The second part of protecting yourself as an empath is called shielding. Like the picture on the left, shielding is just that, a barrier between you and everyone else's "stuff." You energetically build a protective wall, bubble, suit of armor (or whatever symbol of protection resonates with you) around yourself. Sound simple? It really is. If you can imagine it, you can "energetically" build it.
First, I suggest you ground yourself. Grounding can be done in many different ways. One of the most common is to imagine you have roots growing out of the bottoms of your feet (or from the base of your spine), being sent deep into the earth, where they connect to the earth's core. The intent is to give you an "anchor" and help you feel as if you are supported.
Once you've done that, you can begin to build your shield. I'm going to use a bubble for my shield example. Mentally visualize a bubble surrounding your entire being. The idea is to cover all sides, top, bottom, etc. Energy can be sneaky, so you don't want to allow a "back door" left open where it can sneak in. Your bubble can be made of any color, material, or consistency you want. For example, let's say you had a yellow blanket as a child that always made you feel safe and warm. You might choose to make your bubble yellow, like your blanket. The idea is to use symbols that have meaning to you.
Now that your bubble is in place, you want to also infuse it with the intent that no unwanted energies from others are going to get through to you. The energy can hit the shield and bounce off, or be absorbed by your shield which prevents you from absorbing it. Again, use your imagination and what works for you.
Putting up a shield helps to stop or at least reduce the amount of energy that gets through to you, therefore you are less affected emotionally and physically. Think of a volume dial on a radio. What happens when you turn the volume up to a level 9 or 10? You get blasted by sound. Without a shield, as an empath you are getting blasted by the volume of energy you are receiving from everyone else. With a shield, that volume of energy can be turned down to a more manageable number, such as 3, 2, or even 1. Speaking from personal experience, it makes a huge difference. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and the less you will be affected by others.
There are a couple of things to be aware of when shielding. The more intense the exposure (like me funeral story from last week's blog), the stronger the shield needs to be. You may have to add lots of layers, or use multiple colors and materials. Also, if your shield is designed to "bounce" or deflect the unwanted energy, you never want to send it back to the person (or persons) who sent it in the first place. If you didn't want/like the energy, redirecting it back to the sender could make them feel under attack. This in turn could cause them to send even more unhealthy energy towards you, and now you're stuck in a loop. Talk about an infinite game of pong, only with negative energy.
Next week, I'll explain how you can transmute the unhealthy energy and turn it into something more beneficial.