Expand Your Energy
to Increase Your
Overall Influence
The first thing to realize is that you are in control of your own energy. …
[Sources of energy] connect you to the flow of life,
which is constantly renewing itself.
—deepak chopra
We talk about the biggest person in the room, the most influential person sitting at the table. There is no reason that person can’t be you. You can expand your energy. This is ideal! How incredible would that be? Once you discover how to magnify your metaphysical aura, you can grow your overall influence to gain what you want or need to succeed in business.
I know it may sound like something that is beyond what you can do or even what you can easily bring yourself to believe in, but it is more than possible to change the way you can inspire others. When you increase your presence, you increase your impact. You want to be that person, the person with the influence, because that person is the one with the power, and that power can help you be the success you want to be. There are many ways you can expand your energy, but increasing your aura is one of the easiest methods.
But that’s not all. You don’t always want to limit yourself to just expanding your energy—you need to work on managing it. Meditation can provide you with the means you need to calm down. After all, you don’t want to haphazardly overpower everyone in the room because you are out of control. It’s not about total domination. Understanding how to expand but also steady your auric energy will keep you more balanced and composed no matter the situation or circumstance you find yourself in.
What Is an Aura?
Every living thing has an aura. It is our energy field that emits from our physical body, usually about one to two inches outward around the body. This ethereal layer can be felt and even seen by others who are sensitive to energy, and it can be read intuitively, just like you did when you were doing the handshake mambo. It’s kind of like our energetic skin. It can also magnify and grow or shrink in size depending on what we are doing or what we are thinking. This energetic stratum is what we feel in others when we say, “Wow, they have a huge presence!” We can manipulate auras once we learn how.
An aura will change constantly. It adjusts to our moods and our needs and desires. Think of your aura as kind of an energetic organ, which, while being part of your metaphysical body, is also strongly connected to your emotional and even physical self. Auras shift. They change. They can even be managed, somewhat. They can be used to expand your energetic footprint, thereby putting yourself out in the world as more powerful. With one adjustment, you can increase your confidence and feel more significant. And now you’re wondering, “Great, but exactly how can you do it?” Well, hold on to your aura, because here we go!
Let’s connect to your feelings in a different way. When you think of something that makes you really angry, and I mean really angry, what happens? Think back to a time when you were really pissed off. Maybe someone did you wrong in some way or someone messed with your kids or your family. Possibly your boss screwed you over or your coworker cheated you out of credit for something. How do you react? Does your breathing speed up? Slow down? Do you get warmer? If it’s an argument with someone, do you lean toward them? Lean away? Talk through clenched teeth? Yell? Whisper? Ball your fists?
Let me tell you what happens to me. I was explaining something that happened with my daughters about a year ago. They were at a clothing store and a scumbag decided to try and intimidate them while they were standing by the register to pay. He, who stood at about six foot three, hovered within inches of them, both about five foot two. This clearly was intentional and made them extremely uncomfortable. When they came home and told me what had happened, anger bubbled up inside me.
When I shared this story a few days ago, I felt my body heating up again. My fists balled up and I found myself leaning forward and getting loud, though the people I was telling it to had absolutely nothing to do with the initial interaction. When I realized how worked up I was getting, merely by sharing the story, I had to take a deep breath and slow down. The friends I was talking to had both backed their chairs up. They said they could literally feel my rage over the situation and that it was so strong it had pushed them back. This jerk stimulated a reaction in me, and my energy had expanded exponentially, to the point that my friends felt overwhelmed by it. I had to reign my aura back in.
This energy, from our own aura, can be so powerful it can move people. Go back to how that angry memory or thought made you feel. What happened in that moment? Did you feel yourself getting larger? Or shrinking down? As I explained, just the thought of what the man had done to my kids triggered a reaction that increased my aura to create a formidable presence. Imagine what you could accomplish when you control that.
Let’s look at it a different way, because we don’t want to only work with our aura when we are angry. Let’s imagine you are really happy! That’s much better. Happy and excited even. Think back to a time when you felt that kind of feeling. What was it? Where were you? Did you feel warm or cold? How about your space—did you feel large? Or small? Did it feel like your energy was fluid with movement or stagnant and standing still? Think about this. Now really feel it. What does it feel like in your body? Does it make you feel good and tingly? Do you want to share that energy with others or hold it captive for yourself?
Everyone reacts differently to circumstances. You, and you alone, will feel how you react, and by extension, you will begin to feel how your energy and your aura react. But what about not waiting for a reaction to something? You’ve hopefully now experienced what your aura is capable of during extreme emotions. By focusing in on those feelings, you can train or learn to extend or retract your aura.
This, by the way, can be seen when viewed through an infrared camera. It’s possible to physically see your auric energy expanding or retracting based on what you are feeling or who you are talking with. I’ve seen firsthand how an interesting conversation can alter the energy field around two people. When they first start to talk, their auras are held back, separate and independent of each other. But something incredible happens when they begin to get into what they are talking about, kind of like when you almost can’t wait to chime in because you’re so excited about the topic you’re discussing. Their auras begin stretching out toward each other, and then bam! They merge together! The outer layers connect and form a big outline that encompasses both people, while their inner layers stay solely around each individual. Their auras link through their mutual excitement.
Why would you want to connect your aura with someone else’s? Or reach your aura out toward them? Because you can! And because it can help you control and lead situations. There are so many practical reasons for this. If you are trying to bring someone around to your ideas or way of thinking, you need to connect to them. When you extend your aura out, they can join you, and it becomes much easier to sway your customer, client, or significant other to agree or understand your point of view.
Try This!
Think of how you felt when you were angry. Now, think of how you felt when you were really happy, ecstatic even. Rather than focusing on the cause of the anger or happiness, instead focus on the passion. It is strong. It is powerful. That passion can be used to expand and control your auric field. When you breathe in, feel that passion filling your physical body. As you continue inhaling and allowing the passion to permeate inside you, begin letting it seep out through your pores. On every exhale, imagine that passion, that emotion you feel so strongly, is pushing out further and further until you get tingly. Now, and this is important, allow that energy to be positive and inviting instead of negative. Push your delight through your skin to your ethereal layers and feel what that does to your spirit.
When you expand your aura in this way, you are really doing double duty. You are not only magnifying your energy; you are also protecting yourself from other energy coming in to distract or interrupt yours. You’re shielding negativity from getting through to interfere with your spirit. This, again, makes you powerful. Others will feel it and pull back their own energy without even realizing what they’re doing, which can create a leadership spot for you. It opens up the perfect situation for you to exert your preferences and desires in business, and so on, to increase your potential for success.
Now that you know how it feels, how about another, easier way to increase your auric imprint? You can do this simply with your breath. Pretend you’ve drawn a circle around yourself, in the air. Yes, that takes some imagination on your part! Make it about five inches away from your physical body. Breathe. Just inhale and exhale. With every breath out, picture the space between your outline and your body filling with color, more specifically red, blue, and yellow. Red is a powerful color when envisioned with the intent of positive power rather than anger. Blue is about communication—listening as well as speaking. Yellow is your intuitive power center, where your gut instincts reside. When you keep breathing out and filling the void you’ve drawn with these colors, it will develop a much larger aura that others may begin to feel. You can utilize this method anywhere you need to feel more confident and stronger, raising you to greatness.
Calming Your Nerves in an Unsteady World
We can internationally feel energy. There are so many stressors in our world, especially with all the crises that are happening globally. So how do these affect you? The truth is everything that’s going on around you has the capacity to wear you down or boost you up. If the global predicaments aren’t causing apprehension, think on a more personal level. In business, we tend to focus on what is happening externally, more than internally, and those events and circumstances affect us. We succumb to pressures from others at work, especially our bosses, based on what they are dealing with as their truth or their needs, because we want to empathize with them, but let’s be real here—more so because we need to do what’s necessary to stay employed. When we really take a moment to think about the situation or why we are doing the job we are doing, we can see that our truth may not align with theirs, and we may need to move on. But how can that ever happen if we don’t take a minute to contemplate our options?
You’ve been working with your aura, and you know that through our energy, all living things are connected. This is why we can so easily be swayed or influenced by other people and the energy they put out in the world. Besides being sympathetic to others, we can also be empathetic and even empathic. Empathic means we feel what other people are feeling. This can cause us to start freaking out for no reason. You may begin to feel sad or uncomfortable when the world seems to be having so many problems. You pick up on the energy with clairsentience. Good, bad, or indifferent, it’s all there, and you need to learn how to separate the energy that’s not yours. Empaths want the world to live in harmony—their desire for peace comes from their deep connection to so many. When you take on energy that doesn’t belong to you, it’s much better when it’s positive energy. While this may be true, you have to be prepared for anything.
Don’t be afraid of your energy. Be grateful, but don’t be naïve and think that everyone will have the same feelings or vibes as you. They won’t always be able to calm down, but you will! Take a deep breath. You want to be able to pull your own energy back in so you can control it a bit better. Now, here’s the thing: you don’t necessarily always want to completely sever your energy to and from others. You want to stay connected and tapped into what’s happening in the world and in your own little portion of it. You don’t want to let it overtake you, though. Instead of totally cutting the threads between you and the rest of society, imagine that what connects you is like an electrical cord, and you are in control of it and can settle it down when needed.
Electrical cords have many wires woven together to make up the actual cable. It is these wires that carry the energy from one point or connection to the other. Similar to this, imagine a bunch of multiwired cables connecting you to the world and everyone in it. Rather than envisioning yourself cutting the entire thing and amputating your link, start slowly by imagining yourself severing one wire at a time.
There are some contacts we need to keep undamaged, like those to our boss or our employee or customer. However, there’s nothing that says we need to keep the flow wide open. By decreasing the number of wires in each cable that attaches you to each particular person, you can get rid of some of the stress that weighs you down, leaving only the positive or necessary filaments. This will help you understand each other and what you need to do, while keeping your own personal space and boundaries intact. You’ve got this. You can handle it, deliberately and with intent. At first, it may feel exhausting, especially if you don’t know which links to cut to each person or situation, but with practice and focus you will learn to accomplish this with little effort.
Now, remember—we all have situations or people who stress us out. Send yourself some positive energy. Give yourself a break. It’s all right to stress. It’s what you do with it that will determine whether you use the energy all around you or let it use and drain you. Further, when you become more adept at managing the stressors, you will have more of an opportunity to examine your options. Should you expand your energy? Should you retract it? Should you cut the entire bundled cord to someone or something or pick and choose which individual wires to cut? Whether it is personal or business, you need to be able to examine these choices if you want to get ahead, even with the static that is constantly buzzing. And then, you will succeed.
Calming Down
in the Midst of Chaos
When was the last time you felt really calm? When you were working on a big pitch at work? When you were dealing with employee issues? When you were trying to handle your two teenage kids at home who just told you that one wanted to drop out of school and the other one was pregnant? Ha. That’s real life, though. Not everyone’s daily life is going to be the same, and not everyone will deal with these types of stress, but we’ve all got some form of chaos in our life that needs to be dealt with. The only way to handle serious issues is to rationally approach them individually. But how can you be a success if you’re not conquering everything at once? Well, you can and then some. And you can start this by meditating. You need to calm down.
You’ve pulled your energy back. You’ve cut whatever cords necessary to be able to move on, but now what do you do? You meditate. You relax your mind, body, and spirit. If you don’t, you can suffer from overload. Meditation can bring about a total relaxation that can leave you ready to handle just about anything. There are many ways to begin and many ways to direct your meditation. Meditation can bring about positivity and chase away negative feelings. Among other benefits, it can increase the productivity as well as boost the brain’s ability to process information. Of course, this will add to your quality of life.
It’s interesting—when you look up meditation in a thesaurus, it throws out words like consideration, contemplation, and introspection. You are concentrating on your mind and even changing your mindset. You are relaxing your thoughts, decreasing the stress, and increasing your body’s actual comfort. Your spirit is longing for this, and you’re going to provide it!
Try This!
The most basic of meditations can be accomplished by breathwork, which can be extremely effective. Focusing on both the inhalation and the exhalation while counting to three or four is the simplest way to begin. If you do this for a mere five minutes a day, you will find yourself becoming calmer. Again, calming down is so important to your successes in both your personal and professional life. When you inhale, imagine a beautiful, loving energy entering your lungs and spreading through your body. As you exhale, feel any gunk or negativity pass out through your mouth, ridding your mind, body, and spirit of anything that’s not yours to hold on to or anything you no longer need. Then, and this is a biggie, thank the universe for holding space for you to relax in this hectic world.
The more you practice this simple meditation, the more natural it will begin to feel. When you are ready to progress to the next level, you can still begin in this way, but do it with purpose. Go somewhere you will be comfortable and can sit or lie down for a longer period of time—whether it’s your own bed or your office is irrelevant as long as you won’t be disturbed. The next step in your meditation practice (and I say practice because it’s a never-ending development) is to set an intention. Think about what it is you want to accomplish today, this week, this month, this year. Set a goal. It might be to increase your business portfolio or your business network, or it may have more to do with losing the extra weight you’ve put on due to stress. Whatever your goal, this meditative exercise can help you achieve it.
Think about what your goal is and get comfortable. It’s imperative that you are comfy to help with your attention. You can begin with the simple breathwork. Once you’ve gotten yourself to a place where you feel relaxed and are ready to work on your goals, you’ll know. It’s okay if you feel distracted—we all get distracted. Just acknowledge whatever random thoughts you have, thank them for showing up, and let them go. Get back to the business at hand. When you feel inclined to continue, it’s the right time. Then, with every inhalation, breathe in your goal. Taste it, feel it, see it, inhale it, say it in your mind. With every outward breath, rid your mental state of the obstacles and debris you’ve been holding on to that have held you back from accomplishing what you want. See the obstacles, visualize what they are, and watch them funnel out of your mouth. Be sure to include yourself in there—most often it’s us that hold ourselves back. Don’t stop until you feel you’re done. And, as always, thank the universe for having your back and for allowing you to make these changes.
Do this work every day for at least a week and pay attention to how you feel. Has your overall energy changed? Do you find yourself more relaxed? Have you calmed down? If so, great! If you don’t feel a difference yet, then keep doing it. Giving up is no longer in your vocabulary. You are worth more than that, and it’s about time you realized it. Remember, you are powerful, and it’s up to you to start owning that!
Energy is a mighty tool when utilized. Discovering how we can connect and control and even manipulate the energy to our benefit or the benefit of others can give you a leg up over your competition. The energy of your aura will serve you well and can even boost your ability to manifest the life you want to live.