Sympathetic Resonance & What It Means For Our World
We all have unique individual perspectives and life experiences that shape how we think, feel, and react to situations.
At the essence of our being, something connects us all and reminds us that we are connected to each other. Something makes your heart smile when you hear about a simple and heartfelt act of kindness. Yet, it is necessary to know that our differences exist, and they can become challenges if we insist on viewing them as barriers to getting along.
Are there challenges? Without question.
It’s easy to focus on this global problem, yet the real work is to begin shifting from global discord toward seeking solutions that bring harmony and unity. Our unwillingness to comprehend our challenges can be solved once we accept that regardless of where we are on this planet, we all have similar needs, desires, and wants as HUMANS.
Once we recognize how we are all connected, I believe that Global Harmony will occur when we all compassionately embrace our own authentic selves and treat one another with love and kindness.
The perceived energies are often distorted, colored by emotional lenses in the observer. We live in a world where we are taught to appreciate cultures, nationalities, and religions for their differences — and that is a beautiful thing. There is, however, something more inside of us. We want to be accepted on our own terms. Our unique souls wish for the same thing, whether we are born in The United States of America, Ukraine, or Africa.
Take a look around you — we are ALL vibrational beings at our core, doing the best we can to navigate this crazy-beautiful world while simultaneously trying to connect with others who feel and love as strongly as we do.
From my perspective, there is an imbalance in people being true to themselves versus putting others’ needs before their own. When I say “putting others first,” I mean most specifically when it comes to confrontation (and other people’s opinions). We are programmed with messages of how we should be and what others expect from us. Mainstream media depicts the news in a manner that seeks to persuade us in how to view events without much regard for our own perception or whether it’s even okay for us to envision things differently in the first place.
Unfortunately, despite our very best efforts to make others understand how we see things, they often interpret our viewpoints from a different light than intended. We often find ourselves trying to explain or defend ourselves to someone who simply doesn’t seem to understand. We want them to see us or hear our viewpoints in a specific way and get them to grasp what we are trying to convey. The problem with this is that we can’t control how other people perceive us, and we also can’t manage their beliefs and/or expectations.
It’s important to realize that sometimes people will not understand your perspective or way of being. This is okay because it is on a different level of what they can understand or grasp at this moment. It does not make them wrong or bad; they are still growing and learning about themselves, their world, and their individual experiences.
Simply put: when others cannot keep up with you, they are not ready yet. Don’t take this personally. It is the truth that they are living in at this moment, and it doesn’t mean that it will always be like this.
For people to change the way they see you, they have to go through their own journey of growth and evolution. You can’t force it upon them because they have free will and are allowed to feel however they want about whatever they want.
Imagine you are watching a movie at a friend’s house. The two of you are having a conversation when the film cuts to a scene that both of you find funny. You and your friend may begin giggling before the other person even begins to laugh out loud because you share so many similar references and experiences.
When we first meet people and begin interacting with them, there is an ebb and flow as we try to determine if we are compatible. We look for shared interests and commonalities; we try to ascertain whether we share similar senses of humor or political views. We do this because it helps us feel comfortable in their presence — our vibrations align, as it were.
But what happens when something goes wrong?
When our vibrations are no longer aligned?
What happens when we start seeing things differently?
Now, the light at the end of the tunnel is that we live in a time of unprecedented global cooperation. We have never seen such broad, deep, and positive collaboration across borders or cultures. And yet, many people still feel sad, alienated, and disconnected from others. The world is not where it should be. We’ve been aware of this for a while now, but we’ve never really faced it until now. Now we see that we’re all connected and that everything is connected to everything else. Let’s not make decisions based on fear, pain, anger, or separation. Our decision-making will only continue to perpetuate those negative emotions in everyone involved, and our actions will continue to further separate us from one another.
But you know what? I think that this is not just a matter of our society being more connected — I think it’s also a problem of our society’s collective Consciousness not being aligned with itself. There are pockets of calm, sanity, and serenity coming out of even the most chaotic and terrifying situations. These people are operating from their hearts instead of their heads. They have developed sympathetic resonance (also known as sympathetic vibration.)
The definition of sympathetic resonance is when one thing vibrates in response to another. For example, when one person or thing matches the feelings, emotions, and actions of another. This can be a good thing — or a bad thing. Another example is, if you’re feeling down, there might be someone in your life who is always trying to lift you up by being extra cheerful and energetic around you. This could be great if you’re feeling blue because their happiness helps to brighten your mood too!
That’s the power of sympathetic resonance. I read a publication recently where Dr. Michael R.W. Dawson and Dr. David A. Medler of the University of Alberta, one of the top 5 Canadian universities and one of the Top 150 universities in the world, describe sympathetic resonance as
“physical entrainment, in which periodic behavior of one object can be communicated to another, even when there are no direct physical connections between the two.”
As humans, we find this sort of sympathetic resonance when we truly see eye-to-eye with someone and can connect on a deeper level. We can literally “feel” what they’re feeling and vice versa because our frequencies align. It sounds simple, but there’s a catch: It doesn’t work if our egos are in the way.
Collective Consciousness requires us to let go of our own beliefs and meet the other person exactly where they’re at without judgment or preconceived notions. We can begin to move toward a more balanced state instead of pushing against each other’s energy. You cannot see past your own perspectives and expectations in this state, and this means you don’t know what’s actually happening as it’s happening. Instead, you see everything through a lens distorted by your own ego-based desires.
Here’s another way of looking at it:
You know, when you’re on a road trip with your friends, and you’ve got the music playing, and suddenly you hear that sweet, sweet sound of your favorite song? You know it’s about to be great because you’re all about to sing along in harmony and feel connected to each other.
That’s what vibrational alignment is like. It’s the feeling of letting yourself merge with another person — in spirit and in one voice–and it’s incredibly important for emotional healing, especially when we talk about trauma recovery and how to feel better within ourselves.
The idea behind vibrational alignment is that we can all resonate with one another if we just put down our egos for a second. We can eliminate any judgments about ourselves or others and just realize that we are all equally worthy of love and joy. When we start to do this, we begin to see eye-to-eye and allow ourselves to begin to resonate with others by eliminating ego.
Now, I don’t pretend to be an expert on vibrational alignment, but I think it’s a worthwhile practice if you take it seriously.
Some people believe that it is the ideal way to make friends with others, or coworkers even. It’s giving someone the benefit of the doubt and trying to understand where they are coming from. Conflicts arise over differences, but they can also occur over similarities. People may have very similar ideas about accomplishing a specific task, handling a particular person, or responding when something upsetting happens. So, the next time you’re feeling disconnected from someone else — maybe you have a different political view or background — try putting yourself in their shoes and seeing what they have in common with you.
If you find yourself feeling disconnected from others, try this new thought process and see where it takes you. Let go of your ego for a little while, and let yourself resonate with them.
Overall, it’s important to remember that we’re all connected — we may live in different countries and have other religious and varying beliefs; however, these are just shields we’ve created to protect our egos.
Underneath it all, we’re all the same; and although you may not be able to see someone’s soul, if you look for it long enough, you can begin to resonate with them and feel what they feel.
You cannot control others, though you can bring yourself into alignment with what you want to see happen. Because if you are not in harmony with the desires of others around you, how can you expect them to align with your desires and needs?
We create a harmonic frequency that tends to attract more of the same energy into our lives by getting into alignment.
There’s a reason that people say that things just seem to “work out” when they follow their hearts: they are in resonance with the things they desire, and that desire has manifested in their lives. We need not do anything spectacular or out of the ordinary; just change for the better and start being kinder and more compassionate to the people around us, starting with ourselves.
Dawson, Dr. Michael R.W., and Dr. David A Medler. “Sympathetic Resonance.” University of Alberta Dictionary of Cognitive Science: Sympathetic Resonance, University of Alberta, Feb. 2010, http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/Pearl_Street/Dictionary/contents/S/sympres.html.
