Commentary

Ever hear the phone ring, and know who’s calling before you pick it up? Or have the feeling that the stranger you’ve just met is not someone you want to hang around?

Everyone has intuitive abilities, but we don’t always pay attention to them, thinking that it’s silly to make decisions based on anything but rational thought. But in reality, many of us make choices based on emotional responses, and I was delighted to recently meet a physician who believes in the power of psychic sensitivities, and paying attention to the energetic rhythms of your body.

Judith Orloff is a doctor who practices energy psychiatry and energy healing. Orloff, author of a new book titled “Positive Energy” (Harmony Books, $24), talks about how energy flows in and around the body, affecting our physical health, our emotions and how we relate to other people. Orloff says she wrote the book because there’s an epidemic of negativity in the world that creates a lack of energy.

“There’s terrorism and the fear that permeates everyday life, to the fears in our mind that ‘I’m not enough,’ ” says Orloff, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles. “We become victims to our own negative thoughts. There are energy vampires who suck our energy dry — the sob sister who complains all the time without an answer, the critic, and the drama queen.”

Then, there’s the fixer-upper type, the woman who takes it upon herself to fix a man with potential, and five years later, she’s exhausted and he hasn’t changed. (Isn’t there a little of that energetic behavior in all of us?)

Orloff says women are extremely intuitive, and by tapping more into our psychic senses, we’ll begin to have more faith in how we assess other people, which leads to more positive relationships. In other words, choose friends who see the best in you and want to contribute to your life.

“Women think, ‘I’m not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough or thin enough,’ ” says Orloff. “Life is hard, and you need loving, positive people around you. The to-do list is endless because there are a lot of demands on us. Part of my prescription is to learn how to calm yourself and not be frenetic in a busy day. Stay in the moment. Focus on the heart. Bring more joy into your life.”

Positive energy is really the key to success in life. The more we think in positive, proactive ways, the more likely we are to get what we want. The more energy we have in our lives, the more likely we are to enjoy whatever it is we’re doing.

“I had an energy crash myself while writing this book,” admits Orloff. “I was teaching everyone else how to have positive energy and forgot to eliminate the energy vampires in my life. I had to start my meditation again, and schedule myself more sanely in order to have an energy rebirth. Now, I feel much more centered. I won’t let anyone take my energy away again.”