Negative Energy: 21 Ways to Clear & Get Rid of It

It’s that thick fog of ‘slime’ in the air, that dark feeling of heaviness, or that draining sensation of being sucked dry of energy …

Negative energy is all around us and it’s seemingly ever-present and unending.

Whether you feel exhausted in crowds of people, emotionally ‘vomited on’ by your coworkers, or unexplainable creeped out by a certain place in town, we’ve all experienced negativity – it’s part of nature and an uncomfortable fact of life!

Living in this world of duality, there is always a yin and yang, a light and a dark, and positive and negative side.

Yet, although we understand that negative energy is part of this world, we don’t want to live at the mercy of it – understandably, most of us want to ‘get rid of it’ ASAP!

So how do we ‘get rid of’ negative energy?

Or better still, how do we make peace with this fundamental aspect of existence?

In this article, my goal is to help you change your relationship with negative energy.

What is Negative Energy?

Negative energy is a form of energy that is said to vibrate at a lower frequency than more positive forms of energy such as love, joy, and peace. It’s for this reason that negative energy is often referred to as low vibrational energy.

Why is negative energy thought to be of a ‘low vibration’? The answer is that the lower one’s energy is, the denser it becomes, and therefore the more heavy and contracted we feel inside – aka. life feels dark and depressing.

In more recent times, vibration and its effect on our consciousness have been mapped out by figures such as renowned physician, psychiatrist, and teacher David Ramon Hawkins, (M.D, Ph.D.).

Hawkins, who used the technique of Applied Kinesiology for his research, developed a map of consciousness that ranges from 1 to 1000. Everything from shame (having the energetic frequency of 20) to spiritual enlightenment (energetic frequency of 700-1000) was recorded.

In other words, the lower the frequency, the more miserable and negative the associated energy becomes!

Negative Energy & Spiritual Awakening

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

– Nikola Tesla

There is a great irony to be beheld within the spiritual community worldwide. Terms like “good vibes only!” and the desire to banish or ascend past negative energy, are in and of themselves, all forms of negative energy.

When we look at the Map of Consciousness developed by Hawkins, we can see that fear is of a lower frequency, whereas acceptance is of a higher vibration. By rejecting and even demonizing the presence of negative energy, we’re unconsciously spreading the very thing we dislike!

Now, I’m not saying to be a doormat here and let the darkness of the world take over you. I’m not asking you to like negative energy. Instead, I’m pointing out that the wisest and healthiest approach to negative energy is absolutely one of acceptance – we’ll explore what I mean by this a little later.

Ultimately, learning to understand and make peace with negative energy is a central part of walking the spiritual awakening path.

At some points on our paths, we’ll inevitably be drawn into darker ravines (such as the Dark Night of the Soul), yet these seemingly negative experiences are actually potent and crucial forms of spiritual alchemy, purification, and transformation.

Furthermore, facing the source of our negative energy, aka. examining our core wounds through inner work practices like shadow work , collective shadow and inner child work is practically mandatory for any authentic inner change to occur.

There’s no use running away! Our spiritual healing, spiritual growth, and spiritual evolution depend on our ability to face negative energy head-on.

As Hawkins writes,

Every thought, action, decision, or feeling creates an eddy in the interlocking, inter-balancing energy fields of life. In this interconnected universe, every improvement we make in our private world improves the world at large for everyone.

21 Short Term Approaches to Removing Negative Energy

While negative energy is a fact of life that we need to come to accept, we don’t have to let it eat away at us.

There are many simple and quick ways of ‘increasing your vibration’ or putting this in more down-to-earth terms, helping you to feel more at peace.

Here’s a simple, tried-and-tested list of options that you might like to experiment with:

1. Removing yourself from the situation that is causing distress.
2. Setting clear personal boundaries.
3. Drinking lots of fresh water and eat fresh food.
4. Opening the windows and letting in the air and sunshine.
5. Burning herbs and incense.
6. Practicing self-care.
7. Visualizing white light permeating your whole being or the space around you.
8. Walking barefoot outside on the grass or sand.
9. Doing some breathwork.
10. Taking a long walk in the outdoors.
11. Mindfully bathing and visualizing the energy going down the drain.
12. Listening to solfeggio frequencies and binaural beats.
13. Stretching and moving around.
14. Listening to some healing meditations.
15. Using crystals.
16. Use essential oils.
17. Visualizing a protective bubble around you.
18. Watching funny videos.
19. Sprinkling salt.
20. Journal to release the energy.
21. Declutter your environment.

Do you have any other recommendations? Feel free to share them in the comments!

Long-Term Approaches to Negative Energy

Negativity is an addiction to the bleak shadow that lingers around every human form – you can transfigure negativity by turning it toward the light of your soul.

– John O’Donohue

Wanting to know how to get rid of negative energy from your life is normal and natural.

If something hurts and brings you down, why not try to fix it and remedy it, right?

This desire to rid oneself of negative energy is a logical and rational response. It is healthy to want to stop struggling with the toxic people and negative energy around us.

However, as mentioned previously, in the self-love and self-improvement community there is an out-of-proportion emphasis on learning how to get rid of negative energy, learning how to block “low vibration” feelings/topics of discussion, and learning how to shelter oneself from what is known as energy vampires (people who feed on your energy).

All of these approaches, while well-meaning, don’t create much long-term change. In other words, we keep running into these situations again and again and suffering because of them.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent short-term approaches to negative energy. These techniques help you to feel much better in the immediate present moment – but they are limited in their ability to truly help you understand negative energy and function alongside it in the long term.

The problem with many short-term approaches that teach you how to get rid of negative energy is that they speak about negative energy in terms of “how to banish it,” “defeat it,” or “block it.”

But these common approaches don’t take into account the reality of life: there is negative energy and there is positive energy. Without one, there can’t be the other. And not only that, you can never permanently block, defeat, or overcome negative energy. It will always return!

However, although negative energy may always return in the form of a jealous thought or annoying relative, such energy can be understood, integrated, and thus transcended.

If you would like to learn how to get rid of negative energy – or better still, learn how not to be so deeply impacted by it – you might benefit from some of the lessons I have personally learned on my spiritual path:

1. Negative energy is a fact of life

By accepting negative energy and negative people in your life precisely as they are, you create harmony and greater peace of mind. Why? Well, by honoring life as it is instead of trying to forcefully change it all the time, you find more inner peace.

Ironically, the moment we resist the negative energy of others is the moment we allow it to have power over us, and the moment we declare “this shouldn’t be this way!” is the moment we contribute to the negativity even more.

2. Accepting negative people doesn’t mean letting yourself be used as a doormat or toilet

Embracing negativity doesn’t mean opening yourself up to absorbing it (especially important to know as an empath) – instead, it means simply accepting that it’s a part of existence. You can still set boundaries and be assertive about your needs when it comes to negative people but it will be in a less reactive and stressful way.

3. Permit yourself to empathize with negative people, but not to enable them

Many people argue that empathizing is a form of enabling. It isn’t. You can understand a person’s pain that fuels their toxicity without feeding their bad behavior.

Very few of us are skilled empathizers, which is why we need to learn to love and accept ourselves first before we can effectively empathize with others (and keep in mind that being an empath is not the same as having empathy).

The more self-love you have, the easier it will be to love others.

Learn more about How to Love Yourself »

4. Think about your ability to deal with negative energy in the short and long term

By all means, supplement the need to accept and understand negativity with all of the short-term techniques mentioned at the start of the article.

For example, you might like to limit your exposure, de-clutter your work area, learn how to be mindful, clear your area with essential oils, and so forth.

The question isn’t how to get rid of negative energy, but how to accept it as an inevitable force of life, without resistance.

***

I want to leave you with a beautiful message from the Tao Te Ching. I reflect on these verses often:

Do you think you can take

over the universe

and improve it?

I do not believe it can be done.

The universe is sacred.

You cannot improve it.

If you try to change it,

you will ruin it.

If you try to hold it,

you will lose it.

Tell me, what is your approach to negative energy? Do you have any practices you’d like to recommend? If so, please share below!