We are all so much more than we think.

 

We are not just our physical bodies and our minds but we are also beings of energy. And therefore we leave an energetic imprint in the places where we live and visit.

 

You have probably had the experience of walking into an empty room where an argument has just taken place. You can feel the anger bouncing off the walls and you immediately want to open the windows to clear the atmosphere.

 

Similarly most people have had the experience of looking for a house or flat to buy or rent. Sometimes you go into a place and although you don’t know why or what happened there you just can’t wait to leave.

 

Even much loved homes lose their energy when their inhabitants move on. Last year we sold a house where we had been very happy.   My husband really loved where we lived and found it very hard to leave. But when he had to return to collect some things a few days after we had moved out and before the new owners moved in, he felt much better.  ‘I realised it was just four walls when I went back,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t our home now that we were no longer living there’.

 

The energy of outdoor places is also very strong and can linger for thousands of years. Some people are more sensitive to different places than others. Many of us have a special place where we feel different from everywhere else. It is as if our spirit knows things about that place which don’t seem to mean anything to anyone else.

 

Some beautiful places on earth can make us feel tranquil, calm and peaceful inside.   Sometimes these places appeal only to us; other times it seems as if the the whole world wants to visit.   But not everyone responds in the same way to different places. Years ago I was on holiday in California and we stopped off for a walk along Venice Beach. I did not know much about it and as we walked along enjoying the sea and watching people having a good time, I was overcome with unexpected and inexplicable feelings of dread. It was so unpleasant we had to return to the car and go elsewhere.

 

Telling this story to a friend some years later, I discovered she had also had a similar experience there. At the time neither of us knew Venice Beach had such a history of violence. But we had felt it all around us when we were there and it repelled us.

 

Living in our concrete jungles, it is easy to forget that the earth is a living and breathing organism.   When we hurt each other she too retains the imprint of the pain we cause. Being sensitive to the energy of places around us is a reminder that it is not just protecting the planet’s resources that matters but also how we choose to lead our lives while the planet is our home.