By Kristi Casey

In the Harry Potter books, there’s an enemy that no one refers to by name. In fact, they often refer to him as “He-who-shall-not-be-named.”

I’ve written before about how the words you speak have power. Then, I focused on the personal impact.

Now feels like a good time to talk about how our words and focus feed and encourage negative situations, habits and people.

Attention becomes intention.

If you’ve ever flirted with manifestation, you’ve probably heard variations of these mantras: Where attention goes, focus flows. Write your life. Thoughts become things.

You attract the same kind of energy you put out into the universe.

We don’t even have to be focused on anything for our thoughts to create new pathways.

For example, my post-divorce dating misadventures mystified me. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the series of confused and confusing suitors I attracted.

Then a sage friend put everything in perspective for me. After listening to me bitch, she said, “You don’t know what you want, so you’re attracting everything. What you need to do is get clear about what you do and don’t want to attract.”

She was absolutely right. My lack of focus was creating chaos. As soon as I got clear, the person I was waiting for walked right into my life.

Be careful where you focus your attention

Chances are, you’ve engaged in at least one heated discussion online or off since the Pandemic.

If so, you know how maddening it can be to speak with people who seem to ignore facts and standards of behavior you thought you shared. You might have gotten an earful from an old friend or loved one about something you find offensive.

If you have, you know how exhausting, futile, and disheartening it can be to spend time and energy trying to talk to them.

But you might keep stumbling into these conflicts because you’re inadvertently attracting them to you by thinking about the people or topics you’re arguing about.

Let’s try a challenge to starve “those-things-that-should-not-be-named” of power so you can enjoy more tranquility in your life and bring peace back to your close relationships.

Challenge: Withhold your attention from things that upset you

Naming things gives them power. So for this challenge, we’re going to play with siphoning power away from people and things that upset us by refusing to use their proper or common names.

Pretend that, like “He-who-should-not-be-named,” just uttering these names gives the maddening person or situation power over you. If you want to remain undisturbed, you need to cut your emotional investment in these current events. Here’s how to start:

1. Are there certain public or private figures who fill you with rage? Try to avoid talking about them altogether. If that’s impossible, then never mention them by name.
2. If situations or world events upset you, try avoiding talking about them directly.
3. Practice bringing your energy and attention back before you go to bed. Imagine it returns cleansed and purified, and free of any parasitic entities that wish you harm.
4. Limit how long you spend scrolling social media, avoid clickbait headlines, and turn off the TV.
5. Whenever you feel yourself getting distracted, wound up, or overwhelmed, call your cleansed and purified energy and attention back to you. Remind yourself that it’s for your use only, and that no one can borrow or siphon it off without your permission.
6. If someone tries to bait you into getting into an argument by saying something ridiculous, just tell them, “I’m not available to have this conversation with you right now.”

Imagine how much better you’ll feel when you make yourself available only to those people and things who are worth your attention. Cutting negative energy out of your life gives you more space to fill yourself up with life-giving energy.

You deserve to spend more time counting your blessings than blowing your top.

Let me know how it goes! Share your thoughts and experiences by commenting below or by tagging @trulykristi on social channels. 🙂