Methods for Personal Protection in Chaotic Times
"Human beings are exhausting." I hear variations of this sentiment daily from clients, students, and the spiritual community in general. So many people are feeling overwhelmed by what I tend to think of as "people sickness" or too much interaction with others on a too regular basis. Clients come to me confused because they love people, have active extroverted lives but the minute they get a chance they run home to be alone and shut off the world and this leaves them feeling like they have a split personality. Others suffer from what seems to them like the side effects of being an empath because they are flooded with the emotions, issues, and opinions of others no matter what they do. This leaves them constantly in a state of processing, releasing, and sorting what emotions are theirs vs. everyone else.
As humans in this embodiment we are hardwired for interconnection and social interaction. This is in part about survival because we don't have fur, fangs, antlers or talons to defend ourselves against a hostile world. Plus, part of our purpose here is to learn from and with each other so we personally connect with individuals and experience ourselves through the mirrors they hold up for us. We weave paths of becoming and unwind them again, learning through our mistakes and successes and everything in between.
However, over the past few hundred years the ways in which we do this have changed dramatically. From tribes, villages, and small communities we have moved to industrialized civilizations which have urbanized, dismantled the traditional tribal system, transformed the notion of family and family connection, created global networks and economies, and allowed for disconnection of individuals on a grand scale. At the same time, we have created the means to travel the globe, live disconnected from any one geographic area, and of communicating with each other so freely and voluminously that we have moved from wanting communication to defending against it. In fact, we now form bulwarks to channel it like storm water during monsoon season. On top of this, human beings continue to rise in population on such a scale the sheer number of people amassed in any one place creates a pulsing energy grid which can be felt by even the most insensitive.
While the amount of interacting we do today may not be any more than has been done in centuries past, the sheer amount of people we are required to do it with and in what context is quite different, less nurturing, and more fraught. Our lives are overflowing with opportunities for negative interaction, misunderstandings, "lessons" of every variation, and challenges which push us towards knowing our authentic self as a means of survival rather than spiritual awakening. From family to partners, work to spiritual community, friends and neighbors, let alone the new tribes forming from interest groups, fandoms, and social media, we have ample opportunity to get lost, overwhelmed, or enraged depending on the moment.
I point this out to my clients who feel split because in reality they aren't actually introverts, just extroverts who are instinctively doing self-care triage by taking themselves offline for much needed me time. It's also something I check for in those who feel like empaths because what they experience as over sensitivity could actually be a tsunami of emotional information which would swamp anyone. Rather than having overly acute hearing they may be in a situation where everyone they are around is shouting at the top of their lungs.
Luckily there are things we can do to improve and navigate these situations beyond reducing our social media intake and meditating regularly. Like wearing sunglasses to protect our eyes from bright sun or shoes to make walking more efficient, or at least stylish, we can add practical measures to our daily regimen in order to make ourselves more comfortable in navigating our interconnected life.
The key is to think of ourselves as light bulbs. Put a bulb into the base, a soul into a body, and it shines with whatever color the bulb creates naturally, yellow/white/orange. However, put a lamp shade over the bulb and the light changes, filtered through the shade to be whatever color the combination creates, making practically any color possible. The original light still shines and can be experienced under the shade, but the room is lit with a new radiance.
Or you can think of this like stage lights where you can slip a filter lens over them and it changes the light to any primary color you want. The light is still itself, but what is projected out into the world is different therefore the reaction the light receives is changed as well.
We do this instinctively when we have an urge to wear a certain color or certain types of jewelry or accessories. By doing so we are placing filters into our energy system between our aura or personal space energy layer and the practical manifestation layer. How we experience ourselves is therefore augmented in some fashion whether soothing, energizing, or empowering, while the energy we are putting out into the world is enhanced as well. Often this is done in response to our mood and personal needs as well as the social situations we're heading into or out of. Whether it's dressing defensively because we don't feel good about ourselves, expressively because we do, or as a superhero because we've agreed with the injunction to dress for the job we want to have rather than the one we already do...we suit up for the day and then dress down again to enter our personal lives.
But we can also add things into or do things with our energy system which create permeable boundaries or filters to hold back and even divert the onslaught of external energies we're subjected to.
One is The Mirror Ball
This is something which can be done if you find yourself in crowds unexpectedly or you have to navigate an event where you know there will be lots of people like a party, park or beach. The Mirror Ball field is not permanent and can be difficult to maintain for more than a few hours, but it will get you through in a pinch.
If you have experienced guided meditations, most will ask you to turn your attention towards your core, the central point of you, also called your solar plexus, and ask you to note a beautiful, warm ball of light. This is your 3rd chakra and the most readily available access point for you to connect with your Akasha or true self in energy form. If you are new to this or have a hard time feeling your core self this way, then place your hands gently on your solar plexus which is below your sternum and above your belly button. If you press gently with your palms against your belly you can connect with your Akasha without the meditation. You'll know you've done so when you feel chills or warmth spreading both under your hands and up your spine.
When you've connected with your core energy, feel yourself start to puff it out like blowing a bubble in bubble gum or blowing up a balloon. It should feel stretchy and expansive in a good way. This is expanding your energy outwards. Keep expanding it outwards, holding the intention in your mind's eye until you've created a bubble around yourself which is bigger than your extended arms. It should be just beyond your fingertips, below your feet and above your head.
As you expand this, you'll note it turns and feels a bit silvery. Once it's extended you may notice sound is quieter around you and the energy feels muffled or deadened like being in a sound proofed room. This is because you're now in the Mirror Ball filter. This works like 2-way glass. You can see out, but others can't see in. Not only do they see themselves, but their energy is bounced back to them rather than connecting with you. Because the energy is like this 2-way glass, you can choose who you interact with and how while the bubble is in place. So, if you are wanting to buy something at a concert or the mall, the service people will see you, but the crowd won't.
This has the additional effect of providing a bit of a repulser field. If people have a choice in the matter due to the space available, they will instinctively choose to move away from the bubble you're generating rather than in it. And people who are working through issues, instigate drama or who try to put their problems on others will react because all of this is immediately and directly mirrored to them in real time while they are in proximity to the bubble.
Because this Mirror Bubble is something you are generating through intention and your own life force energy, it will dissipate rather quickly and can be exhausting to maintain for more than a couple of hours. While this is something which requires our will and intention, it's primarily a physical skill, a manifestation of our living energy, and so like any skill will be awkward to do at first and require practice if you wish to build up your stamina and strength.
As a side note, there are many people in spiritual community who use various types of energy fields and energy practices in order to create these types of boundaries, but all of them suffer from this same issue. They are all effective to varying degrees and highly useful, but if you are using your own Akasha or life force in order to place yourself in a cone of white light, to surround yourself with purple flames, to emanate blessings and healing energy, or to create a protective field of some sort, the duration of this protection is dependent on your attention span and energetic muscles, so to speak.
The disadvantage of these practices, including the Mirror Ball, is they require us to use our will, intention, and attention in order to create and maintain them. As the world we live in now is geared to distract us, grab and direct our attention for purposes other than our own, and simply overwhelming with connection and interaction in general, our ability to concentrate on ourselves for any reason is already taxed and so we end up trying to support ourselves with the exact thing we are attempting to defend and heal.
Physical Mirrors
For a more permanent and supportive solution I recommend wearing mirrors. This is something still done in India, amongst Native American tribes and various different African communities. Wearing mirrors as decoration on clothing, as earrings, pendants or even just carried in a pocket places this 2-way mirror energy directly into our energy field rather than you having to generate it. It's as if you put on a mirrored body suit which then bounces energy off of you before it penetrates. Again, you can choose who you wish to connect with or let in. This in no way shuts you off from your loved ones, your friends, or even acquaintances you might wish to connect with during the day.
Wearing mirrors means you do not need to expend energy, attention or will power into having a permeable boundary which provides relief from the ambient emotions and energy of others. You need do nothing but go about your day. However, being able to relax a bit rather than go through the day defending against others will allow you to use this personal energy for more positive things and possibly even unfold a bit more into your own potential. Also, for those who find themselves as a dumping spot for everyone's needs, emotional baggage, or daily frustrations, like there is a sign saying "Open for Business: Ready to take on your issues", wearing mirrors has the side benefit of turning that sign off, disconnecting it, and putting it out for recycling. You'll not only no longer be attractive to people this way, but those who target you for their negativity will be deflected elsewhere since you'll be holding up a mirror they don't want to look in.
Wearing mirrors doesn't need to be ostentatious. In fact, they are often subtle, being woven into belts, used as just one part of an earring, one bead in a necklace and so on. What they do have to be is on your person. Having one in your purse or on your desk won't do the trick. They have to be in your physical energy field to create the effect.
Turquoise
For those who need something stronger, less permeable but more healing and supportive, I recommend turquoise. Like mirrors, when worn or kept on the body it adds to our energy field. Rather than being deflective, it creates a field which nourishes the wearer, replenishing our reserves and soothing the nervous system. At the same time it strengthens our ability to choose ourselves more readily in daily situations, supports our truth so we can say "no" more readily when it's the response we actually want and need to give, and tends to hone our ability to see people's motivations and intentions rather than accepting their statements at face value. This helps prevent us from being blindsided by actions because we are more able to see where things are headed at the outset.
Turquoise in your energy field also acts somewhat like having a sign in your window telling people you have an alarm system. Or having your own personal bodyguard who is ostentatiously standing just behind you when people approach. While people may start manifesting things towards and about you, once they come into range of your energy they will be pulled up short, even if they don't know why. Like in a comedy they will back pedal because you will have become not only the wrong person to meet their needs but possibly the exact opposite.
Like wearing mirrors, turquoise doesn't need to be ostentatious. You can wear it under your clothes and you don't need to go with squash blossom style pieces which can be the size of plates. However, you do need to make sure what you're wearing is turquoise. It's not unusual for companies to use turquoise colored plastic rather than the real thing. To test whether this is the case, heat a pin with a match and then touch it to the stone somewhere it won't be too noticeable. If it melts, then you've got plastic as stone doesn't melt unless you heat it to volcanic temperatures.
Also, turquoise is becoming more rare as the mines are running out, so it's not uncommon to see beads and smaller pieces made of turquoise dust which has been mixed with resin which allows it to be formed like clay. These beads and pieces work just fine, but should not be treated like regular stone. They will fall apart if cleaned by soaking in saltwater, for instance, so polish them gently and if they need cleaning, go with sage smudging rather than liquids.
Whatever method you choose, whatever filter you use, a little support can go a long way towards turning an intrusive world you manage to survive into an enjoyable place full of opportunities.