Dealing with Emotional Vampires

Dr David Hamilton

I listened to a webinar at the weekend with the Barefoot Doctor, Stephen Russell interviewing Dr David Hamilton.  If you have never come across David, he is a truly interesting and lovely person.  He is a scientist who started his career in the pharmaceutical industry, researching the placebo effect in the development of new drugs for heart disease and cancer.  He is now a bestselling author and he travels the world offering workshops to help people understand the power of the mind on the body.  He has a great sense of humour and is able to make complex concepts very accessible. 

During the webinar he talked about a range of subjects including neuroscience, meditation, dealing with negative thinking, spirituality and past life.  He was also asked about how to protect yourself against other people with unhealthy states of mind and ‘emotional vampires’.

David said that everyone is susceptible to catching other people’s emotions, both positive and negative.  This is known as the ‘Chameleon Effect’ and occurs when we start to mirror another person both physically and emotionally.  

So what do you do if you start to get sucked in to a negative state? David’s tip to get out of it is to change your body language by scrambling your facial muscles, put your shoulders back, open your chest and take a deep breath.  When you’ve done that you can start to project your positive energy onto the other person. 

 

If you feel that someone is draining you of energy you can follow the same steps and, as you breathe out, express peace, positivity and inner strength.

Well, it beats wearing garlic around your neck!