Energetic Thermometers and Thermostats

While sharing our perspective on energetic intelligence with a room full of holistic nurses, someone asked, “How do I read someone else’s energy?”

Never one to pass up an invitation to be cheeky, I chuckled and replied: “Why do you want to? That’s a whole different skill set, and sure, I could teach you that. It’s practically useless if you haven’t learned to work with your own energy, though. Being able to read and adjust what’s happening in your own space is way more effective than trying to make sense of someone else’s!”

It was a perfect opportunity to remind the room of something we’d talked about earlier in the presentation: thermometers and thermostats. The concept is simple: a thermometer can report the temperature of a room, and a thermostat can change the temperature of a room. 

Everyone has their own energetic room or space; you might call it an energy body, or an aura, or a biofield, or my personal favorite, a dance space (thank you, Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing for the explicit lesson on what’s my space and what’s your space; RIP Patrick Swayze). Whatever you call it, we each live in a space within and around our physical body that is filled with our unique subtle energy. Logically then, we each have our own energetic thermometer and our own energetic thermostat to regulate that space.

Your Energetic Self-Awareness (ESA) is the ability to notice and identify what’s happening in your own energetic field and how the energy around you is impacting you. That’s your thermometer, reporting on the state of your energy. Your thermometer reads your energy, and is connected to your thermostat. Remember that, because it’ll be really important in a minute. 

Your Energetic State of Being (ESB) is your vibe, what you convey subconsciously about yourself to yourself and others. Everything you say and do, and everything you see and hear, is filtered through your energetic space. It’s the lens through which you view the world, and the window through which the world views you.

Your ESB is not one singular fixed condition. It’s complex, fluid, and constantly changing whether you are conscious of it or not. There are likely unlimited energetic states of being. In our work, we focus on a handful that emerged as common elements in the mindfulness traditions we study and practice: being grounded, centered, balanced, and so on.

Adjusting your energetic thermostat means consciously changing your ESB, dialing up the state(s) of being that will serve you best in the moment. It requires noticing if an energetic open window has let in cold air, or if the sun has been beating down and making it stuffy (being energetically self aware, checking the thermometer, reading your own room), and changing the temperature accordingly.

Going back to the original question and my cheeky answer, and what this concept can do for you…you see it, right? Your ESA is information for you, about you. Your ESB is information for you, about you, and yours to adjust as you like. You live in your energetic room, you set the temperature. You don’t live in anyone else’s energetic room, you don’t have access to their thermostat. With their permission, you might be able to look at their thermometer (in other words, read their energy), but how much do the conditions in a space you aren’t in really affect you, anyway? 

Remember what you can control, and work with that. Create an ESB in your space that serves you best in whatever moment and whatever situation you’re in. Shift the vibe for yourself, change the way you perceive the dynamic for yourself.  It will help preserve and protect your energy. It might inspire you to engage differently. It could - even if only on a subconscious level - shift how others perceive and engage with you. 

All of that to say, you don’t need to spend a lot of time reading and trying to make sense of other people’s energetic state of being. At most, you need to perceive someone else’s energy (which we all do automatically - commonly referred to as a vibe check or using our spidey senses) and recognize how it’s affecting you. Get good at reading your own energetic thermometer and adjusting your own thermostat to the conditions around you. 

And notice what happens. 

ps -

We teach people practical skills to read their energetic thermometers and use their energetic thermostats intentionally and purposefully. It’s all part of developing energetic intelligence, the next level in personal development and organizational culture. Find Corporate Reiki Circles, our current playshops, and other customizable offerings here.