Okay so...

This is a tricky one.

But it needs to be said...

Don't get me wrong.

I love affirmations, gratitude and meditation.

In fact, I love them so much, they're a core part of my daily morning practice and without them, I'd probably resemble that zombie which woke me up the other night...

But here's the thing.

It doesn't matter that affirmations, gratitude and meditation are powerful brain rewiring tools.

It doesn't matter that there's countless studies, research articles and scientific proof that after consistent use they change the structure of our brains.

It also doesn't matter that people have been using them for thousands of years.

They all ignore one extremely fundamental thing - we're not 'thinking' beings, we're FEELING beings...

Let me explain.

Back when I was a kid, I used to get bullied... a lot...

It didn't matter which school I was in, who I was hanging out with or what I was doing.

At some point, some douchebag would have a pop.

Sometimes, it would be a physical pop, other times it would be verbal.

Oh, and just so you know, the whole 'ignore them and they'll go away' advice adults give is complete bullshit.

Ignore them and they try even harder to get your attention!

Anyways... The point is, that after a while, I sort of tuned into the bully vibe.

I could tell whether something was going to happen.

I just got this feeling that they would try something.

So, I'd take immediate evasive action.

I might run and hide in the loos, hang back in the classroom being really slow to pack things up or race out the door faster than a lightning bolt so they couldn't catch me.

The problem was, when I did this, they used to get madder.

Like, what right did I have to get through the day without being treated like something they'd stepped in...

You've probably experienced this as well?

Hopefully not the whole bullying thing, but the tuning into the way someone else feels thing.

Think about a time when you've walked into a room and instinctively felt like it was a mistake.

Maybe the other people in the room had just finished an argument...

Or they've just been getting it on and you've walked in on them...

Both are very different situations and both make you feel a completely different way even if you didn't witness the actual argument or naughtiness.

No one needs to say anything to know what has just gone on.

This is because we interpret the world from a place of feeling first.

Once we feel a certain way, we take an action based on that feeling and then we create thought patterns about what we've felt and done.

Think about the last time you knocked an arm on a bookcase, stubbed a toe on the bed or trapped a finger in the door.

You feel the pain, you move your arm/toe/finger out of the way, then you think about how much of a douche you've been.

Feel - Act - Think

So back to why affirmations, gratitude and meditation are causing you untold harm...

Follow along with this super simple and safe exercise -

Think about something you desperately want in your life, whether its more money, a great relationship or better health.

It doesn't matter what it is, just make sure you have it clear in your mind.

Now take a deep breath and tune into how you feel about the situation.

Do you feel expansive, optimistic and joyful?

Or do you instead feel fearful, as though it's far beyond your reach or even that you're unworthy of having it even if you do get it?

Based on the work I've been doing over the past 5 years, I'm going to make an educated guess and say the latter...

If you were to do an affirmation or write a gratitude statement about the thing you want but underneath you are brimming with negativity all that's going to happen is you'll trigger a non-stop barrage of negative thoughts.

Chances are, you've already experienced this, you just didn't know it...

Even if you ignore the negative thoughts and body take action in the affirmative - as so many furus (fake-gurus) tell you to, all you'll end up doing is bringing even more negativity your way.

What you feel brings about more of what you feel.

You always have two choices about what you do next in your own life:

For years and years, I was trapped in the feeling of fear when in company with other people, this led me to take actions from a place of fear and create thought-patterns and deep routed beliefs which supported my warped perception of reality.

As soon as I let go of the fear of being with others and instead became open to the possibilities that some people are good

I changed the way I was interacting with people.

Good interactions happened.

Then I created new thoughts and new beliefs that people are good.

So what about meditation?

In truth, meditation is the one which is most harmful...

Have you ever sat down, shut your eyes, tried to meditate and then your brain has verbal diarrhoea?

It tells you all the horrible things you've been shoving down, it reminds you of the mean thing someone says or it reminds you of just how completely useless you are as a human being...

Yeah, it happened to me too.

What's worse, you then jump on social media and see other people raving about the awesomeness of meditation so there must be something wrong with you - right?

Wrong.

Your brain is doing exactly what it's supposed to.

You were probably in a negative feeling state when you sat down, then your brain doing its job reminds you of all the things which match your feeling state.

For someone who is struggling emotionally, a meditation session is like flinging open the floodgates of all the harmful, hurtful and hellish thoughts you'd been fighting to keep under control.

Like I said before, I love affirmations, gratitude and meditation.

I use them daily.

But I'm not struggling with my emotional or mental health anymore.

After fighting that battle for over 30 years, I finally won in 2017.

I let go of all my demons, my mistakes and all the pain of years of abuse and feel absolutely nothing when I think of those who harmed me.

If I sit down and meditate, nothing from my past can come back to haunt me.

Even if I'm stressed out and I sit down to meditate the wost my brain will do is tell me what I am stressing out about and in the grand scheme of things this is usually something pretty benign.

Back pre demon purge, I'd of been quickly zapped back into the depths of hell and then for days, if not weeks trapped in a state of terror.

Look, I can't tell you what to do.

It's your journey and you need to do what you think is best.

However, if you do want my advice, make sure you tune into how your feeling before you do any affirmations, gratitude or meditation it will make all the difference to how you feel, the actions you take and the success you see in your life, your relationships and your business.

#wevegotthis

xoxo Katie Woodland

P.S. If you want to learn a little more about how to successfully purge your demons so that you can stop being trapped in your own hell and finally create the life and business you've been dreaming of click the button below to watch my short TEDx talk where I share the '3 Simple Steps EVERYONE Needs To Know To Beak Free From Mental Illness Without Taking Ever Increasing Doses Of Drugs, Sharing Your Darkest Secrets to a Complete Stranger or Paying Tens of Thousands Of Pounds To Randomers From The Internet Who Make Empty Promises'