Emotions are quite literally contagious. Just like catching a ball someone throws at us, we can catch and feel other people's emotions. Read on to learn more on how to protect yourself from becoming infected with negative emotions.

What is Emotional Contagion?

Similar to how we learn language, we are all wired and programmed to learn and spread emotions and feelings that are very important to our overall wellbeing. From a very young age, as part of a set of primitive skills that are critical to survival and human interaction, we learn to automatically mimic and enact facial expressions, words, body positions, and movements with those of other people around us. It is in this way that we learn to feel emotions of others and empathize with them. Consequently we learn to express joy and excitement, sadness and sorrow, jealousy and envy, anger and hatred, fear and fright, etc.

Known in pyschology as emotional contagion, emotions are quite literally contagious. Just like catching a ball someone throws at us, we can catch and feel other people's emotions. We all learn to mimic and adopt words, movements, facial expressions, and other physical cues from others, and then we get feedback from the body that makes us feel the way the other person is feeling. Correspondingly, we can match that emotion, or for self-protection we can generate another emotion to counter what is felt.

Negative Emotions Are More Contagious Than Positive Emotions

In a 2014 study (Hatfield, et al), researchers found that intense negative emotions that are forcefully expressed are more contagious than positive emotions. According to the study, factors that make us more susceptible to emotional contagion include having a connection with the person we're interacting with, the degree of mimicking we engage in, being good at reading nonverbal behavior, being able to judge our own emotional state, and how reactive we are to our own emotional experiences.

Most people probably don't need a study like this to confirm emotions, particularly the negatively charged ones, are contagious. Anyone who has ever been around a compassionate and emotionally balanced person knows it. They can describe the sense of peace and happiness that they feel when they're around that person, and even strive to take their cues and be more like them. Most people have also witnessed a child explode with fits of rage just like mommy or daddy does, or they have seen spouses, family members, or co-workers, arguing and being overwhelmed with anger and contempt.

In this sense, emotions can be thought of as magnets that continually attract other similar thoughtforms and feeling that increase in strength, and at the same time repelling those that are opposite. While this phenomenom can be okay if we're catching positive emotions that engender love, pleasure, and euphoria, repeteadly catching negative emotions from people in our lives can prevent us from realizing we have caught emotions such as anger and fear. In some instances we don't even know that we've caught these neagtive emotions, so we have no idea what causes these unhealthy feelings nor the harmful actions they sometimes create.

Emotional Wellbeing and the Internal Demons in Acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine

Emotional wellbeing is a fundamental part of health in acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine. In this system, unchecked negative emotions are known as Internal Demons. Long before physical disease sets in and can be confirmed with lab testing, acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine identifies the Internal Demons as catalysts for disease to flourish later on in life.

There is no denying we all experience 'negative emotions' as a normal part of life. In today's non-stop world full of daily stressors, everyone feels fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, and worry as a perfectly normal aspect of day-to-day interactions with others. These feelings and emotions are a necessary part of how we learn to adapt to the surrounding environment and survive. In this sense, emotions aren't really negative or positive. But in acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine, when some of these feelings and emotions become excessive or repressed they very much become like demons that not only cause those around us a great deal of trouble, but also influence many of the most important bodily functions.

In acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine, unresolved negative emotions alter the flow of vital energy within us. Because these clogged emotions disrupt the balanced flow of vital energy, they are always involved from the very beginning of any disease. This being the case, they undoubtedly will set the foundation for how the trajectory of an illness will manifest and how a person will recover.

Similar to when a computer virus has infected your electronic device, unresolved negative emotions become harmful programs that alter information and dictate the majority of mental-emotional intelligence and behavior. This is how many people fail to make the connection between their unresolved negative emotions and strained relationships, lack of direction in life, poor lifestyle choices, and disease.

5 Tips For Guarding Against Negative Emotional Contagion

1. 30-day Positive Affirmation Exercise

One of the first steps in guarding against negative emotional contagion is recognizing the various programs of unresolved negative emotions that may be subconsciously running in your mind during every waking moment of your day. Positive affirmations are extremely useful in eliciting an immediate protest from your Internal Demons so that you recognize their influence and can begin taking steps to discharge their power. To get started with a simple yet powerful affirmation exercise, read my article 'Clearing Our Unresolved Negative Emotions'.

2. Empty the Cup

In today's fast-paced technological world, our minds can become easily clogged with negative emotions. For this reason it is important to practice daily mental-emotional housekeeping to keep our minds clear and protected from any lingering negative emotions. One of the best ways to do this is to 'empty the cup' using meditation techniques that bring us back to the present moment and help us identify and nullify negative emotions before they take up long-term residence in the subsconscious mind. To begin emptying your cup, read my article 'Getting Started With Meditation'.

3. Nourish the Blood

In acupuncture and Traditional Asian Medicine, the blood is considered the “material basis” for the mind, also known as shen. Therefore the blood is the foundation, or root, from where mental activities are anchored and can flourish. If the blood is strong and abundant, there will be a normal mental activity and a balanced emotional life. But if the blood is weak, the mind (shen) loses its anchor, and there is increased risk of being harmed by negative emotions such as worry, anxiety, anger, and fear. To minimize this risk, aim to strengthen the quality of your blood with proper nutrition and nutritional supplements that are especially rich in blood-building nutrients. 

4. Avoid Emotionally Negative People

It is important to make it a point to immerse yourself in a positive loving environment and surround yourself with emotionally positive people. If you are trying to uphold a certain emotional positive energy, the single most important thing you can do is be around people who support this process and won't make it difficult for you to discover and remain in your emotionally balanced center. Being around emotionally negative people and overall negative environments tends to deplete your energy and make you susceptible to negative emotional contagion. This also means avoiding emotional negativity on social media and anywhere online as well (for more information read my article 'Screen Addiction and Your Wellbeing'). 

5. Use Mental-Emotional Armor

Just as you get up every morning and get dressed, it is also important to properly outfit your mind and emotions to start your day. Claim your personal power every morning by visualizing a golden-white bubble of protective light around your body so that you're shielded from other people's negative energy. If you encounter negative emotions they will simply bounce or slide right off of you and never penetrate your inner mental-emotional space. Like putting on shoes, visualize putting unconditional love in your heart, and cover it with a breastplate of armor for protection.