There are uplifting people, there are neutral people, and there are not uplifting people.

Let's define what this is, what they are.

An uplifting person, I spend five minutes with an uplifting person, I walk away, I feel great and go like, wow, that was an amazing conversation.

A neutral person, I spend five minutes with them, I walk away, I'm still the same.

A not uplifting person, I spend five minutes with them, I walk away and I go like, oh my

God, that was exhausting.

And you've probably experienced that in your life.

Then there are two types of energy vampire.

The next question is, are they a transient energy vampire or inherently an energy vampire?

What's a transient energy vampire?

Just say John is going through a hard time in life because his dad is dying of cancer, for example, and for three years he consumes a lot of energy.

He's always down, you need to uplift him, he's feeling very sad.

It's okay.

You give him that energy because he's your friend and that's what we do.

We express compassion, empathy and love and we support our friends during difficult times.

What's someone who's inherently an energy vampire?

Someone who's inherently an energy vampire has always been this way.

So how do we deal with someone who's inherently an energy vampire?

My guru taught me the best way to do this is to practice the art of being affectionately detached but always kind, gentle, sincere and loving towards them.

What does this mean?

So just say John is inherently an energy vampire.

I live in New York City.

I'm walking down Fifth Avenue.

I see John walking towards me.

What do I do?

Do I cross the street?

That's not very nice.

I meet John.

John meets me.

What do you say when two people meet each other?

I know what you guys say in Australia.

G'day.

How's it going, mate?

Right?

Do I say that?

No.

Do you know why I don't ask how are you?

Because I don't want to know.

It's true.

You have to understand I'm in the monk business.

When I ask somebody how are you, they tell me their entire life story.

It's the confession time.

So I don't even ask how are you.

John asks me how are you.

I say I'm doing very well.

Thank you very much.

And then I reply, what a beautiful day in Sydney.

It's true.

I'm being sincere.

I'm being kind.

And then I say to him, please excuse me.

I have something really important to do.

It's true.

My life is finite and I'm very clear what my purpose is.

I'm not lying.

And then what do people say at the end of a conversation?

It was a pleasure meeting you.

Actually it wasn't.

Let's do lunch.

Why?

See you later.

Not really.

Don't want to.

Why do we say the things we don't mean and ask the questions we don't want answers to?

So at the end of a conversation, I say have a wonderful day, which is true.

I know he's inherently an energy vampire, but I do wish he has a wonderful day.

So the concept of being affectionately detached is to not engage with someone, right?

Just to be kind, to be gentle, to be sincere and loving towards them, but not engaging with them.

What's another way to protect yourself from an energy vampire?

Is to place the burden of responsibility on them.

What does that mean?

I travel all around the world.

I speak, people come up to me and they want to ask questions.

I always give them my personal email address.

I tell them, please don't share it with anybody.

Can you put your question down on this email and send it to me?

Sometime it'll give me time to reflect on it and I can give you a proper response.

And they always say, for sure, I'll put it all down in email and I'll send it to you.

You know how many people email me?

Nobody emails me.

Simple little task, right?

I'm not asking them to do yoga, to meditate, to breathe out of one nostril.

Just send me an email with your problems and they don't do it.

So place the burden of responsibility on someone.

If you're somebody who's developed a particular skill, you're an expert in a particular niche and a particular area, and you find that people want your time, they want your energy, the one simple way to protect yourself is to place the burden of responsibility on them.

Give them a simple task to do and see if they do it.

And if they fulfill that task and come back to you, then go out of your way to help them.

So I always tell people to treat energy the same way you treat money.

It's a finite resource that needs to be wisely managed, wisely reallocated, and wisely invested.

Because if you only have this much energy, in fact, if I took 10% of my energy and I gave it to John, that's 10% I could have given to my spouse, my business, the things and people that I love.

If I took a watering can and I watered a garden bed, would the weeds grow or the flowers grow?

Both, right?

Water has no ability to discriminate between the weeds and the flowers.

Whatever I water starts to grow.

Energy is the same way as well.

If I took energy and I invested it into something negative, it will grow and become more negative.

If I took energy, invested it into something positive, it will grow and become more positive.

Energy has no ability to discriminate between what's positive and what's negative.

Whatever you invest energy into starts to grow and manifest in your life.