The Energy You Broadcast
December 27, 2023

Close your eyes. Take a couple of good, long, deep, in-and-out breaths—deep down inside. Notice where you feel the breathing most clearly. Focus your attention there. And then ask yourself: Is long breathing comfortable? If it is, you can keep it up. If not, you can change. Make it shorter, more shallow. Heavier, lighter, faster, slower. Experiment for a while to see what rhythm of breathing feels best for the body right now. You’re creating a sense of well-being inside.

We live in a world where so much is coming at us from the outside, that we forget the extent to which the mind actually creates its own sense of well-being, or its own sense of not well-being from within. We’re not just on the receiving end of things. We’re also on the broadcasting side as well, like a radio station. The radio station sends out a signal to the world, and the radios put right next to the station will pick up a really strong signal, but people further away can pick up the signal as well.

In the same way, the energy you create inside—through the way you breathe, through the way you talk to yourself, through the perceptions you hold in mind—creates an energy: an energy that you’re going to feel inside and that also spreads out to others.

This is one of the reasons why the Buddha said the main cause of suffering in life is not what other people are doing to us; it’s what we’re doing to ourselves. If we’re unskillful in how we treat thoughts, treat our experiences, shape our experiences, we suffer. And it’s going to spread out to other people, too.

But, if we’re skillful, then we can create a sense of well-being, and that well-being can also create a sense of well-being for others. If they pick it up, they appreciate it. That then becomes their well-being.

So look at what you’re creating. Look at what you’re broadcasting. Is the way you breathe putting you at ease? When you’re feeling tense, you can breathe in a way that feels more relaxing. When you’re tired, you can breathe in a way that’s more energizing. Try to bring things in balance, inside.

And look at what you’re talking to yourself about. Talk to yourself about things that are useful.

All too often, we think about things that we can’t change in the world. It either gets us angry or gets us feeling helpless or hopeless. But if you think about things you can change in your experience, focus your attention there. You begin to realize that you have a lot more power than you might have assumed—and you can use that power for good or for ill. The Buddha’s teachings are all about how to use that power for your well-being and for the well-being of those around you.

So think about what kind of energy you’re sending out. You’re going to be picking it up, and the people around you will pick it up as well. It can be your gift to the world.

It can also be just more garbage that’s being created in the world. You look at all the people sending out energies that broadcast greed, aversion, and delusion all the time. They’ve gotten so now that we can carry them around in our pockets and look at them in our spare time. Sometimes they take over even our work time. So you’ve got to figure out what you’re broadcasting. If you broadcast good energy, you can resist the influences coming in from outside and create a better environment for yourself and environment for the people around you.

So look at what you’re creating right now in terms of the energy. It starts with the way you breathe. That’s something you have some control over. It starts with the way you talk to yourself. That you can control as well. The same with the perceptions you hold in mind, the images that give meanings to things: Which perceptions are you fastening on? When you fasten on ones that are more energizing, they give you a greater sense of your power and a greater sense of how you can use that power well.

So, what are you focusing on? Remind yourself, you’re not just living inside your own private, little world. You are to some extent, but you’re also broadcasting things outside. So focus less on what you’re picking up from outside, especially if it’s negative. Think about the positive energy you can create. You benefit; the people around you will benefit as well.