Laura Izibor is an extremely talented, twenty-something songstress from Ireland, of all places. She's touring with India Arie right now. Move over Beyonce, Alicia Keys and all the other "artists" they play on the radio ad nauseam. I just hope the radio execs market her for staying power. I can't help but wonder why those with talent, like Corinne Bailey Rae and Chrisette Michele (who by the way has a new album coming out soon...yahoo!), don't get more visibility--just enough so we know they exist, but not so much that we get sick of them. Anyway....YAHOO! I get so excited when I discover new music and it's good!
....it's a vampire! Energy vampire that is! I interviewed Dr. Judith Orloff, a few years ago, for a magazine article that I was writing. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the article was about, but I remember the lesson I learned about energy vampires.
Just as the name suggests, an energy vampire, is anything or anyone who leaves you feeling like a casualty of emotional warfare. They literally suck the life out of you. It's the conversations you have with someone that make you feel as though you've been slimed with a substance that even a nice hot shower wouldn't wash off? If you're feeling drained, tired, or unmotivated after an encounter with someone, you might have fallen victim to a sob sister, drama queen, constant talker or criticizer. If you don't remember encountering such a person, have had a good night's sleep, have no health issues and you still feel run down, you my friend may be the reason. Your own negative thoughts might be sucking your energy.
So what do you do:
1. Awareness is always the first step. Recognize the situation for what it is. 2.Easier said than done, but if it's overwhelmingly negative, you must change your thought pattern. 3. Don't be a hostage to a conversation that's moving at a drop-dead speed off a cliff, into a brick wall, or towards oncoming traffic. Get the picture! 4. Protect yourself. Remember your garlic or wooden stake. If it's a family member that you can't avoid, you still have the power to limit interaction with this personality.
When did life get so hectic? It feels like no matter how early I wake up, I just won't be able to get through my list of things to do, on any given Sunday or any other day of the week. It's getting to the point where I have to make a concerted effort to spend time with my friends. A brief conversation with them, whether it be via telephone, email or text, is followed by plugging our plans into my iPhone calendar, a follow up email and the transaction is almost sealed. They are equally as, if not more, busy, and so it may take a few texts back and forth--who has time for an actual conversation--to fine tune the details. There are days that are so jam packed that actually going to bed at a reasonable hour seems an unrealistic luxury.
At the end of one day in particular, I remember only being able to check off three of the ten things on my to-do list. I can't help but wonder if I've just gotten slower? Is this a natural part of the aging process or is time really flying by faster, like the final grains of sand in an hour glass?
A recent report confirms that life is moving faster and that the pressures of a world moving at such a rapid pace is causing thousands of our genes to respond. While it was once thought that human evolution stopped a long time ago, scientists are now saying that today we are evolving 100 times faster. They say that an entirely new human species could possibly be the result of this rapidly-paced world--a species so different, they will not be able to breed with homo sapiens. Wow! If there's going to be a newer, more improved model of me one day, I may as well slooooooooow down and enjoy the view!
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