The psychological hack every spiritual “channel” should know.
Not everyone is a channel. It’s not better or worse than any other spiritual path, it just exists. If you are one, click here.
When I say channel, I’m talking about people who at best absorb energies, and at worst, get possessed. (No, it’s not the same as being an empath). Not everyone has that gift/curse, but it’s not too rare either — it just exists. It’s sort of like having long legs: is it good or bad? I don’t know. It depends on the context! Good for basketball, terrible for gymnastics.
If you are one of us, you probably know for sure (it’s one of those things you can’t ignore). If you aren’t, you either won’t relate to what I’m saying, or won’t be sure if you relate or not (in the latter case, no, you aren’t). There is no prize in relating. There are hundreds of spiritual paths. How boring would it be if everyone’s was the same! So, as always, if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t put it on.
Most people who are into spirituality agree that the spiritual affects the mundane… But very few are willing to look at the other side of the coin: the mundane can also affect the spiritual. I have ranted about it in the past already, so I’ll only mention it here in passing, but don’t forget it. Spirituality isn’t the starting point for everything. Sometimes, you need to take a look at good old boring Psychology. And this is what we’re doing today.
Let’s use a metaphor: imagine you’re a glass jug with a lid.
This kind of container can take many substances, but not *all* substances. And when you’re using a jug, it’s always important to know what exactly you pour into it; how long you’re leaving it in there; what you intend on using it for. For example, can you put water into it? Sure. Can you put milk into it? Absolutely; with the caveat that milk will go sour and become a problem to clean a lot earlier than water, so don’t forget it in there in case you don’t end up using the whole lot. But can you… Put acid into it? Usually it’s not recommended. Most acids will corrode glass over time. Depending on how strong it is, it will corrode glass in real time.
Now… What if something accidentally spills and gets into your jug? Well, it’s worth observing that if you always put the lid on when you’re done working with it, you’ll mitigate the effects from this kind of accident — maybe some will still get in the jug, from the small opening in the front that tends to stay uncovered; But it’s a lot better than having it fully open, isn’t it? The result is a much smaller mess to clean on the inside of it.
Keep this metaphor in mind. Now, let’s elaborate on it:
You probably know your “acid” and your “water”… But do you know your “milk”?
The extremes are always easier to identify. You’re probably aware of what energies agree with you very easily, and what energies definitely don’t… But what about those which “go sour” before you know it and take you by surprise with how damaging they can end up becoming?
You see, impermanence is inherent to all things in this universe; but Western society doesn’t give it due importance, which is why this obvious truth needs to be stated: no energy, influence, or state of being you embody or come into contact with will stay forever the same. Something that once felt nice may eventually become harmful if it’s festering and not renovating; not making room for the new. This is a universal truth, because it will be relatable on some level to everyone (usually, on a mild level); but I want to draw your attention to just how much more attuned to it you need to be if you’re a spiritual channel:
To use the same metaphor, being a spiritual channel is like being a jug with a lid that covers most (but not all) of the opening, in a world where a lot of people are jars with a very tight vacuum seal (And some are sponges: no closeness at all! More on that below if you keep reading). Essentially, this permanent “opening” to external influences can be useful for a lot of activities — like oracular rituals, sorcery, etc — but it also brings with it a few challenges that must not be ignored, such as the fact you will never achieve the same level of protection (or “closedness”) as other people whose spiritual calling does not involve channeling.
Why am I saying this obvious thing? Well, I’m saying this to remind you of a fact we often forget: it’s not our fault that we become “loaded” once in a while. It’s bound to happen, and it’s completely impossible to prevent, due to our very nature. We need to cleanse regularly, not just protect ourselves, since the overtly harmful energies out there are only ONE of the things that can affect us over time. Even energies that are essentially innocent and good can “go sour” if we don’t intentionally cleanse them away. Other people don’t need to focus on this clean-up, as it happens automatically for them the minute they stop engaging with said energy (keep in mind the tight vacuum-sealed metaphor, or even the all-absorbing but never-storing sponge); but if you’re a channel, you do, you need regular cleansing.
The above is why I said channels aren’t necessarily empaths (although some of them can be, but that’s coincidental, not a causation): empaths are similar to us because they too can absorb the external; But at the same time, they’re different, since they won’t automatically keep an external energy “in” after they’re done engaging with it. They’re more like sponges, if you will — easily absorbing, but also easily leaving “residue” behind all the time. (A sponge will never be a good place for storing liquid, no matter how absorbent it is!). An empath will empathise with someone or something in real time, then move on, and empathise with the next one, and so on. Conversely, a channel has a tendency to just accumulate things from their environment, one on top of the other, until there’s no more “room”, and everything “spills” back out, all at once.
Okay, but this is “woo”. What are the psychological implications here?
Hold on, I was only giving you the background info above. Let’s get into the actual topic of this article now:
How can the process described above mess with someone’s mind?
It is my understanding that we must make peace with our innate difficulty in moving on. If you relate, chances are you have felt confused by this difficulty at least once: “why am I so bad at transitioning from one emotion/state of being/thought pattern to the next, if the one I’m holding on to isn’t even important to me?” — Because let’s be honest, a lot of the times, these are external influences that don’t concern you at all and you wouldn’t normally dwell on out of free will. I’m not talking about internal processes you might feel attached or addicted to (hence the background info), since these are a topic for another article. Here, I’m strictly discussing external “stuff” that makes its way into you.
When you remember what you are — a spiritual channel — and make peace with that, it becomes easier and more natural to deal with this problem. It simply becomes a natural “non-perk” of being a channel, instead of a personal failure as a result of which you used to beat yourself up.
Another thing worth keeping in mind is that regular cleansing can help you discern too. Again, back to our silly metaphor: let’s say you’re pouring different liquids into a jug — water, juice, beer, milk, oil, etc — all mixed together, without a care in the world. What would happen? Well… the end result could be something like a very nasty concoction that looks like it’s uniform (and not actually made of many different sources). Sometimes we come across influences that clash so much with what we already kept inside, that we can in fact discern their origin (for example, oil and water don’t mix. That’s easy to tell), but that’s bound to be the exception, not the rule. What’s more likely to result is a big mess you can no longer trace back to different origins. That is what happens with the external “stuff” you engage with, if you don’t cleanse regularly before each new encounter.
I know when I say “cleansing”, you’re probably thinking of rituals involving incense, water, minerals or a combination of all three. That is one avenue to approach it, but it’s not the only one. Strictly in a psychological sense, you don’t need to grow or buy anything at all — you can “cleanse” with mental focus alone, and this is the hack I alluded to:
Every day upon waking up, still in bed, before you even open your eyes and before you start thinking/worrying about anything, take a mental note of how you feel. Chances are this is your default state. Yes, even if you’re waking up from a nightmare, you’ll very quickly come back to your default state. I won’t dictate what it should feel like, or describe it here at all (it’s unique to each person!), but you must know it in order to come back to it during “cleansing”.
Once you’re familiar with it, bring yourself back to that default state after each interaction in your day — it doesn’t matter if you’re interacting with fellow humans, animals, plants, or things. They’re all interactions. They all count. Maybe you will forget this exercise a couple of times; that’s normal and okay. Just do it every time you remember, and I guarantee you it will have been A LOT more often than before you started. Let me know how much more clarity and peace of mind you gain from it.
