On Mother’s Day a group of nine of us gathered at The Old Salt, a restaurant in Hampton, NH. Each year on Mother’s Day they take their ample Sunday brunch buffet and make it even more ample.

The array of dishes takes you from eggs Benedict and pancakes to a gorgeous green salad, to shrimp and lobster scampi and a full-on turkey dinner. For dessert, there’s everything from fruit, cookies and carrot cake to a dark chocolate fountain with all manner of things to drench in it. (I drenched a marshmallow and a huge strawberry.)

And then there’s all the energy.

Let’s start with the location

The Old Salt is part of Lamie’s Inn (pronounced la-may’s), which has been in use since it was built in 1740. The age of the building is clear as you walk across old and yet well-preserved dark wood planks dotted with thick posts to support the upper floors.

There’s a lot of history there, and thanks to that history the building is highly active; lively, you might say with a wink. The activity and liveliness come from the spirits - active and imprinted - who add their own historic ambience to the popular destination.

No doubt the site could use a nice energy clearing, and yet that’s out of my hands as I don’t have permission to do so.

Then there’s the here and now

When we arrived for our 1:00 reservation, the restaurant was packed and we were among many groups waiting for their tables. That essentially describes the flow of the entire day there, bless the staff.

The restaurant is big. It has four large eating areas and one small one that’s just big enough for a rectangular table for eight. Its capacity is 450 diners, which means over the course of Mother’s Day they probably host over 2,000 people.

That’s a lot of people and all their energy on top of the nearly 300-year-old energy of the structure and its unseen “guests.”

In the midst of it, enjoying a yummy meal and the company of family, and, yes, the camaraderie of other families enjoying the same thing, it was just fun. When I got home, it was clear all the people and energy had tired me out; I was ready to put my feet up and relax.

Before going to bed I did my usual end-of-day energy clearing and called it good.

About the hangover

When I woke up Monday morning, the energy hangover was off the charts. In spite of a solid eight hours of sleep and my usual start-of-day energy clearing, I felt lethargic. While not achy, my head was foggy. What was achy, though, was my whole body. It was almost flu-like in nature. If I hadn’t known better, I might have made that assumption.

It took me several hours to begin feeling more myself. Breakfast - hot tea and oatmeal - helped only marginally. Plenty of water didn’t seem to make a dent in it, either.

A salad of veggies with a chopped apple added at lunch made enough of a difference that I felt confident venturing out with my mom for an important errand. (We set in motion the delivery of two rhododendron bushes, two lilac bushes, one crabapple tree and five yards of loam for this week.)

By evening I was feeling significantly better and yet still moving a little slowly. After my evening energy cleanse, I got into bed with the intention (and hope) that Tuesday - today - would be a much better day.

And so it is. I slept well and woke up feeling 1000% better than I did Monday.

Causes of an energy hangover

I’ve already mentioned that the energy of a place can contribute, and that a lot of peopling can contribute. Energy hangovers can also come from:

• over use of energy work

• over use of intuition

• over use of channeling

• high-energy gatherings, retreats

• high-emotion life events

• energy leaks in our aura

• psychic vampires

That isn’t a definitive list; they’re just what came through quickly as I typed.

Over use of energy work, intuition, channeling

There is definitely such a thing as too much when it comes to us using our spiritual abilities in service to others. While the energy comes to us and moves through us, it can really impact our physical bodies.

That’s why it’s important to learn what our boundaries are as soon as possible so we don’t overbook and therefore overextend ourselves through our service.

High-energy gatherings, retreats

It can sometimes happen after a Spiral Gathering that I’ll feel tapped out due to the quantity of energy invoked. I can’t recall a time when one resulted in an energy hangover, though.

However, I have attended gatherings and retreats that were longer than 1.5 - 2 hours that led to a hangover the next day. I even once received a Reiki session that resulted in a hangover.

High-emotion life events

Funerals, weddings, graduations, holiday celebrations, births, deaths… These are a handful of high-emotion life events - which may coincide with a lot of peopling - that could result in an energy hangover.

This most recently happened to me the day after Christmas this past year. I was depleted almost all of the 26th.

Leaks in our aura/energy field

This sort of thing can happen for so many reasons:

• a cut knee

• a surgery

• insufficient boundaries

• insufficient energetic hygiene

• an attack by an entity

Daily energy care can help us keep leaks to a minimum and repair them sooner than later.

Psychic vampires

Whether they’re of the human sort or the spirit sort, psychic vampires can be a real drain on us. As with leaks, daily energy care can help minimize this.

Is there a cure?

Unlike hangovers from alcohol, which can be treated relatively effectively with plenty of water, an over-the-counter pain medicine, sunlight and perhaps some greasy-hardy food, energy hangovers don’t have a generalized protocol to cure them.

It’s most likely that we’ll need to discover for ourselves what works best for us, and be prepared to adapt those practices to suit specific causations if need be.

That said, time and a go-gently attitude toward the day ahead could be the foundation of any cure we may co-create with our intuition, our spirit team and our body.

What about prevention?

Prevention may be possible through energetic hygiene and strong boundaries, and yet it doesn’t feel as though they’d be 100% effective.

Checking in with our intuition/spirit team about crystals that might support us prevention-wise could absolutely prove helpful. (I did this for Sunday and wasn’t guided to crystal-up, which suggests it wouldn’t have made a difference.)

In addition to any prevention options, perhaps we will best look at understanding there will be certain situations in our lives resulting in energy hangovers. As long as we understand that, we can plan accordingly so we can care for ourselves the next day. 💞

Have you ever experienced an energy hangover? If yes, what helped you get through it?

🏡 Personally Speaking

Good day to you. 😊

On Friday, we noticed things had become very quiet out on the porch. You might not think it would be that noticeable, and yet it was. As the sun began setting and there was still no activity, it became clear the baby wrens had fledged.

We made a plan to investigate further on Saturday morning and that we did. When I carefully pulled the “old” (not! it was brand new) wreath off its hook, we found the nest empty… and the siding behind the nest an awful mess of bird poop and who knows what else.

I tried removing the nest from the wreath without success which meant the wreath had to be released, unfortunately. Then I cleaned the siding, cleaned the front door while I was at it, and installed the new, not-deep-enough-for-a-nest wreath.

It’s astounding that it was exactly 28 days from the eggs being laid to the baby wrens fledging. That isn’t a lot of time in the scheme of things.

What’s been amusing over the past several days are the birds who have assessed our porch - and, no doubt, the wreath - for their purposes without success. I mean, we’re honored to be considered and yet grateful to have our front porch back.

Yours in peace and gratitude,