Three days ago I arrived in Moncton, New Brunswick for a three week visit/vacation with my wife.  She’s been out here for the past six months working on developing her intuitive & healing abilities.

One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned so far by being here is just how powerful of an influence the environment we are in plays on our lives.

While flying out from Vancouver to Moncton, I had a three-hour layover in Toronto as well and it was really interesting for me to read the energy in each city.

The energy at Vancouver International Airport felt very familiar to me, having lived in the Greater Vancouver area for over 20 years.  Although a lot more fast-paced and stressed out than the energy at my house, it still felt pretty relaxed and comfortable.

When I flew into Toronto, however, as soon as we got off the plane and I had a chance to walk around the airport for a few minutes I could totally tell the difference in energy compared to Vancouver.

For me, Toronto’s energy feels very similar to the energy I felt in Manhattan, New York when I was there a few years ago.  The energy feels hurried, stressed, driven, fast-paced, impatient, corporate, and fear driven.  I’m not saying that everyone in Manhattan or Toronto has that energy, I’m just saying that to me that is what the city’s energy feels like in comparison to Vancouver’s energy.

When I arrived in Moncton, I once again felt a totally different type of energy.  I find Moncton’s energy to be slow, stable, traditional, comfortable, polite, unambitious, judging, impatient, social, unchanging and family oriented.

I don’t consider any of the qualities I described as “positive” or “negative”.  I see a positive/negative side to each one of them, so I’m not saying the energy here is better or worse than the energy in Vancouver.  I’m just saying that it’s different and depending on what your goals are in life, the energy can be more or less conducive to your plans.

How Energy Affects Us

I’m actually quite surprised how much Moncton’s energy has already affected me.  For one, I am finding that time seems to move differently here, and I’m not referring to the four hour time difference between Vancouver and Moncton.  What I mean is that it’s almost as if the speed at which my thoughts think have slowed down since I’ve gotten here so it seems like time goes by faster.

It’s really hard to explain, but it just feels like things move much slower here, and then you look at the time and a lot more time has elapsed than you’d previously guess.  This slowing down reminds of when I was on my honeymoon in Maui just over four years ago.  Life just moves so much slower on Maui.

The benefits of this kind of energy are that it’s more relaxing and it’s easier to just “chill out”.  The drawbacks of this type of energy are that it seems harder to get inspired and to get things done in a given day.  Even writing this Blog post seems to be taking me forever.  I can’t get my brain to think fast enough to write!

Normally my thinking far outpaces my ability to type, but right now I’m finishing sentences and staring blankly at the screen for a few seconds before the next thing to write comes to me.  It’s like someone’s turned off the turbo button on my brain.  It’s so weird.  I don’t feel less-intelligent or anything like that, but just “slower” than usual.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my drive / ambition has diminished since getting here.  I’ve had very little ambition / desire to write Blog posts, or to exercise or to really do much of anything.  I have to really try hard to get inspired / excited.

Of course there are benefits to this, especially when you’re on vacation like I am.  This type of energy is very conducive to vacationing, relaxing or if you’re retired and want to just rest.

On the flip side of that, to someone like me who’s naturally very ambitious, this energy makes me feel “depressed” compared to my normal state.  It would take a lot of willpower to get myself to do anything more than the “social norm” here in Moncton.

Energy Spots

So far what I’ve described as the energy around Moncton and the Toronto airport is general in nature.  New Brunswick is a big province with many different cities and the energy differs from city to city.  The Toronto area is huge and I’m sure there is a different type of energy to each area.  I’m mostly just describing the energies I’ve been picking up in the areas I’ve been.

Besides the general energy of a city, there are also smaller energy spots around individual places or even individual people.

For example, when my friend Chris came over on Tuesday I immediately noticed an energy shift.  All three of our energy levels (my wife, Chris and I) went up as soon as Chris came over. I went from feeling tired to feeling energized within seconds of him arriving.  It’s amazing how a person can affect the energy around them.  I also think that when high-energy people get around each other, the effect of their energies coming together is exponential.

Another example of this happened yesterday when I went to visit Geoffrey McLatchie for a healing session.  Geoffrey is a very powerful psychic / healer who has also been helping my wife develop her intuitive / healing abilities.  As soon as we arrived at Geoffrey’s house, I felt an instant shift in energy even before I met him and his wife.  I felt a difference in energy just walking up their driveway, on their property.

I felt my thinking instantly speeding up back to “normal” speed and my energy levels increased instantly.  I’ll write more about my experience with getting a healing done by Geoffrey in another post, but I’ll just say that my energy was “buzzing” high for a few hours after our visit, even though technically my healing just involved me relaxing and drifting off while Geoffrey did his thing.

Why This Matters

You may be asking yourself “So what, why does this matter?”

In the past, I’ve written about the influence your friends can have on your wealth in my “Are Your Friends Preventing You From Being Rich” post.

Who you hang out with on a regular basis definitely affects your ability to build wealth.  It’s very difficult to have an abundance mentality if you’re surrounded by people with poverty mentality.

But what if you live in an environment where almost everyone has a poverty mentality?  Or what if you live in a city where everyone places a lot of emphasis on looks?  Or what if you live in a city where health is not a huge value?

I’ve always known that your environment affects your energy, but until taking this trip I never realized just how much.

As I write this Blog post, I kid you not it is taking at least two or three times as much energy for me to concentrate and get this thing written and published as it would if I was at home.

I can’t believe how much the energy here is affecting me.  As I said earlier, I’m here on vacation so I don’t really mind as it’s kind of a good thing that I’m feeling a “slower” energy than normal since it allows me to relax and rejuvenate for the holidays.  However, I can totally see how it would take a lot more effort for an ambitious person to break free from the “default” energy here.

The interesting thing is that really I haven’t been interacting much with the locals.  The ones I have interacted with have been super nice and friendly.  The energy I’m referring to though is not coming from them individually, but rather from the city as a whole.

I think I’m only able to notice this difference in energy because of the contrast in comparison to the energy I feel at home.  I bet the locals here don’t notice it at all.  They probably think that this type of energy is normal and that it’s everywhere, just like New Yorker’s probably think the whole world runs on New York type energy, and Vancouverites probably think that the world runs on Vancouver type energy.

I assure you that is not the case.  Every city has it’s own energy.  I’m not saying any city has better or worse energy than any other city, as such judgments have to be made personally depending on who you are, and what you want to accomplish in life.

The only thing that I think is important to ask yourself is whether or not the energy of the city, area, neighborhood, and social circles you hang around is conducive to your personal goals and future growth.

If not, maybe it’s time for a change in your environment.  It doesn’t have to be permanent either.  Maybe you just need to take a temporary break from your environment and experience something else.  If you want to connect to a more ambitious type of energy, get around a city or a group of people who are ambitious.  You don’t have to even talk to them, but just being in their presence will rub off on you.

You’re not going to absorb wealth-consciousness by putting yourself around poverty-minded people.  You’re not going to absorb health-consciousness by putting yourself around people who are sick.  You’re not going to make money online or become a Blogger by putting yourself around people who don’t make money online or who have no clue what a Blog even is.

Whether you realize it or not, your environment is affecting your energy right now.  Eagles can’t learn to fly and soar, hanging out with a bunch of turkeys. There’s nothing wrong with being a turkey, but I’m just saying that if you’re an eagle you need to get around other eagles.  If you’re a turkey, then by all means hang out with the rest of the turkeys.

Moncton is a very nice and beautiful city as you can see from some of the pictures my wife took during the summer here.  If your life goals match up with the energy of this city, I think it’s a great place to live.  It actually kind of reminds me of the energy I felt in Kelowna, BC.  Everything is very relaxed, calm and laid back.  However, if you want to connect to the energy of ambition, drive, change, and rapid growth, I think there are other cities whose energy is much more conducive to that.

I think it is possible to create a little energy spot within a city like this ( Geoffrey did it ) where you dictate the energy you want to be influenced by, and in a way that is exactly what I’ve done on my property out in the Greater Vancouver area as well, but I think it’s always easier to make a few tweaks to an energy that already exists in an area to make it exactly how you like it, than it is to try to create an energy that is exactly opposite to the one you’re surrounded by.

What’s the energy like in the city you live?

How aligned is the “average” person with your personal vision of your future?

Are you surrounded by people who exemplify who you want to become in the future, or by people who represent your past?

How is the energy of the city, neighborhood and the social circles you’re hanging out with affecting your energy?