Megan Anne | Psychic Medium

The more souls that I encounter along my journey, the more I have come to realize that there aren’t many people out there that are truly happy. They either aren’t happy with their relationships, their jobs, their families… The list goes on. It’s slightly disturbing to me – observing that approximately 50% of the individuals in my family, my social circle and other general acquaintances I interact with, probably suffer from [at the very least] mild depression/anxiety – whether they care to admit it or not.

I’m not a psychologist or a doctor. My observations are based on having the ability to feel the emotions of others around me (#psychiclife, aha) and my own personal experience with ‘the black dog’ aka depression. I was in a dark place and the pills I ritualistically swallowed everyday for approximately a year did work at first to numb the pain of my own thoughts. But one day I decided that I didn’t want to take these pills anymore.  They are addictive for your body, I’d have to stop taking them when I wanted to have children and being on them long term (for the rest of my life?) no longer seemed to be the right choice.

So, I’m not on my pills anymore and I am not depressed anymore either 🙂 I am happy.

Is it a miracle of modern medicine? No. Was I ‘cured’ of my depression by the antidepressants? No, definitely not.

My savior was learning to be MINDFUL.

What is being ‘mindful’?

I define it as the process of being aware of every thought that comes into your head and recognizing which thoughts serve you and which ones belong in the bin. It takes practice, I won’t lie. But when you get the hang of it, your ego is much easier to keep in check. That’s the name of the little negative voice in your head that makes you feel bad about yourself – your ego. It will tell you that you aren’t good, smart or pretty enough. It will tell you that no one cares about you or that you don’t care about yourself. It’s your inner voice when it’s being cruel to you.

One of my closest girlfriends introduced me to the work of Byron Katie. I’m telling you, this woman is a genius. She developed the strategy of ‘inquiry’ which she refers to as ‘The Work’. Her philosophy is simple – when you believe your thoughts to be true you are UNHAPPY. When you question your thoughts, you aren’t.

When you believe the negative thoughts that come into your mind, you think that the world is making you unhappy. But it’s actually your thoughts about the world that are making you unhappy. So you have to question these thoughts and reprogram your thinking.

Here’s Byron Katie on YouTube:

This is just a random clip I have selected that will give you the gist of what Byron Katie’s ‘work’ is all about. I found that the direct way that she approaches mindfulness and confronts negative thinking resonated with me. I like simple processes over in depth psychology when it comes to helping myself.

The reason why positive thinking is mandatory for a balanced, happy life is that your thoughts (and your words) manifest your reality.  I don’t believe that you have to be happy 100% of the time, but when you’re unhappy you need to examine the way you are thinking and decide whether you’re truly focusing on reality, or the narrative you’ve constructed in your head.

Everything that you have in your life first began with a thought – whether it be your thoughts, or the thoughts of others. Thoughts are powerful and how you express these thoughts to yourself and others can be the difference between exceeding your expectations or destroying them.

Be kind to yourself, love yourself and the universe will show you love and kindness in return.

Peace out.