Tool 6: Protection

You don’t need to believe in “psychic attack” to understand what this tool is about.

You have already experienced it.

It happens when:

• Someone mocks your ambition.
• A friend rolls their eyes at your new direction.
• Media tells you you’re naïve, unrealistic, selfish, deluded.
• Your own inner voice whispers, Who do you think you are?

That is the real attack.

And often, the loudest attacker is you.

The Stoic Shield

Kipling’s If— endures because it speaks to emotional self-command.

It is not mystical.
It is not colonial propaganda (though Kipling certainly had his politics).
It is about composure under pressure.

It is about this:

• Keeping your head when others lose theirs.
• Trusting yourself without becoming arrogant.
• Enduring criticism without collapsing.
• Succeeding without swelling.
• Failing without shattering.

That is protection.

Jameson rotted in a cell after being publicly abandoned. He did not rage. He did not beg. He did not rewrite the narrative. He endured.

You don’t need to admire the politics to understand the psychology.

Thick skin.
Steady spine.
Forward motion.

The Modern Reality of “Psychic Attack”

When you begin changing:

• People feel unsettled.
• They question you.
• They minimize you.
• They joke.
• They warn you.
• They subtly discourage you.

Not because they hate you.

Because your growth threatens their equilibrium.

Humans regulate each other socially.
When one person rises, others unconsciously pull.

That pull feels like energy drain.

Add to that your own self-doubt, and it can feel overwhelming.

The First Layer of Protection: Awareness

When you feel deflated, ask:

• Is this fact or projection?
• Is this advice or fear?
• Is this my voice or someone else’s voice living in my head?

Often you will discover it is borrowed fear.

Borrowed limits.

Borrowed ceilings.

Return them.

The Second Layer: Emotional Boundaries

You cannot stop people from thinking.
You cannot stop people from judging.
You cannot stop media from dramatizing.

You can stop absorbing it.

When someone speaks from fear, mentally translate it:

Instead of hearing:
“That’s unrealistic.”

Hear:
“I’m afraid I couldn’t do that.”

Instead of hearing:
“Be careful.”

Hear:
“I don’t want you to get hurt the way I did.”

Translation removes venom.

The Third Layer: Internal Discipline

The most dangerous critic is the one inside your own skull.

Your mind will say:

• “This is too big for you.”
• “You’ll embarrass yourself.”
• “What if you fail publicly?”

Protection means not believing every thought.

Remember: thoughts form in 500 milliseconds.
Wisdom takes longer.

When the doubt surge hits:

1. Pause.
2. Let the chemical spike settle.
3. Respond deliberately.

You can literally say:

“Thank you for trying to protect me. I’m choosing growth.”

Calm. Not dramatic.

The Fourth Layer: Selective Proximity

Some people cannot be close to your growth.

That is not cruelty.
That is hygiene.

If someone consistently:

• Ridicules your direction,
• Drains your energy,
• Repeats negativity,
• Undermines your confidence,

Limit exposure.

Not with anger.
With clarity.

Your nervous system matters.

When You Can’t Avoid Them

Sometimes the critic is:

• A parent,
• A partner,
• A colleague,
• A boss.

In those cases:

• Reduce emotional investment.
• Stop seeking validation.
• Stop over-explaining your vision.
• Share results, not dreams.

Dreams are fragile.
Results are armored.

The Core Principle

Protection is not aggression.
It is composure.

It is this stance:

• I do not need your approval.
• I do not require your agreement.
• I do not absorb your fear.
• I remain steady.

The more you grow, the more sensitive you may feel.
Sensitivity is not weakness.
It just means you must manage your environment consciously.

A Practical Daily Practice

When you feel drained:

1. Step away physically if possible.
2. Breathe slowly.
3. Straighten your posture.
4. Ask: What do I believe about myself right now?
5. Replace borrowed doubt with chosen identity.

You are not here to shrink to make others comfortable.

You are here to expand responsibly.

The Quiet Truth

People will:

• Criticize.
• Doubt.
• Misunderstand.
• Project.

Sometimes they will even love you and still discourage you.

You cannot control that.

You can control whether you let it redirect your path.

Protection is choosing your direction even when the emotional weather turns.

Keep your head.
Keep your humor.
Keep your spine.

And when necessary, read something that reminds you who you are — not who others fear you might become.

That is your shield.

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Protection Continued: When Distance Is Necessary

Let’s speak plainly.

Sometimes growth requires subtraction.

In my own life, there were people I loved — and still wish well — whom I had to step away from. Two friends. One close relative. The decision felt brutal at first.

Then it felt like oxygen.

Like lifting a heavy sack of sand off my shoulders.

Relief is data.
Pay attention to relief.

This is not about arrogance.
It is not about superiority.
It is about nervous system survival.

If someone consistently leaves you:

• Drained
• Doubting yourself
• Deflated
• Smaller

That is not “loyalty.”
That is erosion.

The Natural Changing of the Guard

Transformation rearranges your ecosystem.

When you change:

• Some people drift.
• Some pull away.
• Some subtly compete.
• Some quietly cheer from afar.
• Some new ones appear — aligned, energized, expansive.

This is normal.

People who bonded with you in struggle may not recognize you in strength.
Your confidence can feel like distance to someone who knew you as uncertain.

Your ambition can feel like abandonment to someone who preferred you modest.

Your success can feel like exposure to someone avoiding their own potential.

This isn’t villainy.
It’s misalignment.

And misalignment resolves itself.

Early Stage Vulnerability

When you first begin rising, you are energetically tender.

You may find yourself:

• In new rooms.
• On new stages.
• In meetings where you once would have felt intimidated.
• Receiving praise you’re not used to.
• Facing criticism you didn’t expect.

Both praise and criticism can destabilize you.

Praise inflates.
Criticism punctures.

Neither should control your altitude.

This is where protection becomes practical.

The Mentality Shield (Bell Jar On)

This is simple. And powerful.

Imagine this:

You are standing upright. Calm. Centered.

From above, a giant transparent bell jar slowly lowers around you.

Thick. Solid. Unbreakable.

It seals gently at the ground.

Now imagine:

• Negative comments hit the glass and dissolve.
• Jealous glances shatter like mist.
• Gossip bounces and evaporates.
• Criticism thuds and slides harmlessly away.

You can still see.
You can still hear.
You can still respond.

But nothing penetrates unless you open the jar.

This is not denial.
It is filtration.

Elite athletes use similar visualization techniques to manage crowd pressure. Whether the story about Seve Ballesteros is perfect history doesn’t matter.

What matters is this:

Your brain responds to imagery.

If you rehearse resilience, you build resilience.

Build It Your Way

If a bell jar doesn’t resonate, create your own version:

• A golden force field.
• A mirrored surface that reflects negativity back neutralized.
• A Harry Potter invisibility cloak.
• Glass bricks stacking one by one.
• A calm blue aura expanding outward.

The form is irrelevant.

The intention is this:

“I am permeable to encouragement and impermeable to hostility.”

Practice before you need it.

Use it:

• Before difficult meetings.
• Before family gatherings.
• Before presentations.
• Before conversations that historically trigger you.

The Deeper Protection

The real shield, though, is identity.

When you know who you are:

• Criticism becomes information.
• Praise becomes pleasant but non-essential.
• Mockery becomes noise.
• Doubt becomes weather.

You stop reacting to every gust.

A Quiet Warning

If someone consistently tries to shrink you:

• Stop explaining yourself.
• Stop seeking their validation.
• Stop presenting unfinished dreams for approval.

Share results, not vulnerability, with those who weaponize it.

Not everyone deserves front-row access to your evolution.

The Truth About Cutting Ties

When you remove someone from daily proximity, one of two things happens:

1. They fade peacefully.
2. They escalate briefly.

Either way, clarity increases.

And often — quietly, unexpectedly — it works out in their best interest too.

Because growth forces honesty.

Final Thought

You do not need to become hard.
You need to become steady.

Soft heart.
Strong boundaries.

Compassion without self-sacrifice.
Ambition without apology.

Bell jar on.

Walk forward.

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The Mentality Shield — Daily Practice

I use the mentality shield every single day.

Not occasionally.
Not only when I feel threatened.
Every day.

I do not leave home without it.
I do not walk into a meeting without it.
I do not enter a family gathering without it.

Yes — family included.

This is not paranoia.
It is energetic hygiene.

Before stepping into the company of others, I pause for a few seconds and imagine it descending:

A vast, thick, transparent bell jar lowering from the sky…
Passing through ceilings if necessary…
Settling gently over my head and shoulders…
Sealing at the ground.

I then watch the “talking heads” around me and imagine their emotions — enthusiasm, anxiety, criticism, insecurity — as rays of light bouncing harmlessly off the glass and dissolving into dust.

I can hear them.
I can respond.
I can engage.

But their emotional turbulence does not enter my field.

Where It Began

In the mid-1970s, I loved watching golf and tennis tournaments on television. There was something about the isolation of the athlete — one person against:

• The opponent
• The course
• The crowd
• The critics

It fascinated me.

Men like Björn Borg and Jack Nicklaus were heroes to me. They seemed immovable. Unshaken by noise. Untouched by hostility.

Then there was Seve Ballesteros — barely older than me at the time — competing alongside giants with the same implacable calm.

After one successful round, an interviewer asked him how he handled the pressure of playing with icons and enduring the roar of the crowd.

His answer changed my life.

He described imagining a thick glass bell jar descending from the sky and covering him completely. Inside it, he could shut out the noise and perform freely.

The interviewer brushed past the comment.

I practically leapt off the sofa.

This was not superstition. It was mental architecture.

Others have called it a deflection spell. A mental shield. A focus dome.

Different language. Same principle.

Teenage Experiment

Soon after, I began experimenting.

Each morning, instead of walking directly to the school bus stop with my siblings, I took a detour — climbing a fence, crossing a muddy field, rejoining them half a mile later.

They probably thought I was being moody.

What I was actually doing was rehearsing protection.

As I walked, I imagined the glass cloak descending and sealing around me. I visualized insults bouncing off it. Taunts shattering. Negative attention disintegrating before impact.

The results were astonishing.

I felt:

• Stronger
• Calmer
• Less reactive

My schoolwork improved.
My performance in sports improved.
Girls — who previously ignored me — suddenly engaged.

It was as if someone had flipped a switch.

The bullying faded. Not because the world changed — but because I stopped absorbing it.

In 1976, when Ballesteros placed second at the British Open, I watched closely. Under immense pressure, he remained composed.

The technique worked.

I have used it ever since — in boardrooms, on stages, in crowds, at concerts, in tense conversations.

Across religions and disciplines, I’ve noticed similar practices. Different symbols, same intention:

Protect the field. Guard the mind.

Protection Is Not Withdrawal

The mentality shield does not make you cold.
It makes you steady.

It does not block connection.
It filters contamination.

You remain open to:

• Encouragement
• Constructive insight
• Love
• Collaboration

You block:

• Jealousy
• Hostility
• Emotional volatility
• Projection

There is a difference.

When the Environment Is Overwhelming

Even with a shield, certain environments can feel heavy.

Maybe:

• The news channel blares constantly at home.
• The office culture thrives on anxiety.
• You’re cornered by chronic complainers.
• A family gathering turns toxic.

In those moments, shielding is not enough.

You must break the connection.

Imagine the scene from Harry Potter — dementors floating, draining warmth from the room.

Some environments are exactly like that.

When you feel the drain:

1. Excuse yourself.
2. Step outside if possible.
3. Go to the restroom if necessary.
4. Breathe deeply.
5. Re-install the shield deliberately.

Break the sensory input. Interrupt the neural mirroring. Reset your nervous system.

Even five minutes can recalibrate your field.

This Is Strength, Not Sensitivity

Some will call this oversensitive.

It isn’t.

It is intelligent energy management.

Elite performers manage:

• Focus
• Exposure
• Emotional input

You are allowed to do the same.

Final Reminder

You do not need to harden.
You need to protect.

You do not need to fight every battle.
You need to choose your field.

Install the shield.
Refresh it often.
Step away when necessary.

Your energy is your capital.

Guard it accordingly.

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Step Away to Stay Strong

Excuse yourself often.

“Need to take a call.”
“Back in a moment.”
“Quick restroom break.”

When I worked in a conventional career, colleagues were convinced I had the weakest bladder in the company. I slipped out of meetings constantly.

What I was actually doing was protecting my state.

Meetings — and social environments in general — are rarely neutral. They carry tension, ego, insecurity, competition, anxiety, and unspoken agendas. If you sit in that current too long, your nervous system starts to absorb it.

Five minutes alone can reset everything.

Step outside.
Breathe.
Break the sensory loop.

Interrupting exposure interrupts emotional contagion. It’s not avoidance. It’s self-regulation.

Energy Cleanse

Before any meeting — online or in person — I perform a short ritual I call an energy cleanse.

It takes less than a minute.
Try it alone first and notice how you feel afterward.

1. Activate

Rub your hands together vigorously.
Feel the friction. Feel the warmth building between your palms.

You are waking up your sensory field.

2. Clear the Face

Draw your palms slowly over your face three times.
After each pass, shake your fingers out — as if flicking away water.

Release tension. Release residue.

3. Clear the Mind

Rub your hands together again.
Now pass your palms over the crown of your head three times.
Shake the fingers out after each pass.

Let go of looping thoughts and mental static.

4. Clear the Shoulders

Rub your hands once more.
This time draw them along the back of your neck and across your shoulders.

That is where stress gathers.
Shake it off.

Why It Works

At first it may feel unusual — until you realize we already do versions of this instinctively.

• When watching a scary movie, we cover our faces.
• When our team misses a crucial shot, we clutch the top of our heads.
• When someone cries, we stroke their shoulders and neck.

These are ancient soothing gestures wired into us.

This ritual simply makes the instinct intentional.

It calms the nervous system.
It resets your emotional baseline.
It restores your center.

Try it.
Teach it to someone you care about.
Everyone finds it grounding.

Accepting Praise

An energy healer once looked at me and said:

“Wow. You have trouble accepting praise.”

I laughed — but she was absolutely right.

I give praise freely.
Encourage easily.
But when praise comes toward me, I tense.

Many people do.

We deflect.
We minimize.
We joke it away.

“Oh, it was nothing.”
“Just lucky.”
“Anyone could have done it.”

She explained something important: constantly giving without allowing yourself to receive creates depletion. It drains your system.

She jokingly still calls me Mr. Giver.

Her solution was beautifully simple.

Whenever praise makes you uncomfortable, imagine a flock of hummingbirds fluttering into the center of your chest — into your heart.

Not attacking.
Not overwhelming.
Just gently hovering.

Receiving.

Hummingbirds are light, quick, high-frequency creatures. Visualizing them entering your heart allows the compliment to land without resistance.

Now when someone offers genuine praise, I pause internally and picture those hummingbirds. I let the words nourish me instead of bouncing them away.

Protection is not just about blocking negativity.

It is also about allowing positivity in.

Shield against what drains you.
Open to what strengthens you.

Energy must circulate — not just flow outward.

You are allowed to receive.

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The 90-Second Rule — Real Response-Ability

In My Stroke of Insight, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor offers a powerful reframe of what responsibility really means.

She breaks the word apart:

Response-ability — the ability to choose how we respond.

Here is the astonishing part.

When an emotional trigger occurs — anger, fear, frustration — the brain releases chemicals into the bloodstream. Those chemicals surge through the body and create a physiological experience: tightened jaw, racing heart, flushed skin, clenched stomach.

But according to Taylor, that chemical surge lasts less than 90 seconds.

Ninety seconds.

After that, the chemical component is gone.

If you are still angry five minutes later…
If you are still resentful an hour later…
If you are still replaying it that evening…

It is no longer chemistry.

It is choice.

You are re-triggering the circuit by replaying the story.

Moment by moment, we either:

• Hook back into the neurocircuit
  or
• Step into the present and let it dissolve

That is power.

Not suppressing emotion.
Not denying it.
Simply allowing the wave to pass without rebuilding it.

You cannot stop the initial trigger.
You can stop the replay.

That is response-ability.

A Real-World Example

I once received an email that beautifully illustrated this principle in action.

The writer had been on a fishing trip with friends. Throughout the trip, several of them complained constantly:

“The problem with this country is…”
“Companies don’t care about employees…”
“This always happens to me…”

He couldn’t redirect the conversation, so instead of engaging, he excused himself and went down to the dock alone.

He broke the connection.

What happened next was interesting.

The chronic complainers experienced a string of mishaps:

• A truck hit at the boat launch
• Boat issues
• A blown motor
• A flat tire

Meanwhile, he remained steady. Calm. Expectant that things would work out.

And they did.

Whether you interpret that through psychology, probability, selective attention, stress effects on performance, or something more metaphysical — the pattern is clear:

Mental state influences behavior.
Behavior influences outcomes.
Outcomes reinforce mental state.

Loop.

Break the loop, and outcomes change.

The Key Insight

When you stay angry past 90 seconds, you are:

• Rehearsing the emotion
• Releasing new chemicals
• Strengthening the neural pathway

When you complain, you:

• Prime your attention for more evidence of what is wrong
• Heighten stress hormones
• Lower creative problem solving
• Narrow perception

When you step away, breathe, and reset:

• The chemistry clears
• The nervous system stabilizes
• Your perception widens
• Better choices become visible

This is not mystical.
It is neurobiology plus awareness.

Applying It

When triggered:

1. Notice the surge.
2. Say internally: “Chemical wave. 90 seconds.”
3. Breathe slowly.
4. Do not narrate.
5. Do not justify.
6. Do not replay.

Let it pass.

After 90 seconds, ask:
“What is the most useful response now?”

That is mastery.

Reinforcing the Pattern

The same email shared something else.

The writer had written down an intention — in past tense — that he owned his own business.

Shortly afterward, two unsolicited opportunities appeared.

Coincidence?
Priming?
Selective attention?
Expanded perception?

It doesn’t matter which explanation you prefer.

When you set intention clearly:

• Your attention filters differently
• Your confidence shifts
• Your decisions change
• Your conversations change
• Your posture changes

And the world responds differently to you.

The Real Magic

The magic is not in controlling the universe.

The magic is in:

• Controlling your reaction window
• Interrupting negative loops
• Directing attention deliberately
• Refusing to rehearse what drains you

Ninety seconds.

That is the doorway between being run by emotion and running your response.

Every time you choose not to replay,
you reclaim power.

That is transformation in practice.

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