How much of this is mine?

So there I was, minding my own business, not thinking about anything, walking down a shopping mall to do a completely neutral errand.

I began to feel anxious. Knot in the stomach. Constricted chest and throat. That sick-anxious feeling. I immediately thought of several things to be anxious about – but even while I was thinking of them, another part of my mind thought, “That’s not something that usually bothers me.”

Anxiety was not new to me. When I was younger, some years I woke up every morning with an anxiety knot. But this time, I realized that I actually felt anxious first, and then began to think of triggers for anxiety.

A few days later, I mentioned this experience to one of my mentors. She said, “Ask, ‘How much of this is mine?’ and see what happens.”

Instantly, “Thirty per cent” popped into my mind.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Only thirty per cent of the anxiety was yours,” she said.

“What?”

She explained. People who are sensitive may very easily pick up on other people’s emotions or mental distress. They begin to feel what others are feeling. They may not realize their feelings do not always originate from inside them.

She also said that if we are prone to a certain kind of emotion or feeling, we are more likely to pick up on that if it is in the environment. In my case, fear and anxiety are familiar. Someone else might be particularly susceptible to picking up the energy of anger or sadness or confusion if those are familiar experiences.

My mentor said the universe is very efficient. If it sees an opportunity for clearing some kind of negative energy, it uses the means at hand.

I said, “You mean the universe is using me to clean up energetic garbage? ‘Thank you’ would be nice. On second thought, ‘Thank you’ isn’t good enough.”

She said, “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t agreed to it. You live in the dimension of free choice. You create your own reality – all of it.” (Sometimes she is no fun at all.)

Then she said, “You know you can re-negotiate your agreement any time. You are an equal consenting partner. The universe always honors your choices.”

“Okay,” I said. “From this point on, I want to be really good at picking up happiness, joy and delight.” I thought a minute more. “How about the energy of millionaire-ness?”

She had the decency to laugh. She even refrained from saying, “The universe will honor your choice.”

Since then I’ve learned that when I am experiencing any kind of discomfort, it is useful to ask, “How much of this is mine?”

Even after doing this for almost ten years, I often forget to ask. But when I do ask, if much of the energy is not mine, I can then ask the universe to allow me to assist in energy clearing in a way that is comfortable and enables me to do the things I want to do. Or I can ask to be released from the task of clearing energy at this time. The universe always honors my choices.

Right now in North America, the energy of fear is rampant.

Many entrepreneurs are sensitive and intuitive. Sensitive people are more likely to be affected by the emotional and mental climate around them – and they may not know it. It feels like our own emotion. We really do experience the physical symptoms of fear (or anger or sadness).

But it may not be ours. Since I began asking the question, “How much of this is mine?” my answer is usually in the range of 5% to 20%. Okay I confess. Once it was 85%. It was not a pretty picture.

As entrepreneurs, our energy, emotions and thought processes are a big factor in our success. When we are feeling out of sync, it is useful to ask, “How much of this is mine?” If much of it is ours, we can ask for guidance and support to move through it. If much of it is not ours, we can ask to re-negotiate our agreement so that we can serve the planet in a comfortable way that allows us to do the things we want to do.

The universe always honors our choices.