I am one of these people who thrive in harmonious, calm, peaceful environments.
Tension, conflict, tantrums and noise are extremely uncomfortable for me.
One of my past behavior patterns was to energetically absorb the 'negative' energies around me, in hope to harmonize the space. (That of course doesn't always work, but hey, you can't blame someone for trying, right?)
This post is dedicated to all the psychic sponges out there.
The two questions I would like to address are the following:
1.How do you recognize if you are one?
2.If you are one, how do you stop? (If you are ready to do so!)
First of all, here is a list of some of the symptoms and character dispositions you might have/experience if you are a psychic sponge:
a) You personally feel responsible for everyone's mood and circumstances.
b) Your muscles tense up when there is tension in the air.
c) You stop breathing regularly when you are around conflict.
d) Your anxiety meter goes through the roof if one of your loved ones is out of sorts.
e) You drop whatever you were doing to remedy a situation.
f) You arrive somewhere feeling happy and light, conflict erupts (even if it has nothing to do with you), and within minutes you feel heavy, dense and immersed in the situation.
g) You are more concerned about other people's wellbeing than your own. (" I am only relaxed and happy, if everyone else around me is.")
h) You feel guilty, if you can't fix it.
i) Long term physical and emotional effects of psychic sponging can include:
-Weight gain, indigestion and stomach problems, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety
j) You rather suffer yourself than witness other's suffering.
k) You are only relaxed by yourself, or in extremely shielded environments
These are some possible symptoms and if indeed you are a psychic sponge, I am sure, you won't have a hard time adding some additional items to the list.
So the question is how do you stop?
Here are some pointers:
a) Learn to protect yourself, so that the energies in your environment don't have such an impact on you. There are a number of ways how to go about doing this; ask your angels and Divine Source/God to surround you with a bubble of white light, in order to deflect any negative energy. Practice chakra meditation so you strengthen your vertical vs. horizontal alignment in order to be less affected by the karmic/energetic impact of other souls on your reality.
b) Allow other souls to learn their own lessons, they have a right to be upset and to indulge in drama, you have the choice not to engage and in certain cases not to be around them. You absorbing the negative energies won't make them learn their lessons quicker, it is more like taking homework away from a first grader. They actually might feel resentful towards you because you took away the opportunity to get the lesson. Any lesson that is meant to be will be recreated which means you only delayed the process for them.
c) Ask yourself, what do I need to support myself in this situation?
A popular example is to learn to put the oxygen mask in the plane on yourself first, before you help the people around you.
One of the constant reminders for me is that other people's choices don't fall under my jurisdiction, it is my responsibility to take care of myself and sometimes that means walking away.
It has taken me a number of years to quit psychic 'spongedom', so please have patience with yourself in the process.
And of course quitting doesn't mean you won't assist other people anymore. You will actually be able to help them without hurting yourself and in a much more productive way, because you'll have more clarity as to when to help and when to step back.
My life has certainly been more relaxed since I have learned not to absorb all the energetic toxicity.
By the way, I still don't like conflict and drama, but at least now I am not as easily affected by it.
