Energy Feeding

[dreamosis]

Yes, CaterpillarWoman, I can easily see how asking for information would work as an energy-feeding strategy.

One of the underlying, crucial requirements for energy-feeding appears to be hooking the attention. No doubt that energy-feeding can happen under the radar of consciousness, but that would be more like...a "direct current" supply to a feeder, whereas with active attention there's the possibility for "alternating current" supply.

Providing active attention to a feeder could lead to becoming energetically entangled with them.

Think of watching TV. If you're like me, you might find sometimes you become "lost" in TV (which is why I don't have an antenna for my TV). By get lost I mean that my attention becomes hooked to the flow of images and sound and I'm no longer thinking -- my mind is filled up with the experience of the image flow. This is fun and enjoyable with a good movie or play or book, but is usually disturbing with the news or commercials. A lot of people have talked about this with TV; it's like you can fall into an inverse trance (body awake, mind asleep).

Of course I've been able to watch TV and stay actively aware, with my point of attention "unhooked," still inside me, and in a neutral observer state. (For me attention is very spatial; "inside me" generally equals self-aware -- except in the case of OBEs.)

So I think that attention can get hooked, or entangled, in all kinds of situations involving people, but energy-feeders might be particularly adept at hooking the attention in the same way as TV news. Energetically, Feeders are broadcasting the same signal over and over. One of the worst type of feeders, to me, are those who endlessly rehash the past. I have a lot of sympathy for them, because I've certainly been there, but as I think about it now what's happening energetically is this: by endlessly rehashing the same memories, thoughts, emotions, and mental projections, it's like they're swirling their finger in a coffee cup creating a whirlpool.

Extending that metaphor, try to imagine that we're all coffee cups, except the cup part of us is permeable, and we exist in a greater sea of coffee. If another coffee cup near us starts spinning and spinning, eventually a force is exerted on us, and some of the coffee from our cup is pulled toward them.

The more you indulge in negative thoughtloops, willfully or unwillfully, the harder they are to stop. They build up momentum. And they begin to affect others.

(...This is all pure conjecture, by the way -- albeit based in intuition and reflection...)

If a person is a notorious feeder, if everyone recognizes it whether they're energy-aware or not, the Whirlpool Effect is probably present. Again, you'll hear people who aren't energy-aware saying things like, "She's so draining to be around," "She sucks my will to live."

It may be too -- and this jives with my personal experience -- that it's difficult to be around hugely negative people just because of the feeling of turbulence. It's like they're invisibly thrashing and making waves.

Clearly there's an opposite of the Whirlpool Effect. Some people are like beam of sunlight or a gentle wind. Some feel stagnant, which can be disturbing too.

To get back to the thoughts above, though: Some feeders, in my experience, emit a hypnotizing signature. I think the energy they're sending out has a soporific effect because it's steadily negative, like a drum beat or the throbbing of a badly inflamed bruise. Dwelling on negative emotion upsets the give-and-take of energy in your energy body, cutting off your intake. (Positive emotion is radiant; negative emotion is gravitational?) With the attention hooked by a feeder, and self-awareness getting eclipsed, a heavier drain is possible than if you remain unentangled and self-aware. Negative thoughtloops, and feeders, are examples of out-of-control positive feedback.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback

[ButterflyWoman]

Some feeders, in my experience, emit a hypnotizing signature. I think the energy they're sending out has a soporific effect because it's steadily negative, like a drum beat or the throbbing of a badly inflamed bruise.

What an incredibly poetic piece of prose (ooh, alliteration!). I just wanted to note that. It's beautiful.

Dwelling on negative emotion upsets the give-and-take of energy in your energy body, cutting off your intake.

Yes. This is my observation and experience (I used to be quite the energy vampire, myself, though I had no conscious awareness of it at the time).

With the attention hooked by a feeder, and self-awareness getting eclipsed, a heavier drain is possible than if you remain unentangled and self-aware. Negative thoughtloops, and feeders, are examples of out-of-control positive feedback.

Oh, ouch. Yes. Yes, that's right. I say "ouch" because I just saw, with shocking clarity, how a younger (and very different!) version of myself used to use a combination of stuff (depending on whose attention I was trying to get) to hook someone in. My primary tactic was drama of one sort or another, but I used whatever I had to (sex, helplessness, vulnerability, rage, etc.).

*sigh* I keep being shown these little flashes of who I used to be, for me to accept, forgive, and process, and be grateful that I'm not that person any more. (This is what I get for doing a "remove obstacles" ritual! LOL!)

I shared that because I wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you.

[dreamosis]

@CaterpillarWoman: You're very welcome. This is a good thread. I'm learning a lot by exchanging ideas with you.

Last year has a hard year for me. I was almost constantly caught in negative loops of memory, thought, emotion, and mental projection. I felt out of control. It was like I was in a whirlpool. I was responsible for it, but now that I think about thoughtloops having momentum, I see why I was so miserable and why I was unbearable to be around too.

If a person is dizzy and nauseous from a merry-go-around, it's easy to say that someone, "Well, it's your fault. You got on the merry-go-round and you're the one that pushed it faster and faster by kicking off the ground." And it's true. But, with a merry-go-round, at some point, you don't have to push anymore -- you've gather momentum and it spins all by itself. I think something similar can happen in the mind-field (and body). When we repeatedly "spin" our mind, at certain point we don't have to do the "spinning" anymore. And if we react to our out-of-control mind with more anger, worry, fear, ingratitude, avoidance, and meanness, we enter a positive feedback loop.

[CFTraveler]

If a person is dizzy and nauseous from a merry-go-around, it's easy to say that someone, "Well, it's your fault. You got on the merry-go-round and you're the one that pushed it faster and faster by kicking off the ground." And it's true. But, with a merry-go-round, at some point, you don't have to push anymore -- you've gather momentum and it spins all by itself. I think something similar can happen in the mind-field (and body). When we repeatedly "spin" our mind, at certain point we don't have to do the "spinning" anymore. And if we react to our out-of-control mind with more anger, worry, fear, ingratitude, avoidance, and meanness, we enter a positive feedback loop.

This one is a keeper.

[Red Arrow]

Oh, well, if it's in Wikipedia it MUST be true!

ROTFLMAO!

[boris]

You don't have to reply, but is this one a keeper CFT?




*spank spank*

[Red Arrow]

As within, so without. That which is "without" is a direct reflection of that which is "within". That's how I read it, anyway.

Yes, I do as well.

[Red Arrow]

... try to imagine that we're all coffee cups, except the cup part of us is permeable, and we exist in a greater sea of coffee. If another coffee cup near us starts spinning and spinning, eventually a force is exerted on us, and some of the coffee from our cup is pulled toward them.

The more you indulge in negative thoughtloops, willfully or unwillfully, the harder they are to stop. They build up momentum. And they begin to affect others.

(...This is all pure conjecture, by the way -- albeit based in intuition and reflection...)

It is an excellent metaphor, nonetheless. I strongly agree, in the context of Feeders as well as for life in general, for anyone seeking to be self-aware. Negative thoughtloops/feedback loops can truly take on a moment of their own and root into one's cellular memory (that merry go round earlier mentioned! Another good one), and then it is that much harder to recalibrate the psyche, as well as one's vibration.

If a person is a notorious feeder, if everyone recognizes it whether they're energy-aware or not, the Whirlpool Effect is probably present. Again, you'll hear people who aren't energy-aware saying things like, "She's so draining to be around," "She sucks my will to live."

It may be too -- and this jives with my personal experience -- that it's difficult to be around hugely negative people just because of the feeling of turbulence. It's like they're invisibly thrashing and making waves.

Clearly there's an opposite of the Whirlpool Effect. Some people are like beam of sunlight or a gentle wind. Some feel stagnant, which can be disturbing too.

To get back to the thoughts above, though: Some feeders, in my experience, emit a hypnotizing signature. I think the energy they're sending out has a soporific effect because it's steadily negative, like a drum beat or the throbbing of a badly inflamed bruise. Dwelling on negative emotion upsets the give-and-take of energy in your energy body, cutting off your intake. (Positive emotion is radiant; negative emotion is gravitational?) With the attention hooked by a feeder, and self-awareness getting eclipsed, a heavier drain is possible than if you remain unentangled and self-aware. Negative thoughtloops, and feeders, are examples of out-of-control positive feedback.

Yes, well said.

Many of your posts in this topic I've wanted to comment on, Dreamosis. However, this really hits the mark for me in my own experiences with these types (and having grown up with one as a parent).

I'd also add - or rather expand on as you've hinted to this as well - that there are those who are very, very stealth and may carry a glamour which hides the miasma; they are so good as to warrant a name all their own (hmmm, not sure what, just yet... Uber, or Master Feeder? Feeder Divas? ). Yes, Positive emotion is radiant indeed - and a really seasoned, possibly for many lifetimes, Feeder is talented in being able to initially draw one into their 'whirlpool' with shiny, attractive support and seeming good intentions when they set their sights on a yummy Energy in another. They use mirrors by which they attempt to reflect back what they dearly want/need for themselves vibrationally - meaning, they reflect your own goodness to you, so that you are pulled in by that drumbeat which you recognize subconsciously, you feel a 'connection' with them, and this is part of the allure. Usually the mirror at some point becomes too heavy, or they simply get lazy and lose their grip. If one is self-aware and attentive, they can see the Feeder for what they are in those moments and hopefully dis-engage.

Great thread!

[velvet]

In my experience, sometimes my sister takes energy and I'm hardly doing anything. It is probably because she is someone who talks too fast and wants everything fast. Its like she has all this energy but I feel tired.

[Beekeeper]

Just caught up. Well worth it!

Dreamosis, you express it so well!