them easy to recognize and defend against.
How to recognize an
emotional vampire:
· Emotional vampires have a lower vibrational energy
than others around them.
· They are often in the middle of or just getting
through some kind of emotional disaster. Part of their charm or attraction is
that they give off a lost or needy vibe that motivates others to want to just
look after them during a crisis. By then, of course, you are already “hooked”
and eager to offer more support when another problem develops.
· They often revel in their negative experiences
or other people’s disappointments.
·
When you share a painful confidence with this
person, he or she seems to be in competition with you to describe an even more
distressing experience: “When that happened to me….” When you interact with an
emotional vampire, you actually feel worse
about what is going on in your life than you did before.
·
An emotional vampire’s negative energy literally
“sucks” out and dampens the optimism, good mood and spiritual/psychic energy of
everyone else in his or her environment.
How
to defend against an emotional vampire:
·
Remember: Just like the vampires in horror
movies, an emotional vampire must be invited or welcomed into your
emotional/personal life. Whenever you feel uncomfortable in someone’s presence,
pay attention/listen to that emergency alert from the primitive part of your
subconscious mind, warning you to stay away from someone who could be
emotionally (or even physically) dangerous to you.
· Be a true friend to one or several people and surround yourself with individuals who are true
friends to you. These are people who
like, trust and respect you. They are individuals with whom you share various
mutual and separate interests. They may challenge you, but their support does
not waver. They celebrate your successes with you, but they do not insult or
ridicule you and they do not try to make you bad or worse about a misfortune.
They look out for your best interests, and you do the same for them. They also
“close ranks” around you and try to shield you from the negative energy of
others who try to bring you down.
·
Participate in activities that you enjoy doing
and make you feel relaxed, happy, positive and self-confident. The more
positive energy you give off, the more positive energy you will attract!
· Use your positive energy (attitude) to neutralize
negativity in your environment. See my blog titled “Energy
Exchange” for more information about how to raise the energy level in your
environment.
·
Finally, try this cool imagery exercise (one of
my favorites!) to create a protective energy shield around you. Visualize,
imagine, picture or pretend that you are surrounding yourself with silken
strands of pure, positive energy. This energy is manifested as the most
delicate strands of gold and silver light, more delicate than the silk of a
spider’s web but millions of times stronger. (Remember: silk from a spider’s
web is already proportionally stronger than steel. In other words, very strong!) Gradually wind these gold
and silver strands around yourself, starting with your feet, and work your way
up your body. These strands appear invisible to you and everyone around you,
but only until the emotional vampire tries to get to close to you. Unlike a
traditional spider’s web, this silk repels
rather than ensnares the threat. These strands of beautiful, pure energy encase
you like a knight’s armor. They are strong as iron but slippery as soap or ice.
Since there is nothing for an energy vampire to hold or sink his or her fangs
into, this person has no choice but to is go away and find another “victim.”
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in
2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®
and to set up an appointment, please
visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2015
