Don’t Share the Garbage!!
Updated: March 4, 2013
Last week I shared an easy way to purge the doom and gloom that can get captured in our journal writing in Key to Journaling Insights:Dump the Garbage. Today I’d like to share how you can unplug from the energetic garbage that can surround you.
For many people who feel too much, isolation can become a comfortable friend. It’s easier to stay away from people than it is to get enmeshed in their emotions and caught up with taking on the weight of the world. Empathy overload becomes so strong that crawling under the covers or setting up camp on the couch feels like a welcomed relief.
If you are someone who feels too much you are probably drawn to other empathic people who have their own emotional agitation going on. Together, you and they are constantly exchanging energetic garbage and taking on each other’s emotional turmoil is going to exhaust both of you.
We might want to unplug from the other’s energy, but how do we do it? The Cord Unplugging exercise below offers a way to break the energy bonds that generate a feeling of being enmeshed with others.
Cord Unplugging Exercise
Find a spot where you can be comfortable for about 5 to 10 minutes maximum.
Ask your body to relax. Feel each part of you release its tension—your neck, your shoulders, your arms, and so on.
Next, ask your body to show you any place where you have connected to someone else’s energy and created a feeling that the other person is inside your boundaries. Scan your body from your toes up to the top of your head. If you find a spot that seems to be enmeshed with energies outside of you, imagine that you have a little cord of energy hooked on to you in this place.
Visualize it as a kind of electrical cord that, once unplugged from the outlet, can quickly retract back into the other person. See yourself unplugging the cord and having it recoil back into to whoever owns it.
Now, look to see if there’s a cord coming from you that is plugged into someone else. If so, unplug it at their end and bring the cord back into yourself. Then seal yourself with a ball of light at each place where a cord was attached.
You will feel refreshed!
Now, did you notice any resistance to unplugging the chord?
Who were you plugged into? Who was plugged into you?
Why do you want to be bound to this person?
What, if anything, are you afraid to lose by unplugging?
What would it feel like to be separate and independent from him or her?
Ponder the answers to these questions. It would be helpful to journal about your experience or share your insights in the comments section.
Love and blessings,
Colette Baron-Reid
Intuitive Counselor
P.S. If you are struggling with an area of your life – relationship, weight, loss, etc. and I can help you, please reach out. Don’t be afraid if you think it’s not important enough, you never know who else you may be helping simply by sharing your issue. Send your question to askcolette@colettebaronreid.com. I will respect your privacy.
HI there I am so Happy that you wrote! I am also for sure coming to Connecticut and will have my publisher change the book signing date! Stay Tuned! xooxox
Dear Colette,
I am so extremely grateful for you and all of your work…. This exercise has been extremely helpful to me….You are an amazing blessing in my life on my beautiful journey to wellness….looking so forward to the day to meet with you once again… Sending much love and light to you and yours….. Namaste…. Lisa.
What a great exercise. There is a person I had to physically disconnect from about 6 months ago, even though neither one of us wanted to, and I’ve been having a difficult time letting go. Part of that difficulty is the impression that it was easy for him to let go. However, it has occurred recently that even though the outward indications were that he was successful in letting go, I may be feeling the difficulty that he’s hiding. I did this exercise and found THREE connection points; our mouths, our hearts, and (ok, I’ll just be blunt here) our genitals. The hardest one was the last, even though we never slept together. We certainly wanted to, but responsibility kept us from it.
I felt the most resistance with the last one, and just took my time. After sealing the areas with light, I felt compelled to touch an object (of meaning to me) onto that part of my body for a few seconds. It just felt like making it my own again. I wanted to be bound to that person because I fell in love. I am (slowly) learning that I need to give myself that love, and not look for it in others. It is time for me to feel comfortable with the separation from this person, and I thank you so much for this exercise. I feel really peaceful right now =)
Thanks for the exercise.. there were quite some interesting patterns showing up for me.. even a multilayered love-hate-love kinda constructs with one person. Never felt quite refreshed though 😉
Thanks, Colette 🙂
Thank you so much for this, Colette. I feel so enmeshed with my nonfunctional, mentally ill sister who is being supported by my elderly parent. I am drained and feel I have no future and I spend the whole day in worry that I will have to take on the burden. I dream about it at night when I do manage to sleep. I feel that all of my own energy is gone, and all I am is connected to their energy. I’ll start to do this exercise. Thank you.
hang in there honey. Unplug xooxox