6 ways to close energetic leaks in your life
Happy Sunday, Soothers. Is your life... leaky?
I'm not talking about dripping faucets or pipes (though, you should definitely address those, because they're a big issue in feng shui).
I'm talking about energetic leaks.
Energy leaks are the invisible ways you’re giving away your essence to people, actions or things throughout the day.
Overall, you can think of them like interactions that take up more energy than they give back. An energy leak could look like...
Saying yes when you mean no
Staying in a conversation longer than you want to out of politeness
Being weighed down by clutter of unwanted things surrounding you
Feeling an obligation to listen to podcasts or read emails that don’t actually light you up
Scrolling mindlessly on your phone
Being surrounded by environments or people who leave you feeling drained
One example of an energy leak in my life is responding to people who send me emails or comments that don't have good intentions. (It happens, even in a community as wonderful as the Sunday Soother!) Before, I'd try to engage with them, help them understand what I'm trying to say and communicate, why it matters.
Now, I just delete and ignore. There we go. Energy leak sealed.
Just like leaks that are happening in your home — warmth escaping through cracked windows, water dripping and leaking out of a pipe — the goal is to seal, repair and eliminate these leaks so that you can begin to come back to a sense of energetic completeness and wholeness, full of boundaries, presence and your own life essence.
Here are 6 simple suggestions on ways you can begin to close and seal off energetic leaks. Don’t worry about doing them all at once; just like it took us a long time to get caught in all of our energetic leaks, it might take a little while to repair them, too. (Plus, I consider frantic rushing an energetic leak, for sure! So feel safe to go slow and little by little.)
1. Declutter your closet. One big energetic leak can be carrying the subconscious weight of items that no longer fit us (physically or identity-wise), and then feeling guilt and worry that we’re not using or wearing them enough, or feeling tired just thinking about how we’re not using them and we “should” be. Consider this your permission slip to get rid of any and all clothing items that don’t feel amazing to wear.
2. Unsubscribe from emails and podcasts. It’s time to get your inbox and podcast queue down to only the newsletters and shows that have you leaping with excitement to consume to them. Not to mention the time obligation — I recently deleted 30 podcasts! That’s 30 hours a week. Podcast listening was becoming a full time, obligatory job, because I felt so afraid I would “miss” something if I didn’t fit them all in. You’re not only eliminating energy leaks, you’re working on your scarcity mindset, too. Because you trust the right information will find you, and you don't have to hoard it.
3. Unfollow everybody on social media for 1-2 weeks. One or two times a year, I go through a full unfollowing on Instagram. I think of it is as “decluttering” my feed. Your social media, or anywhere you spend mindless scrolling, is a huge energy leak; just imagine all your unfocused, zombie-like energy streaming straight out of your essence and into your phone. Plus, you can always re-follow! Again, you’ll remember the accounts you really want to re-follow; they’re the ones who feel useful, life-giving and nourishing.
4. Pay attention to where you feel obligation or guilt. For me, the deepest sense that something has become an energy leak is that I feel a sense of guilt or obligation around it. This could be everything from a TV show I feel I “should” watch, to a friend whose calls I feel obligated to take, to a gift I was given that I don’t like but I feel guilty for donating or re-gifting. If you can even eliminate 10-20% of people, things or actions in your life that cause you guilt or obligation, that will be a great step forward.
5. Practice writing scripts for situations where you need to say no. I find that most HSPs and empaths want to say no, and are capable of it, but we get caught off-guard in situations where we feel we must react immediately, often saying yes or agreeing to things we don’t want to because we are unprepared. By having a script to say a “thank you, but no, or not right now”, or even simply saying “Thanks. I need 24 hours to think about this and then I’ll get back to you” you can stop falling into the trap of immediately saying yes to things you don’t want to do.
6. Be willing to get just 10% better at closing out energy leaks, day by day. Most of us are dealing with a rigid, black-or-white perfectionist mindset, that might say, “What’s the point of working on my energy leaks if I CAN’T HEAL ALL OF THEM PERFECTLY ALL AT ONCE IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS?!?!” Let yourself do this all little by little. Commit to just cleaning out 3 items in your closet; unsubscribing from 3 podcasts; unfollowing 3 people on social media; saying no once this month, etc. Small progress absolutely counts.
And those are just some starting ideas! Other ways to close off energy leaks are to scroll less; stop saying yes when you mean no; declutter other areas of your home; don't do anything that inspires a feeling of dread or obligation.