Mental and emotional energies accumulate and are stored in our subconscious. For this reason, we tend to express not just today’s collection of feelings, but also the mental and emotional force of all major past experiences—unless we skillfully flush out the ones that are no longer appropriate to our well-being. It is naïve to believe that yesterday’s anger evapo- rates as soon as we begin a new day. It is even more foolish to assume that months of disappointment vanish when our situation improves. At the conscious level, it may seem this way, but the energy of significant periods of negative emotions is stored in our subconscious where it festers and ferments. From there it becomes the power to create and sustain a sense of vulnerability—feelings of doubt, anxiety, and pessimism. Because these patterns are subtle, we may not notice how diminished our capacity to be cheerful, serene, and confident has become—until a friend comments on the changes in us.
We take our storehouse of positive and negative feelings and beliefs into all our experiences—both the actual experiences and those we imagine in our fears, resentments and disappointments. We add to them every time we dip into this large reservoir of mental and emotional energies to remember and review them. Some people actually multiply their distress each time they relive bad experiences! They thus accumulate an overwhelming store of guilt, anxiety, resentment, or disappointment about traumas and threats.
This is why some people begin to act as if their “emotional sewer” has become blocked and backed up. The energetic momentum of this reservoir of dis- appointment can make it very difficult to cheer up depressed people—even when they are in favorable circumstances they should be able to enjoy. In the same manner, our efforts to soothe angry or anxious people can be exceedingly challenging—even when very constructive changes are being offered to them. The force and magnetic power of months and years of accumulated fear, doubt, anger, and despair inhibits a positive response.
This vast storehouse of attitudes, beliefs, fears, resentments, and grief will do more than merely dominate our mood and state of mind. It may easily downgrade our expectations, hopes, and initiative— a change so gradual and subtle that we do not even notice the “new normal standard” for our outlook and behavior. Without realizing it, we stop being interested in new ideas and situations, scoff at new opportunities, and begin to ignore our accomplishments and belittle our talents. Unless we can recognize the presence of these stored mental and emotional energies in our subconscious, we will be severely handicapped in understanding and reversing the processes of psychic self-destruction.
The power of these stored mental and emotional energies can sabotage us in additional ways. Just as actual physical magnets radiate a magnetic field, our emotions and thoughts radiate a psychic field. This consists of the energy of our moods and thoughts. In effect, we are continually “broadcasting” our state of mind and attitudes all the time. This broadcast is an automatic signal that accompanies every thought and attitude we experience. It includes those that remain unspoken and unexpressed.
Although we might believe our thoughts are a secret we can keep from all others, these silent thoughts and feelings are being broadcast into the psychic dimension about us. Most of this broadcast is innocuous and unimportant—that is, until our projection of energies becomes hostile and destructive.
For example, a mother’s worry about her children is common, but it is never innocuous. Anxiety about imagined but possible disasters sends out projections of fear to the child, even if many miles away. This energy surge adds an unpleasant element to the child’s mood, causing irritation, doubt, and even con- fusion. The jealousy of a teenager about a person who is more popular or better looking is another common example of the projection of destructive energies. So is a flood of anger triggered by the “wrong kind” of political commentary—anger that is broadcast to the person speaking and the group he or she represents. The most harmful result of negative mental and emotional energies is the impact they have at the origin—us. Even though we may be totally focused in the faults and failures of others, we will still experi- ence the strongest dose of disappointment, anger, or anxiety. In other words, the hand that throws the psychic mud will end up the dirtiest. Just as the light is brightest at its source, so also the destructiveness of dark attitudes is strongest at their origin. For this reason, persistent anger about a perceived threat or annoyance will bathe us in the corrosive energies of hate. Our disappointment will enfold us in the depressing energy of sadness. Our persistent fear will agitate us in the irritating energy of anxiety.
This explains how we can so readily sabotage the relationships we have with people, groups, institutions, places, and even the work projects we dislike. It is easy to poison the psychic atmosphere with our silent resentment, fears, and disappointment. Our broadcast of these energies to others can both dampen their affection for us and provoke dislike and distrust of us. Despite our polite demeanor and positive words, our energy signal of anxiety or contempt will tend to dominate the overall impact of our presence. Once more, the powerful impact of our so-called silent thoughts and feelings is significant. It is dangerous to ignore this potential sabotaging force.
This sabotage becomes most destructive when we choose to resent or criticize something about ourself. When we are annoyed about our lack of skill or confidence, we diminish our ability to use what we have. A habit of belittling our talents or appearance or a perceived lack of success can cripple the good abilities we have. A sense of inadequacy can cause major damage to our capacity to act creatively and boldly.
Many people will recognize this habit as an inner critic running amok. But it is not quite as simple as a nagging voice that only we hear. It is the steady drip of condemnation and fault-finding that does the damage. While it can be easy to cut off an inner voice, the energy of a dark attitude continues to flow toward us from our subconscious—even when we are asleep. By understanding the power of our mental and emotional energies, we begin to recognize their ability to either bless or curse us. If we are deeply angry or disappointed about some aspect of ourself—abilities, knowledge, health, strengths, position, or power—we attract even more sadness and resentment. The more intense and persistent we are in our habit of belittling ourself and being irritated by our perceived deficiencies, the more harm we do. We slip into the practice of psychic self-destruction.
Only after we fully recognize the harm we inflict in this way can we begin to reverse this destruction and heal the damage. Knowing all we can about the dynamics of mental and emotional energies is a first major step in stopping psychic self-destruction.