high energy v. wrong energy

People talk as if there are only high energy and low energy people, events, encounters. In fact there are many different kinds as only a few moment's reflection will reveal. Many so called hi-energy encounters are in fact simply 'wrong energy', with people displaying an excess of nervousness or even hostility. This is the basic dichotomy known to sports performance coaches: high and low 'positive energy' and high and low 'negative energy'. High positive is the ideal state- it is playful energy. High negative is aggressive energy, that can turn hostile with ease, and is far more common and though effective in some measure in some circumstances, does not 'transmit' as high-positive energy does. Low positive is mellow calmness while low negative is the least attractive- depressed and pessimistic. 

Positive energy 'transmits', people around the high positive person get an energy boost and generally feel better about life. Really positive energy kind of blasts open a person's defences - whatever state they are in, but lower states require a 'key encounter'. By this I mean both people meeting need to find, for want of a better word, a 'wavelength' to communicate on. When they do positive energy can manifest in the encounter. Even though each person wasn't feeling that positive before hand.

Knowing this, though, one can slip into becoming an energy vampire or energy pirate. Energy vampires know that you can catch energy from people but due to a chronic lack of attention they mistake attention getting behaviour with getting on to a similar wavelength. Pirates are more cavalier- basically they cruise around seeking to increase their energy by downing on yours, or stealing yours by various forms of squelching your enthusiasm. Pirates love to get into competitive bouts because the attention they get (and give to themselves) from winning is translated into an energy boost.

Perhaps positive energy can be characterised as energy states where the attention needs of the individual are under control- having been met as a part of their everyday life. When we seek attention we often screw it up, far better to identify situations that are guaranteed to deliver attention and schedule a few of those each day into your life. Attention is a key source of holistic (ie. covering mind and body) energy, just as food is a key source of physical energy. When people are not seeking attention their energy can bubble away and transmit to others. When they are seeking attention randomly, just like a person searching a half-empty fridge for inspiration, their energy cannot be transmitted as its directed at getting nutrition, albeit in a pretty inefficient way. 

Wrong energy, then, is usually either hostile or negative attention getting and giving- still attention of a sort though- and in a world where people are desperate for attention this will do. I recall once feeling really low and depressed while cycling round a roundabout in London. Then a car swerved in front of me and I banged on its side and gave the driver a stream of angry invective. I got attention! And felt a lot better for it. When I spent time in the US, where people give less attention to others than the UK unless that attention is 'demanded' in some way I quickly learnt to be more 'in your face' and direct than I am in Britain. I had to adjust my attention getting mechanisms. I think one reason why some people dislike travel is their habitual ways of getting attention don't work abroad, and then there are the travel junkies- who find they get more attention abroad than at home.

The world runs on positive energy. It's what we pay for when we see a singer we like or a movie star. It's why we read a vital, badly written, book every time over a lifeless well written one. It's why successful entrepeneurs are often playfully energetic types. Luckily it's everywhere- we are just good at getting in its way. Positive energy - more than you need - is flowing through any living creature - all you have to do is identify what is distorting its flow. For it is 'living on top of the flow' that characterises the feeling of 'having positive energy'. You don't have to feel it to live it though. Finding ways to get rid of those obstructions to positive energy flow can start with getting good physical energy reserves- food and exercise- and good holistic energy reserves- a reliable attention supply.