Living with Someone’s Negative Energy: How to Protect Your Own Space

Are you living with, working with, or constantly needing to interact with someone who continually carries negative energy?

If you answered "Yes," you probably dread it the moment they walk through the door, email or call you. This is something we've all dealt with. It might be an overworked, tired, and frustrated partner or spouse—feeling underappreciated and lashing out. Or, perhaps it's a teenager who holds it together all day but falls apart when they come home, overwhelmed by big emotions. Maybe it's aging parents who are fearful because they are isolated and spend too much time watching negativity on the news--and you're the only person they can turn to as an outlet.

Whatever the situation, you're not alone. I hear about clients living with negative energy from others every single week. When we live or work with someone negative, it can change our mood in an instant. Establishing strong energy boundaries is essential; without them, we can easily absorb negativity and mirror others' emotions. By consciously maintaining these boundaries, we protect ourselves from being influenced by their feelings.

Understanding the Effects of Negative Energy

When you live or work closely with someone who is carrying negative energy, it can feel like you’re constantly on edge. You are resisting when this person may come in the door or calls you on the phone.. They don’t even have to say anything—just their presence can affect you. Much like animals in a herd who instinctively pick up on a sense of danger or panic and act accordingly, we too absorb the emotions of those around us. If someone is fearful, stressed, or anxious, we might begin to feel the same way without even realizing why. Think about a negative coworker who constantly fears they might lose their job—soon, the whole office is worried. Or someone in a tense environment begins to hold their breath and tense their shoulders; it won't take long before the people around them do the same.

Without energy boundaries, it becomes almost impossible to protect yourself from other people’s emotions or maintain healthy relationships. We might start resenting the person, wishing they weren’t around, or feeling angry every time they enter the room.

The Desire to Fix It

When we feel their discomfort, we naturally want to fix it. We try to make the negative person feel better because, let’s face it, we also want to feel better. If they feel better, we won’t have to carry or feel their negativity, right? We may care about them deeply, but the truth is, we cannot fix their emotions. They are the ones who need to work through their feelings and challenges. When we try to change or “fix” someone, we’re stepping out of our lane and into theirs. We start expending our own energy in ways that drain us while trying to solve a problem that isn’t ours to carry. This "fixing" can also backfire—often, the person lashes out even more because they already have too much of other people's energy and expectations swirling around them.

What transpires? You end up with one person stuck in a negative space and another person feeling overwhelmed by it. The result? It becomes a toxic dynamic, and nobody wins. So, how do we change this pattern?

The First Step: Realizing It's Not Your Problem to Fix

This might be one of the hardest lessons to learn: You cannot fix someone else’s energy. You might feel empathy for their situation or deeply care about them, but when you enter their emotional space, you may lose touch with your own feelings. The first step in protecting your energy is understanding that their struggles are theirs to solve, not yours.

Ask yourself: Is this my lane? If the answer is no, then it’s time to release that energy and focus on what you can control—your own space and emotions.

Establishing Boundaries to Safeguard Your Energy

Creating boundaries is essential for protecting your energy. By setting clear limits, you can preserve your emotional and mental well-being. The next step is setting a boundary around your energy. Imagine that your personal space, your aura, and your energy body have an invisible boundary. The moment someone negative enters your space, you need to have a boundary that doesn't let their energy in. It is vital to have this boundary already set before they come into the room. So this is something you want to do daily.

Here’s an effective tool:

Visualize a Rose at the Edge of Your Aura.
Imagine a rose about an arm’s length away from you. This rose sits at the edge of your energy field and represents your emotional boundaries. Set an intention that anything negative or foreign stays outside of this rose. It cannot enter your space—the negative energy gets absorbed into the rose and is sent down to the center of the Earth to be recycled, or it bounces back to where it came from. The key here is that the negativity does not penetrate your space.

This exercise may sound simple, but it's incredibly powerful when practiced daily.

Daily Practice: The Rose Meditation

This very exercise is one of the tools I teach in my Psychic Protection class. The class helps you establish clear boundaries and prevent other people's emotions from affecting you. I teach this class twice a week at Miraval Resort in Tucson, but you can also download my Rose Meditation on my website. It's a guided, ten-minute meditation designed to help you create a protective barrier around your energy field and clear out other people's emotions.

If you find it challenging to implement on your own, I'm here to help. You can call me for a private session and I'll guide you through the process of establishing and strengthening your energy boundaries.

Protect Your Energy, Protect Your Peace

Living or working with someone who carries negative energy can be draining, but it doesn't have to take over your life. By learning to create clear boundaries and stay rooted in your own energy, you can protect your mental health and maintain your positivity. Remember, it's not about fixing anyone else's energy—it's about keeping your own peace and emotional balance.

By practicing these techniques, you’ll not only protect yourself but also create a healthier, more fulfilling dynamic in your relationships, whether at home or at work.

Interested in taking this to the next step with help? Attend one of my upcoming classes at Miraval Resort in Tucson, join one of my workshops around the country, or let's chat about a private session.