The question always comes up. What is negative energy? I've been around the block, and I've heard all kinds of spiritual stories about ridding and removing negative energy. Some people smoke out their houses while others use prayers and spiritual altars. I am sure that all of these techniques are effective. However, if you really want to learn how to remove negative energy, you must first understand what it is.

Then, I feel guilty. My Caribbean relatives would be so disappointed in me. I didn't know what would kill me first, the rotten foods, or my relatives who never let anything go bad. They hated wasting money, and they would always preach to me that I have to eat food before it goes bad. But how can I possibly explain to them that food going bad is really inevitable? How can I explain the deterioration of food is analogous to the deterioration of life, and that it is nature's way of evolving?

Negative energy is really very simple, but there are a lot of people who make it very complicated. A wise Shaman once told me that negative energy sits close to the ground. Another great Shaman told me that negative energy is an invisible force that zaps people's energy. Both Shamans are right. However, I like to mix things up a bit, and use some of the basic elements of science to explain negative energy.

Nature gives us a great deal of resources, such as food. But if we don't eat the food, then it will go bad. Nature is all about give and take. And energy works very much like your sick days. You have to use them or lose them. Nature is all about growth and evolution, so energy is always working to merge or convert itself into something greater than what it currently is.

Food starts to go bad when it is not kept at a certain temperature. This happens because the heat starts to build and the atoms within the food start to go crazy. They begin to spread like gangsters in a bad neighborhood. They bully and bump into other atoms to create collisions. By doing this, they are forcing other atoms to join their gang. This concept explains the spreading of bacteria. Now, you would never eat rotten food because it would make you sick.

This is what negative energy is. It is bacteria that makes you sick or causes you to degrade in character. It is the pull of gravity or magnetism that causes the collisions between atoms. The atoms share information, and thus work to spread their infection, until the bacteria, germs, sickness, or disease is completely fully grown. So in a nutshell, negative energy is energy gone bad.

Negative energy has actually gotten a bad reputation. It is not all bad. Negative energy works to ensure that the universe is naturally balanced through a process of give and take. The universe will give you food. However, if you don't eat it, the Universe will take it away. I guess people would call this process deterioration. However, energy very much like the intake of food is always looking to merge or convert itself into something greater than what it currently is.

So how to clear negative energy? You need to treat negative energy like it is a cock-roach and stomp on it before it spreads. Just remember negative energy can be thoughts or people who bring you down, foods that you eat that aren't compatible with your body. Or even careers or jobs that are not inline with your overall purpose. The trick is to not let the bacteria spread.

Yamaya Cruz is the author of When The Shadows Began To Dance. She writes about African spirituality, chakra healing, shamanism and much more. For more information go to removenegativenergy