Energy 101

Life force energy is a concept familiar to many cultures. The Chinese speak of chi, and Hindus speak of prana.

Chi, or prana, is the spiritual energy that makes your body go. According to Chinese medicine, chi flows throughout the body by pathways called meridians. These meridians are to chi as blood vessels are to blood.

When chi is blocked or becomes stagnant or negative, mental or physical disease can result. Chi is both cause and effect in the mind/body system. If a person experiences an emotional trauma, the chi can stagnate, causing health problems, which cause more chi to stagnate, which causes more health problems and so on.

The Law of Attraction (And Why It's Not the Full Story)
The concept of the Law of Attraction has been popularized in recent years by Abraham-Hicks, which is a personal development company based around a woman named Esther who channels a group of mystical beings she called "Abraham."

Since the rising popularity of Abraham-Hicks in certain new age and coaching circles, a movie called The Secret was released, which further expounds on the ideas of the Law of Attraction.

In a nutshell, the Law of Attraction says that "like attracts like," and "you create your own reality," so if you think happy thoughts and feel good, you will attract wealth and abundance, but conversely, if you think negatively or feel bad, you will rain down poverty and other problems on yourself.

Many proponents of the Law of Attraction talk about being at a "higher vibration," but do not really understand how chi works. Many people who tout the Law of Attraction mistakenly believe that people somehow "magnetically" attract bad things to themselves through negative thinking. But what about children caught up in warzones? Genocide? Even a death in the family? Was this all because the victims were thinking negatively? Is that fair? How can a young child be responsible for the world they were brought into?

Those who understand chi know the Law of Attraction is not the full story. What is really happening is the following:

When your chi is flowing properly, you will feel physically better and emotionally lighter. This will enable you to respond to things in your life with greater ease and presence of mind, and you will thus have better results.

So yes, being in a positive space will "attract" positive things into your life, because you are functioning as a better version of yourself.

But the converse is absolutely not true. People who are in a bad space didn't get there because they just "created" it. Women who have been raped did not "attract" the rapist to them. Children who are starving did not "attract" their starvation. Sometimes bad things happen to good people because there are evil people in the world. Sometimes it's just how life works. There are limits to being in a physical form. (We will all die someday.)

So does negative energy automatically "attract" more negative energy, in a non-stop negative downward spiral? If you think one negative thought will you suddenly manifest a cancer? Anyone who is an energetic intuitive knows this is not the case. Negative chi does not automatically magnetize more negative chi to itself. If it did, all the negative chi in the world would be concentrated in one area and there would be a huge black hole of chi.

In fact, you might observe that negative chi attracts positive chi to itself, because healers and other people filled with love will often find themselves attracted to those who need healing so they can help them and clear the negativity away.

Anyone who cites "science" as the basis behind the Law of Attraction has a poor understanding of science. Science does not state that like attracts like. It in fact states the opposite: particles of the same charge repel each other. On the subatomic level, positively charged particles actually attract negatively charged particles. This is how an electric current flows.

(Of course, one should be skeptical of any "channeled" information in the first place. It's not that channeling isn't possible...but do you actually know the resume or credentials of whoever is communicating from the other side? Don't believe everything you hear, just because a spirit told it to you.)

Negative Emotions and Chi
With this wider perspective in mind, backed by a better understanding of chi, it is important to not push away or deny your negative feelings (as the Law of Attraction teachers sometimes suggest). Pushing away or denying negative feelings actually creates more stuck chi!

Yes, of course, positive thoughts and laughter are naturally healing and this alone can possibly clear out many chi blockages. But your best bet is to use positive thinking in addition to managing your negative emotions in a healthy way.

By listening to your negative feelings, you are allowing the chi to flow and clear out of you, rather than getting stuck and held inside.

Negative emotions tell you that something is wrong in your world. This is an important function for your well-being, much in the same way physical pain tells you that your body needs healing.

How to Have Healthy Chi
Here are a variety of ways to help keep your chi healthy and strong:

1. Work with a healer or acupuncturist.
2. Learn Reiki energy healing to use on yourself.
3. Learn EFT, a very powerful and simple healing tool.
4. Listen to your emotions - don't bury them inside.
5. Think positively and laugh often.
6. Exercise regularly.
7. Practice yoga - many yoga postures are built to assist the flow of chi.
8. Chi Gong and Tai Chi are also designed to move chi.
9. Chant - vocalizing mantras or affirmations can have a positive affect on chi.
10. Be near nature. Trees and plants have positive chi that have a healing affect.

The stronger and healthier your chi is, the stronger and healthier you will be. You will become happier, more resilient (emotionally and physically), and better able to handle the trials of life. From that place of power, yes, you will be able to "create" more good stuff for yourself. More importantly, you will be able to bring your healing energy to others, and help make the whole world a better place to be.