It happens to all of us. We’re going along fine, and suddenly we start to feel cranky, tired, put upon, dissed. One minute, things were good. The next, we’re in some sort of negative funk.

The first thing most of us do is look for WHY. As in, “Why am I so cranky, put upon and peevish? What just happened to cause it?”

Our emotional radar goes out, looking for the event that “caused” this. Maybe we just left a meeting without coming to consensus on the “right” action plan. THAT must be why! Maybe the scene we’re rehearsing just feels stagnant and inscrutable, especially if we have to play it with “that” other actor.

THAT’s why!

Armed with the “why,” you start to really burrow into the negative vibes. You start playing scenarios in your head (“here’s what I WISH I said to her”) and finding ways to justify what you’re feeling (“…and he’s never prepared the way he should be!”).

Pretty soon, we’ve gone from fair-to-middling, to peevish, to really peevish. Sometimes it just takes seconds.

Here’s a more resourceful option.

Next time you find yourself in a negative place, don’t look for “why.”

Instead, look for WHO. As in, “whose energy is this, anyway?”

You’ll be surprised to know that, many times, the unpleasant vibes you’re feeling aren’t yours to begin with. You may be feeling the feelings…but you don’t always originate the feelings.

Energy is contagious.That’s why it’s so wonderful to be with a group of friends, laughing. It’s why a great creative process can set you soaring for hours or even days. You pick up the good vibes, and life feels good.

Sometimes people use other people to clean up the energy for them, in the form of ranting and complaining and gossip. Before you opt for those, try just intending that the energy get cleaned up so you don’t slime it on someone else, and dissipate it from your field.

Say out loud or to yourself: “I intend that this energy leaves my field and that, as it does, it transforms to its opposite vibration.” Keep at it until you feel the shift. And you will.

Well, the same is true of bad vibes. Or, as I like to call them, “unresourceful vibes.” They’re even more unresourceful when you soak them up from other people and mistake them for your own.

It’s easier to ask “who” than you think. It’s just a new habit to build. When you notice yourself in an unresourceful place – even if you have already gone to the habitual place of asking, “why do I feel this way?” – STOP.

Take a deep breath, exhale, and hold your exhale there – with your lungs empty, just for 2–3 counts. Do it again.

Now ask yourself, “Is this energy mine, or does it belong to someone else?” Empty your mind, and wait for the answer. For some, it will come as a thought (“it’s someone else’s stuff”). Others may hear an internal “voice” that “tells” them whether the energy belongs to themselves or someone else. Some people will get a feeling in their body that delivers the information. There is no “right” way to get the info – just “your way” to get it.

If you discover it isn’t your energy, don’t keep it. Don’t hunt for where it came from or why. Just simply say to yourself (silently or out loud – both work): “This isn’t mine, and I let it go. It’s not mine to hold or to keep, and I intend that it shift out of my field right now.”

It can also be useful to intend this: “This energy is not mine, and I intend to release it to the light of higher vibration, to make something more resourceful, before it returns to its origins.”

I always say “thanks” to the energy for leaving – so see how that feels to you.

Let’s say that you ask “whose energy is this?” and you get back that it is yours, after all. That still doesn’t mean that you have to keep it.

Resist the habit of looking for the reason you have the feelings, and go straight to releasing the energy. Here, too, there are resourceful and unresourceful ways of doing that.

Harness the Energy Around You!

The keys are to NOTICE unresourceful energy; DISCOVER if it belongs to you or elsewhere; and INTEND that it leave your energy field. If you feel open to the idea of raising its vibration as it goes – and you just have to focus your intention to make that happen – all the better.

Sound too simple to work? It did to me, when I first learned about it. But give it a try next time you notice a sudden shift to a negative place. I bet you’ll find out, like I did, that simple works.

And it sure beats carrying around someone else’s garbage for them.