People often ask how they can keep themselves safe from "psychic attacks" or from being the target of others' negative and unconscious behavior.  In addressing this issue, it is helpful to consider the basic principal that, we can not change the behavior of others, we can only change how we respond to them.
That being said, there are times when we end up being the brunt of some unconscious negativity - anger, hatred, conniving, others wishing us ill will - are just some examples.  How can we protect ourselves from that negativity being sent our way?  We must examine the state of our own intentions.  Are we feeling vengeful, wishing that person ill, is our ego parading around thinking "how great" we are in relation to that person - maybe we "one-upped" someone who is sending negativity our way.  When I examine my thoughts and feelings about an interaction if I have any of those thoughts or feelings described in the previous sentence, I sit for a moment, shut my eyes, breathe deeply and send loving and healing energy toward that person in the form of a golden or white light (yes even if they are "spittin mad" and behaving badly), and I surround myself with this same golden light, imagining every cell in my body being filled with gratitude and love.  By infusing the situation with gratitude and love, we open our hearts for new experiences without that particular form of negativity. 
It is also important for us to examine our own thoughts and behavior in a given situation, and keep acting and thinking (yes our thoughts play a huge role in our protection) in a high minded way.  If we catch ourselves repeatedly thinking "how dare they do that...say that...etc." and/or we keep feeling smug about how we made out in a particular situation, stop that, and rehabituate your thinking by replacing those thoughts with things like, "what is the lesson here?" or "I feel sorry that they feel like they need to do that sort of thing, but I'm ok..." or if feeling smug, stop for a moment, and feel deeply the gratitude you feel for things having worked out that way this time - and and try to feel compassion for how the other party must feel.   You will feel immediately better when you do this - because you are no longer adding fuel to the fire - and because of that, the fire should burn itself out. 
All experiences we have are opportunities for us to learn and grow - it really does not help to judge them as negative or positive.  I can think of many experiences in my life where I thought it was a negative experience, and a year later, I saw how, without that "negative" experience, I would not have had some other wonderful experience in my life.  The sooner we can view the situation more neutrally, and send gratitude, love and compassion into it, is when we will receive thoughts and act in a way that helps us attain our highest potential.  When we are in that state of non-judgement, feeling gratitude, love and compassion, we are impervious to psychic attacks - any negativity that is sent at us will bounce off - will not have any place to attach to us - because we are already filled with the light of our high intentions and actions.

Try this exercise (it'll take about 10/15 minutes):  Sit in a quiet comfortable place.  Take a moment to think about a situation in your life that did not go as you had wanted it to  (for the first few times you do this, pick something not overwhelming).  Also, take a moment to think about the events leading up to that moment, and what you might have done differently, that might have had you avoid it, or had it end differently.  As you develop comfort with this exercise, you can pick increasingly more emotional issues to heal. 
Shut your eyes, and take long, deep breaths - feel yourself relaxing.   Imagine the situation going down as it did.  You will feel some emotion in your body.  Isolate where, in your body, you feel that emotion - is it in your throat, your chest, your gut - or maybe your head....wherever it is, focus on that part of your body.  Imagine a beautiful golden light coming down from the highest heavens, through the top of your head, and out through that area of your body where you feel the emotion.  Imagine that you are sending that person/situation golden light out of your heart.  Now imagine that the situation went differently, as you did earlier in the exercise.  Feel the gratitude that the situation went so well. Sit with that for a few moments.  Imagine every cell in your body being filled with this golden light, love and gratitude.  Take a few deep breaths, come back to the place you are sitting, and open your eyes.  You will feel relaxed and full of energy.

Practicing being present in our lives allows us to focus on experiencing life in the moment, rather than worrying or ruminating over the future or past "problems."   We get a perspective that lets us see what's going on more clearly.  How many times have you been sitting with your children, or a friend/family member, and spent so much time worrying or thinking about all the "things" you have to "do," or things you did not "do," that you are not able to give the person/people your full attention?   I have caught myself doing that on numerous occasions - even now, after practicing presence for many years - but the key is that I catch myself being distracted from someone I'm interacting with, or the task at hand, and for the most part, by consciously focusing on my body - the energy moving through my body - am able to focus on the present moment, and give people or the task at hand, my full attention.

How do we redirect our focus to the present moment?
The first step is to take a few deep breaths in and out.
Next, focus your attention on your toes, your feet.  Notice how they feel - is there pressure, a warmth, or are they cool?  Most people report feeling a "tingling" sensation in their feet. 
Take that feeling - whatever it is for you - and begin to move it up through your body, very slowly.  Feel it in your heels, calves, knees, thighs, hips, then up your spine - slowly - feel it in your abdomen, your chest, up through your shoulders and down both arms, into your hands.  Do not forget to breathe.  Feel the wave of your attention in your fingers - then move back up your arms through your shoulders, to your neck, and into your head.  Feel the warmth of your focus on your face - your nose, your skin on your face. 
With practice, you can learn to do this exercise in a matter of moments - even while you are interacting with others.

Finding balance is an important part of feeling in the flow of life.
While focusing on the present moment helps us live more in the flow of life, and make better decisions - it is important for us to take some time in the present moment to plan, and consider the past to help us make better decisions.  Many of the "things" we worry about might be things we need to do, or things we did not do - or did not do in a way that made us feel pleased.  A number of people have told me that they use the "worry" to motivate them - but that kind of motivation makes it more likely that we act our of fear, or exasperation, rather than from the wisdom of presence.  So it is important to consider the past and future when making decisions in the present moment.   The way to feel peace and joy is to find, and live in, balance, not getting so preoccupied with the past or future that we forget to live in the moment.

Exercise: Stop at some point today and notice something that makes your heart say "awww." Whether that is a flower, a tree, birds, children playing, or maybe a driver let's you into the flow of traffic unexpectedly.  Just feel that appreciation and gratitude in the core of your being.  This gives your energy an immediate lift, you will feel more light hearted.

I want to talk about the "stories" we create that cause us to create unnecessary drama in our lives, AND the lives of others - and all the pain it can cause to those involved.  I think about teenagers, for example - who are in a very egoic state for the most part - and how they can often keep making demands and behave ungratefully, even when we feel, as parents, we are giving and giving and giving.  There are many adults who are still stuck in this egoic state to a large extent, but teenagers epitomize the genre or example here.   Really what causes this, is a belief that a teen always has to be "in the know" or "on the scene" engaging in social activities - either in person or through electronic devices.  Or if something happens that causes a teen to feel "less than," like things did not go as they planned - acting out and purposely irritating others, deflects the problem away from them - the teen no longer has to think about their own perceived "problems" because now the focus can be on the drama they created.  The behavior caused by this feeling of comparative lacking, is often narcissistic.  They lash out by speaking in rude tones to those around them, or by acting rude and disrespectful.  Afterwards, they have to "justify" their behavior so they come up with new interpretations on the events to get others to agree with them - how badly they have it.  
    Most teens go around in a constant state of agitation about what is going on in their lives.  They often  want things - partying with friends, the best student - needing to be the center of attention, and when he/she wants something, they demand it "now!"  Sadly even when they "get it" it is not enough.  It was not like they thought it would be - did not meet their expectations.  The parent has difficulty dealing with this, for wanting to help the teen feel good - this parent does everything humanly possible to give the teen what he/she wants, when they want it.  Rarely does this parent say "no." Over time, the parent begins to feel resentful toward the imposition of always pleasing the teen, and RARELY getting a "thank you" or "I appreciate your help."  Instead, the teen disrespects the parent and says very disrespectful things about him/her.  When the parent finally has enough, because he/she has been battered down, and lashes out by shouting because he/she feels so frustrated, instead of feeling compassion, the teen lashes back, accusing the parent of being "terrible" and a "monster."  We are assuming here that there is NO history of abuse or physical altercations.
    The most striking thing here is how all the months of goodness of such a parent toward the teen is overlooked because the parent has an emotional outburst that the teen seldom sees.  Compare this to perhaps another parent, who often loses his/her temper and yells, and chastises - a teen would (sadly) likely be used to that - and so would not judge THAT parent so harshly. 
    Now add that this teen involves others, including younger siblings, extended family and friends, etc. in his/her drama - and convinces them of the "terribleness" of this parent.  The parent is a victim here.  And so are the siblings, family members and friends who get involved in this drama.  But why?  Here, the teenager's ego has been activated in a way that he/she cannot be wrong, cannot see how ungrateful and self-righteous he/she has been behaving.  This behavior is extreme unconsciousness.  By involving others in his/her drama, the teen in our example, musters support for his/her position - validating and strengthening his/her egoic position.  Selfishly putting him/her in a place of perceived power so he/she does not have to feel the pain of the earlier  perceived failure or lack.  The damage to those he/she involves in his/her drama is significant - but he/she does not see it.    We can all see parts of ourselves in this lengthly drama.  Sometimes we are the teen, and other times we are the parent.  So what is there to do?
    "Being present" is a very important method for a parent to use to prevent "blowing up" or otherwise lashing out at the teen.  But how does a parent do this and still provide the teen with an opportunity to see just how unconscious and badly he/she is behaving?  Or get the teen to be able to examine his/her own behavior and feelings?  This is one of the areas of spiritual development that I often ponder, because it does involve "drawing a line" that once crossed we must stand up for ourselves and do something to stop the behavior  (we must mount a response - that is not reactive).  Typically a spiritual seeker might maintain presence by not engaging the teen - not reacting to the teens bad behavior - so a form of nonreaction.  The idea being that without getting the reaction, the teens bad behavior will extinguish or burn out.  But as the teens behavior accelerates, trying harder and harder to get the parent to react, they may engage in behavior that crosses a parent's line of tolerance, and a parent must then engage the teen in some manner to stop the behavior.  Certainly we can agree that yelling or calling the teen names would not be a good response to the teen's aggressive behavior - remember, that is the very thing the teen wants to create to deflect from dealing with their own emotions and insecurities.  A parent may need to take a "time out."  If the teen is in a safe place, a parent can go to his or her room and shut the door, saying, "I need some time alone."  Or the parent may calmly explain the consequences to the teen for their bad behavior.  "You are speaking to me in an unacceptable and disrespectful tone, and therefore, you are grounded tonight" - or "...do not get allowance this week" -  or "...you lose your car privileges for a three days" or some other consequence for their bad behavior.  Then it is extremely important for the parent to enforce the consequences.  If the teen continues his/her bad behavior, a parent should send him/her to their room until he/she has calmed down.  The parent should say all this as calmly as possible.  A parent generally cannot reason with a teen who is in an unconscious reactive state, because the teen is not capable of rational thought during these times.  A parent can only try to get the teen to "feel" the underlying feelings, and sending a teen to his/her room, or grounding him/her will give the teen time to do this.  A parent should by no means try to placate the child by trying also to deflect - for example, where the teen is reacting, the parent might offer incentives to get the teen to stop - like, "I'll give you money for a movie," or "why don't you ask some friends over?"  This type of behavior on the part of the parent, will just make the teen's behavior so much worse.  Instead, the parent here, should set up some "rules" that require respectful interactions and behavior.  Whether the "teen" is able to see their behavior is the question.
    Someone once told me that he has four main rules in his house for his children: 1) Don't break the law; 2) Do your work (which includes school work); 3) obey house rules; and 4) be respectful.   Often this is a good place to start a discussion, but during an acute episode of acting out, focusing on the 4th one is a good idea - a teen who is not acting respectfully should be face consequences - like being grounded or losing privileges.  Even if the parent did not behave in a model way, the parent can apologize for his behavior but take the discussion right back to the teens behavior, and consequences. 
    These ideas apply not only to teens - perhaps there is someone at work or someone in the family (a sibling or parent) engaging in similar behavior.  Write down some examples where you have been the parent, and where you have been the teen.  How does that feel?  Remember, we cannot change others, we can only change ourselves, our reactions/responses to others - but we can insist that others treat us respectfully, or impose consequences.