As an avid social media user I am both intrigued and
appalled by the bullying that goes on particularly on places like Twitter. If you dare to have the temerity to share a
different view, odds are you will be pounced on by all sundry. This can be
tiring and emotionally extremely draining, if you let it get to you. No one
appears to accept that people do have different opinions. That doesn’t make them evil, or scum as you
are often referred to as. It doesn’t make you a racist or intolerant. It simply means your ‘measuring’ criterion is
different.
This got me thinking about ‘energy zappers’. I’m sure many
of the attackers on Twitter etc. are just that; ‘energy zappers or drainers’.
Some years ago I was a member of a very small team working
for an extremely well known international business responsible for a major acquisition
of a significant chuck of opposition business. We were required to work with a senior
executive of one of the acquired businesses. To say he was a pig of a man would
be an understatement. The mere thought of having to endure his behaviour in
meetings would almost make me ill. This
was a man who would not allow our regional heads PA (and minute taker) to sit at
the boardroom table with the rest of us. He made her sit at a table in the
corner of the room. He viewed her as being beneath him.
I was relaying the story to a friend of mine. Sharing with
her that I felt completely drained after meetings and the fact that I was steam
rolled on almost every recommendation by this man. She shared with me the story of energy
zappers. These are people who are bullies and who drain your energy in an
attempt to control and manipulate. She
gave me a book by the wonderful Louise Hays where she talked about how you
could beat these people and take your control back. The advice was simple. Use the abundant energy that is all around us
to reenergise.
The next morning I was flying interstate for the project
meeting. Instead of sitting on the aisle
I took a window seat. My usual practice
was aisle seat as close to the front as possible (luckily I generally flew
business). First on, first out that was me.
I used the time in fight to observe the clouds, the sun, the blue sky
and I started to draw in energy from this.
Try it, you will be surprised. I
gave myself plenty of time on arrival to sit in the park for 30-mins. Trees give off amazing energy. This isn’t about
hugging trees; it’s about merely sitting quietly, breathing in and absorbing
the energy. So now calm, centred and
full of energy off to the meeting I went.
From the moment I walked in the door I felt powerful. My ‘bully’ could sense that as well. There was even a change in his greeting
before the meeting started. Suffice to
say I won every point that day and my ‘bully’ never beat me again. I insisted
that our PA sit at the table and surprise, surprise he conceded. The project
was successful and I learnt a valuable lesson.
I have used the technique many times since and I have shared
this story with many people. So now the challenge is to find a way to use the
same process when dealing with people on line.
