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Steps You Need to Protect Your ENERGY and Create a Positive Life | The Mel Robbins Podcast

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In this episode, you’ll learn how to deal with other people’s #toxic moods and bad behavior. Plus you’ll get strategies to help you dial up your own #positive #energy. You will always have negative people and situations in your life, but you don’t have to let them drain your life force. This episode is packed with six super easy science-backed strategies that will help you create an impenetrable force field against bad energy while you send your good vibes back out. Xo Mel In this episode, you'll learn: 00:00 Intro 02:41 Jumping right in with Veronica’s question about emails that ruin her day. 04:10 You probably have your own stories of entitlement like this one. 07:05 This technique I use when somebody’s mood is getting all over me. 10:12 The “ snow globe” works best when you’re getting attitude. 13:37 I know this about people when they explode into a tantrum. 16:28 Science explains why our bodies stress when we’re around bad moods. 18:32 Work in a toxic environment? You have these two choices. 23:54 Dealing with a curmudgeon? I got you. Use the law of reciprocity. 25:22 Here’s how I melted the ice when I became a legal analyst with CNN. 32:33 Gossip is bad for your brain and body. Here’s why. 33:30 Here’s the #1 strategy to stop your gossip today. 35:40 Once you see triangulation, you’ll look at your relationships differently. 38:42 This one simple strategy can brighten someone’s day right now. — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostVeronicaguestKayguestCelesteguest
Apr 2, 202342mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Protect Your Energy: Boundaries, Gossip Detox, And Contagious Positivity Explained

  1. Mel Robbins explains how to protect your emotional energy from other people’s moods, especially at work, and how to stay a positive force regardless of what’s happening around you. She introduces practical tools like 4-7-8 breathing and the “snow globe” visualization to prevent others’ stress and entitlement from sticking to you. Robbins differentiates between entitled jerks and emotionally immature tantrum-throwers, outlines how to call out bad behavior or escalate it appropriately, and shows how intentional compliments leverage reciprocity to soften curmudgeons. She closes by addressing the toxicity of gossip, offering a simple rule to stop it, and encouraging listeners to “blow bubbles” of kindness and appreciation as a daily practice.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Use 4-7-8 breathing to interrupt your stress response in real time.

When you receive an aggressive email, text, or encounter, breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 7, and exhaling for 8 signals your nervous system to relax, preventing you from absorbing someone else’s panic or anger.

Visualize difficult people in a “snow globe” to keep their negativity off you.

Imagining the person having their tantrum inside a snow globe—where all their emotional ‘sparkles’ stay contained—creates psychological distance, helps you not take it personally, and preserves your energy.

Recognize there are two main “jerk” types and respond accordingly.

Some people are habitually entitled and rude; others are emotionally immature and can’t tolerate their own stress so they explode. Understanding the difference helps you decide whether to ignore, protect yourself, or address the behavior directly.

Call out disrespectful communication calmly and, if needed, involve HR.

For hostile emails or interactions, you can say, “Is something going on with you? The tone of this doesn’t feel good,” or, “I’m happy to help, but only if you speak to me respectfully,” while documenting patterns and going to HR if it continues.

Melt workplace curmudgeons with consistent, genuine compliments.

Leveraging the law of reciprocity—“you do something nice for me, I feel compelled to do something nice for you”—by praising people’s work or strengths can gradually shift cold, competitive environments into supportive relationships.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

When somebody is in a positive or a nasty mood, it's like a muddy dog shaking, and that energy gets all over you.

— Mel Robbins

There are always going to be people and situations in life that are triggering. The world is full of jerks and people who cannot tolerate their own emotional experience.

— Mel Robbins

I make it a rule not to talk about people who aren’t present.

— Mel Robbins

People who gossip with you will gossip about you when you’re not there.

— Mel Robbins

When you become radically generous with your positive energy, with your compliments, with your enthusiasm, with your love, it spreads unbelievable waves of joy and positivity.

— Mel Robbins

Emotional contagion and how other people’s moods affect your nervous systemTechniques to protect your energy (4-7-8 breathing, snow globe visualization)Dealing with toxic or negative coworkers and managersCalling out disrespectful communication and using HR/documentation when neededUsing compliments and the law of reciprocity to shift difficult peopleWhy gossip is harmful and how to stop participating in itSpreading intentional positivity through everyday acts of kindness and appreciation

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