Linda Armstrong's Blog

Here and there you find an author who gives credit to sources 'out there' for some of the works they compile. I would fit into that category, as I'm not smart enough to come up with the stuff I write about.

How is that, you ask? The characters teach me. They tell me what they are doing, what they are thinking. It takes a bit to be able to differentiate their voices from the other voices that play out in the head, but it is worth the effort.

I find it somehow strange and comforting that zombies are the characters who teach me lately. They have brought me (figuratively) to my knees several times. I am humbled in their presence most times. I worry that I won't be portraying their thoughts and feelings adequately to convey to readers the true message they impart. Tomb 3 is taking its time because of this issue.

It's been humbling and insightful to have these conversations with them. I realize that my take on zombies is quite different from most versions out there, and most likely because the zombies of Ala-ka are an allegory about current events, history, the future and how people treat each other.

I hope to finish this third installment with the same zombie integrity that they have shown me in this book. I'll keep you posted when it is released!

Unless there are questions, this post will conclude the series of articles on sensitive or empathic people that I've done this year. Keep in mind that they are best read in order, so start with the postings from June of 2023 to best follow the gist of these postings.

Last time I talked about how to protect yourself from other people's energy with a rose. The rose is a very healing flower, it has connections to us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Powerfully magic, yet they are easy enough to work with that even children can use them.

Place a rose on a 'viewscreen' that is about 6-12 inches from your face. Make this one whatever color, pattern, design you want. You could have a red rose or a green and purple checked rose with polka-dot leaves. Whatever you want.

Now move that rose to the inside of your brain. Visualize it there, and then turn it into a 'Hoover' rose. Or a Shark, Dyson, whatever vacuum cleaner comes to mind. Turn this rose into a very powerful vacuum that is ready to go to work for you.

Turn it on and mentally start to clean the space inside your head. Be sure to clean all sides, the floor, the ceiling, the cracks and crevices. Get under the rug, if necessary. When your rose vacuum is full, be sure to move it back out to your viewscreen, then move it to the edge of your vision and explode it. Watch as all the particles go floating off into space, to begin the cycle of creation all over again.

There is nothing inherently 'bad' in energy. Energy is energy. It is when we attach emotion to energy that it causes us problems. So what you have disposed of as 'trash,' someone else will find and use for wonderful purposes.

Repeat the steps if it feels like there is more 'trash' inside your head, or until you feel a shift. The shift can come in the form of tears, laughter, or a sigh, yawn or other physical manifestation. Or it can be a feeling of completeness. Once you have confirmation that all that energy that has been left by other people is gone, you're all done. Time to go start the cycle all over again! Trust me, this process gets easy over time, although it is something that helps immensely to repeat often, as we live, work and deal with other people who have emotions every single day. There definitely will be more of other people's energy coming your way, although now you are prepared!

There are many ways to clean out energy, EFT is a great practice and learning it is free, with many videos on youtube explaining how to do it. There are many other methods, some free, some not. Find what works for you and live the best life you can.

Good luck!

I've used the rose technique for many years now, but I have never thought to research the significance of the rose until today. I found some fascinating things, like the rose has the highest vibrational rate of any flower so it makes it easier for angels to work with us through them. Roses are associated with miracles and the sacredness of people's souls. When people smell roses but there are none nearby, it is time to pay attention to the message coming through.

There is more, but the point is, that not only do roses remind us of love, they are often present during miracles. I consider the rose technique a miracle.

You can practice this at home before trying it out in public, which is a good idea because it's harder to remember to do it when confronted with the scenario that causes you to energetically pick up someone else's negative emotions. Practice until this becomes a habit and you do it before you go out the door, or before you talk with your family in the morning. It does actually create miracles, that is to say, it helps people to avoid picking up other people's garbage, or negative emotions, while still accounting for the sacredness of their soul.

Imagine a rose floating in the air in front of you. Doesn't matter the color, size or other details. When you come to someone, keep that imaginary rose half way between the two of you. If they move closer to you, the rose moves closer to you, and even if they give you a hug or other close contact, the rose is between the two of you. If you talk on the phone, put the rose between you and the phone.

That's it. It's short, it works while you go about your business. When you are away from people, you can remind yourself to check in on this rose a couple of times a day to make sure that it is still doing it's job. Just make sure that it is up in front of you, looking like a fresh, miraculous rose.

More coming later!

It took me a while to figure this out. It's not something that is talked about Anywhere - although it should be.

Many years ago, there were times when I would go into a big box store, many in general, the one that starts with a W and ends with a T is especially ripe for this kind of thing. I would be happy, content and enjoying my day going in. On the way out, I would be sad, angry or just plain ready to slap the next person to say good morning! At times I even came out of the store and felt absolutely suicidal. What goes on with this kind of thing?

The emotions we feel are most likely not ours. Do you understand that? Think of your mother, coming into the house with an armload of groceries, several bags. Items are breaking through the bottom of the bag, falling out of the sides from the tight grip that is an attempt to keep things inside the bag, and several bags hanging from her wrists which makes the whole scene look like an accident on aisle four ready to happen.

Most people who are able to help in a situation like this would go and relieve her of some of the baggage, pick up the items that fell, etc. This is programmed into us, we help.

Now imagine that same scenario on the energetic level. We pass someone in the peanut butter aisle and instead of picking up their groceries, we pick up their anger, frustration, revenge, and suicidal thoughts. Although instead of edible groceries, you find that what was in their 'energetic' bags was nothing but the equivalent of slimy, gone-off fish, spoiled milk, rotten produce with worms and flies and other items too gross to mention. The main problem with this is that most people don't realize that they do this kind of energetic transferance. No one analyzes how they feel before or after going into a store. We aren't told that we tend to help other people, with bulging grocery bags or energetic bags. When the slime of their emotion is picked up by the empath, it is the empath who is hurting for no reason. They usually don't know how to protect themselves, or to energetically clean house.

One of the effects of this emotional energy is that it can be divided without reducing itself in the process. Don't think that you are helping that person in the peanut butter aisle by taking on some of his burden. They still have the same amount, if not more, because now that you have picked up the emotion, it is shared right back to the person who gave it to you. And don't feel sorry for that person, they too have lessons in life to learn. As G.K. Chesterton once said, "Don't relieve the camel of his hump. You might be relieving him of being a camel."

The irony is that the people these emotions are picked up from are experiencing emotions that most likely did not originate from them either. We are a planet of 8 billion people, and all we do is pass emotions around, back and forth, for years, decades or even centuries or mileniums. Don't think that the anger and frustration you feel after coming out of a box store is something that you just 'felt' out of nowhere. You possibly are feeling the anger of people long dead.

There are ways to protect yourself from this kind of energy transference so that you can continue your day as happy and contented as you were when you went into the store. There are also ways to clean up all that slime after it has happened, if that is necessary. Stay tuned!

Some of you might have heard of the Map of Consciousness. If so, you can skip this post. For those of you who haven't heard of it, hang on.

This map was developed by a gentleman by the name of David R, Hawkins. He gives the major emotions we experience a vibratory rate, much like an electrical frequency. This map starts with the very bottom emotion, that of shame, being at a level of 20. Since shame is so low, it is the emotion that is the closest to death, and therefore, anytime you 'shame' someone, or tell them 'Shame on you' what you are actually doing is wishing them death. Or the closest thing. Twenty is not a very high number on the rate of vibratory frequencies, so I try to stay away from attaching that label to anything in my world. Sometimes we do it out of cultural norms, and sometimes we do it because we actually think that making someone feel the shame of their actions will help them improve. Possible, I guess, but it is a rather bass-ackward way of doing it.

The map goes up in steps - guilt is 30, apathy is 50, grief is 75. These are the lowest of the emotions in terms of vibrations. From there it goes to fear, at 100. Which tells you that if you move from shame or guilt to fear, you've moved up a little.

Desire is 125. That doesn't seem very high for something that some might think as a positive emotion, although if you think about desire - it is just a manifestation of things that you don't have. It leads to craving, additions, continual searching for something that you feel you must have. Then if you don't get it, the next step up is anger at 150. The last of the lower emotions is pride, coming in at 175. These emotions mentioned are considered survival emotions. A rather animalistic viewpoint of them, experiencing these emotions is normal in human behavior, although remaining in any of these emotions is not healthy. These emotions tend to degrade the personal experience and life of the person running these scripts. And they are scripts, they can be changed.

Moving into emotions of reason and integrity are courage at 200, neutrality at 250, willingness at 310, acceptance at 350, and reason at 400. Most people consider these emotions praiseworthy and noble. And they are higher than the lower, survival emotions. Although, let's go one more step into the spiritual emotions.

Love clocks in at 500, joy at 540, peace at 600 and enlightenment at 700-1000. For those of you who are visual, do a search for the 'map of consciousness' to get a better understanding of these emotions.

It is said that one person who vibrates at a level of 400 and above helps to counterbalance the energy from those who vibrate at a lower level. The higher your vibration, the more counterbalancing you are providing the earth.

This is a short tutorial, and only a backdrop of the information David Hawkins provides in his book, Power vs. Force. A great read, although many people on line describe this book if you don't have access to it.

Being aware of your emotional state is the first step in being able to change any emotion that holds you down. Yes, emotions can hold us down. A person who is always angry is not going to get the job of helping customers. A person who is moved to compassion would most likely be better able to handle such a job. Being aware of areas in your emotional makeup that you would like to improve is the first step in changing that emotional roller coaster we all ride on from time to time. Look at the map of consciousness, and find out where you place yourself. It doesn't have to be 100% of the time, as we all get angry or grieve, or experience other emotions. The goal is to get through these experiences, learn from them, and move on.

Awareness is the first key, desire and willingness to change are the second key. There is never a need to stay in a low vibrational emotion for any amount of time more than is absolutely necessary.

The term 'Highly Sensitive Person' seems to be a fairly new phrase in terms of the longevity of the language. There seemed to be a need to define the word 'empath' better, and so the 'HSP' came about. But what is the difference?

I've read enough of the opinions of 'experts' to know already that I disagree with a lot of the things they say. Please understand that I'm not an expert, and what I write is only my opinion. Feel free to disagree or come up with your own opinion, as your experience will probably differ from mine, or even the 'experts.'

I find that the differences between HSPs and empaths is a matter of training. And by that, I don't mean training to become an empath, but how to handle the physical, emotional and mental side effects of the condition.

Empathy is a totally natural state of human consciousness. Even animals have empathy. It is the ability to understand the pain and emotions of other people or life forms. It is how each person reacts to the information contained in that understanding that makes a highly sensitive person. I believe that many of the traits of a HSP come from a lack of understanding of triggers and learning how to deal with them. When the HSP starts in childhood to learn how to deal with the extremes of being an empath, life is much more manageable.

Children are not idiots! They can learn from a very young age how to get what they need or want, even if they (or the parents) are unaware that they are doing it. Even as children, we teach people how to treat us. If a child is not getting what they want, they will throw a fit, have a meltdown or a huge reaction to something that is unusual. In this way, the reaction of the people around them is what they are craving, and they have learned how to get it by the HSP behavior. Energy is a food that we take for granted and never talk about. Being an empath is like knowing how to bridge into someone else's emotional body and feel what they are feeling, in essence, energetically 'eating' their energy. The healthy thing to do after such an incident would be to disconnect the bridge and process the emotions of that other person. Who teaches you how to do that, especially when you are a child? Too often, we keep that bridge going because of the energetic payoff. It might be negative energy, but sometimes that is all the person's energy body wants.

This means that there are two types of empaths: those who can shut down this bridge and those who don't/won't. Processing? No one ever talks about that.

Take for example someone who loves speaking. They feed on the adulation of the audience, the oohs and aahs feed them energetically. Highly sensitive people might not know how to get the energy from other people that they crave in a way that is socially acceptable, so they find ways that bring that to them. Crying excessively, throwing tantrums, etc. Helping a HSP child to understand why they are behaving to the stress that they feel is tremendously helpful to the child and the parent/guardian.

Empaths are people who feel energy coming from other people, HSPs, in my opinion, are created when they are unable to shut down the connection to other people. Imagine what a tremendous load that can be when in a crowd of people, or just an accumulation of these connections. Too much stress and over time, they become more susceptible to many other little stressors that come along in life.

Things that I've found trigger a HSP are so mundane that sometimes HSPs don't realize that they get triggered by them. Some are so under the radar that it is hard to detect them, but it pays to become the detective in your own life and uncover them. Things such as highly processed foods, food additives, a crease or seam in a piece of clothing that is putting pressure on the body, the internal chemistry being off caused by air pollution or the constant bombardment of plastic that comes from the food we wrap, store or cover with plastic. The chemicals in water, such as atrazine and fluoride. These are two of the most horrific toxins in our drinking water, and they are put there on purpose. Our music is on a 440 Hz, which is jarring. It was changed from a more perfect 432 Hz, or even 444 on purpose. Even words have energy in them.

Others stressors can include changes in weather, not understanding what is being said, not picking up on jokes or stories, feeling judged by parents, teachers, siblings, peers, feelings of inadequacy when told to be perfect at church, etc. Perhaps even a day of fun at something like an amusement park causes a meltdown when the day is over and the energy is gone.

Other stressors can be the people surrounding the HSP. Negative or positive people can have an impact on a HSP if the emotions are not identified as belonging to someone else and processed. Most children come into the world and immediately pick up the trauma and issues of the parents/guardians without realizing that the issues they face are not of their making. Regardless of the origin, taking steps to recognize the emotion and processing it is very beneficial. Even positive emotions need to be released. Imagine a light bulb, If you take paint and swipe it on the bulb for every emotion that you feel, over time, if not processed, these 'swipes' of emotion, good and bad, will cloud the light that comes from inside the bulb. We start acting and behaving according to the sticky-gooey emotions that have remained on the outside of the energy 'bulb' that we all are and we can't be ourselves at that point. We are literally acting out a strange mix other people's lives that have left their mark on us.

There are many ways to process the emotions we feel. More on that in the next episode. Stay tuned!

People tend to believe that highly sensitive children or adults are only those who display their reactions to stimuli in the extreme. I believe there are more highly sensitive people out there who get a raw deal in this situation. They are the ones who feel the same intense emotions as the ones who quite vocally or physically demonstrate their feelings. They tend to become the shy, introverted loners who seldom get the spotlight that shines on those labeled as 'empathic' or 'highly sensitive.'

These people don't know how to talk to other people about what is going on, they are embarrassed or feel that no one would understand. And yet they are just as 'empathic.'

I was at a gathering a few days ago. There were adults and children. One of these children was described as 'our empathic one.' I didn't see her, I couldn't figure out which child it was. Could it be that she is only situationally sensitive? I say this because I did see a small boy, eyeing me, the newcomer to the group. He surreptitiously glanced at me three or four times that I noticed. And he was not 'the empathic' one.

Boys are often given the message that 'men don't cry' or men have to be tough. It sends a mixed message when some of these males of the community deeply feel what is going on. Law enforcement often puzzles over the 'nature over nurture' conundrum. Sometimes I think we totally overlook the role that society plays in stereotypical roles. Men have to be tough, they are ready to protect us, go to war to defend their country. Truly, unless the man is a psychopath and enjoys killing other people, the only other alternative is that the man is indeed a highly sensitive person and has a high degree of emotion in the matter of defending family, home and country.

Does it all start in childhood? Is it fair game to talk about emotions to those around us? We tend to shy away from topics like religion and politics, but we definitely avoid at all costs the topic of emotions about things that trigger the highly sensitive person.

You probably know a highly sensitive person that you didn't know is highly sensitive. Take another look at yourself, and others, and realize that people don't always show their emotions or how impacted they are by the same stimuli that has the 'empathic' one in tears.

Emotions are a tricky thing. And we all have them. If you aim for a tree, remember when you are in a forest.

I was enjoying a walk around a beautiful park when a wave of children ebbed and flowed around me.  They were accompanied by young boys, no older than 17 or 18.  These children were equipped with a piece of paper and a colored marker with the instructions to draw some of the park's most interesting objects: gazebos, statues, vine arbors.  They were energetic with large eyes drinking in the landscapes of the park.



For some unknown reason, I asked a small boy, who was at most five or six years old, "Can I see your drawing?"



Without hesitation, this small child turned his drawing toward me.  In less than a second, this boy bypassed all the angst felt by every artist, writer and musician, not to mention highly sensitive people who express their thoughts and creations, and he unabashedly became the most vulnerable person I've seen in a long time.



He literally took my breath away.



"Oh, I like it!" I said to him.  "Very nice."  The red marks on his paper could have been called chicken scratches, but to me they were perfect.  I would gladly have displayed them on my kitchen cupboards, where all little children's work live.  At least, in my house.



I will never see that child again.  Most likely, he will learn the ways of the world.  Either from disinterested parents, mocking siblings, friends and acquaintances who tell him their opinions.  We all learn this kind of lesson, at some point in our lives.  There is never a time where self-expression isn't dismissed, disapproved or disgraced.  The hardest lesson in life we ever have to learn is how we deal with the emotions and reactions of others.  What people say and do to us has nothing to do with who we are and everything to do with who they are.  That is a lesson we are not told, it is one of those life lessons that most of the time we are just expected to learn.  It's a tough one, all right.



I will never see that boy again.  Although, amidst his learning the lesson of individuality, I hope he remembers that one unknown woman who liked his drawing.   

I once talked with a woman who read lots of books. I saw her regularly with her favorite genre of fiction, and one day I told her that she might want to think of writing her own book.

“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “I couldn’t do that!”

And why not, I wondered. She knew what she liked, she had read at least a thousand books, could tell you how the plot progressed, who the bad guys were, who the good guys were, what hooked her into the book.

Why is it so difficult to write that book? It really isn’t. That is to say, it’s not difficult, it is just TERRIFYING! To tell someone that you’ve written a book is to open yourself up to the congratulations of the person you’re talking with. Followed by, “I want to read it!”
And if that person actually reads what you’ve read, you remain in terror all the while they read. You scrutinize their looks, their demeanor, and what does it mean when they start avoiding you? What does it mean when they tell you, “That’s interesting.”

No, writing isn’t difficult. Opening yourself up to the vulnerability could be called an extreme social experiment. No one wants to do that. It is like revealing your inner self to someone, and what happens when they look into that beautiful mess that we each are?

I admire people who write books and put them out there. There have been books that I have loved, some that I have not loved as much, but I have been grateful to be able to read from multiple points of view. Each one of them enhances my own.

May you be open to your vulnerabilities. They might give you strength.

If I gave you a high-end laptop computer with all the latest tech to help improve your life, would you use it as a doorstop?

I don’t think so. But if you did, it would probably be because you didn’t know what it was capable of.

We are like that. We are surrounded every day with items that are capable of being programmed to help improve our lives. Yet we use them as doorstops and paperweights.

Take a few seconds to program that shirt you are going to wear today. Have it hold the frequency of confidence, success, harmony, peace, love and justice. Whatever you think would be best for the day. You can check the efficacy of this procedure with a pendulum or some muscle testing if you like. It works.

Program your dishes, your favorite chair, your desk. Program your pillow to give you the sweetest dreams and help you to remember them. Program your car keys to unlock the secrets of adventures everywhere you go. Program your car to keep you and others safe.

It might take a while to get used to doing this. Think if it as a habit. Most habits are ingrained processes after 21 days, so make yourself a challenge to program the things you interact with the most during that time.

For me included, it’s time to pick up that paperweight and put it to better use.