Your Thoughts Have Energy — Here's How They Affect Those Around You

Thoughts are real things. And, like all real things, they generate energy: little packets of energy called photons, which are the fundamental particles of light. Albert Einstein discovered this law (photoelectric effect) and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in physics for his work.

Though all of us have experienced photons in many ways, perhaps you've never thought of them in relation to your thoughts, so let me give you an example: You're watching someone bullying people. Suddenly, you find yourself almost taking a step back, and you feel disturbed. It's almost as if the person is throwing something at you. What you're experiencing is the toxic energy from that person's thoughts—and it's real.

Mental energy sucks others in. Think of hanging out with someone who's constantly depressed or negative and how you feel around them. Fear breeds fear. The fearful mind generates fearful probabilities. The depressed mind generates depressing possibilities. But the same can be said for the positive.

That's why we need to be discerning about who we connect with and who we listen to. We can quite literally enhance or damage each other. When we inadvertently allow others to fill our minds with their thinking, we're at their mercy.

The energy from people's thoughts is real, and we need to protect ourselves from it if it's negative or grab it with both hands if it's positive.

Thoughts and ideas from other people—including what we hear, read, and watch—have the potential to exert a controlling influence over our thinking, feeling, and choosing, if we let them.