Become an ANT-eater

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make the world.

       – Buddha

The average person has an estimated 70,000 thoughts a day. Unfortunately, the majority of our thoughts are negative. And most are automatic – they just pop into our minds 🧠 because we habitually think that way. Over and over again. These automatic negative thoughts (ANTs 🐜 ) can adversely impact our behavior and feelings of self-worth.

 Why do we have so many ANTs?

How can we respond to them wisely?

ANTs 🐜  have good intentions, but they can be counterproductive:

1. Our ancestors survived by scanning the environment for threats, solving problems, and learning from mistakes. To avoid danger, they learned to anticipate, to look for subtle clues before it was too late! Thus, over millions of years of evolution, we’ve developed our imagination to envision potential threats before they become an actual problem. This ability to anticipate potential problems and prevent them is one reason why humans have been so successful.

2. But once we start having these negative thoughts (anticipating a threat when it doesn’t yet exist), it can become a habit. We create a neural pathway. Over time, we begin to anticipate all sorts of threats and turn our minds into automatic negative thought generators. We jump to conclusions without critically evaluating whether our initial thinking is true.

3. None of us know what the future might bring, so planning and anticipating what might happen is constructive. But fear of the unknown can lead to “catastrophizing,” whereby we predict a sequence of events that eventually lead to total failure and disaster. Thus, we fail to take productive action because we believe the worst is destined to happen.

4. Some anxiety can motivate us to action. For example, you might be worried about what your boss and other people think about your performance, and this motivates you to do a good job at work. However, excessive negative thoughts can lead to imagining the worst-case scenario: that no one in the office likes you and the boss is going to fire you. Your thoughts aren’t grounded in reality, and your behavior can become counterproductive.

5. Learning from our mistakes is a good thing. But negative thinkers tend to dwell on their mistakes and avoid taking any risks for fear they will make mistakes again.

So our minds generate a lot of negative thoughts for a good reason — to keep us safe and motivate us to take productive action. However, if we let our ANTs go unchallenged, they can erode our sense of wellbeing and happiness. So we need to critically examine and counteract them! Noticing your 🐜 ANTS and using simple strategies to challenge and control them is worth the effort!

In his book, Just One Thing, Rick Hanson writes:

There’s a traditional saying that the mind takes the shape it rests upon; the modern update is that the brain takes the shape the mind rests upon. For instance, if you regularly rest your mind upon worries, self criticism, and anger, then your brain will gradually take that shape – will develop neural structures and dynamics of anxiety, low sense of worth, and prickly reactivity to others. On the other hand, if you regularly rest your mind upon, for example noticing you’re all right right now, seeing the good in yourself and letting go … then your brain will gradually take the shape of calm strength, self confidence, and inner peace.

Take a few minutes to complete the 5 Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (click on this link to download) to determine your mindset when faced with difficult feelings and emotions. Ruth Baer, a professor and mindfulness researcher based at the Kentucky University, developed this scale along with her team, to measure the factors that help us become more aware of our thoughts.

Watch out for these ANTs 🐜 !

So, what are the most common ANT thinking patterns we have? Here are several ways of thinking that you may be prone to:

Steps to Exterminating ANTs

Consider writing a list of your ANTs. For example, “I always screw things up” or “I always put things off” or “I’m no good at ______.” Then, look at your ANTs and ask these key questions.

1. Is this thought true? What facts support the thought? What facts contradict the thought? Is this thought based on evidence or opinion?
2. Does having this thought serve you?
3. How does the thought make you feel? Sad? Ashamed? Remorse? Guilt?
4. How would you feel and what would you do if that thought wasn’t there? What advice would you give to a friend who had this thought?

Consider taking this further using a cognitive restructuring technique to sort through your ANTs. Download this Cognitive Restructuring Worksheet from PositivePsychology.com.

Turning Off the Flow of Negative Mental Chatter

Identify the cue and triggers – person, place, emotions, object (write them down). Figure out the habit loop or ANT so you can interrupt it. Is there a healthier mindset that you can adopt?

Consider these prompts:

My belief is not completely true because:

An alternative, more accurate way of seeing this is:

The most likely outcome will be:

I can take the following actions to handle it:

Even if the worst-case scenario happened, I’d still be ok, because:

What actions should I take now?

Take a mental note of your responses and linger when you start feeling good and more confident. Once you begin to identify your ANTs, you will begin to see other ways to view the situation.

Other ANT Eating Strategies

Keep a reflective journal to help sort through your thoughts and reveal patterns of thinking. Note situations or people who trigger your ANTs. You may see themes emerge.

Stand up to your inner critic. How would you respond to a friend or acquaintance who spoke harshly to you? Hopefully, you’d stand up for yourself! Or perhaps you’d decide it’s not worth the confrontation, and you’d ignore them! Your inner critic isn’t worth paying attention to. Remember, your inner critic can’t make you feel bad without your permission.

View your negative thoughts as boring. Pretend you’re hearing the same story over and over and over again. Say to yourself, “there’s that same old thought again!” Roll your eyes, and say, “this is boring!” Not every thought we have is important. We can simply let them go.

Turn ANTS into pets. Prime your brain for positivity. We can reframe negative thoughts into positive empowering thoughts (PETS) that are more up-lifting. If you want to change your self-talk, change your visual and auditory inputs. Surround yourself with positive messages or a daily mantra. The next time you catch yourself saying “I can’t” or “I shouldn’t,” swap out that statement for a more positive phrase that focuses on the benefits and your values.

Take time to meditate. Meditation can quiet your mind, and you can learn to master negative thought patterns. Most of us are not consciously aware of our self-talk and the emotions that flow from it. Meditation and other mindfulness activities encourage a flexible awareness of our current experiences (inner and external) without judgments, evaluations, or self-critical comparisons. While practicing meditation, one learns to notice thoughts and let them pass by with no emotional investment. Similar results can be seen with mind-body exercises like yoga, tai chi, or qi gong.

Attitude of gratitude. It is hard to feel overwhelmed with negative thoughts while feeling gratitude. Being grateful boosts good brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. It also promotes emotional resilience.

 As you sow in your subconscious mind, so shall you reap in your body and environment.

    -Joseph Murphy

Change Your Thoughts and You’ll Change Your Life

Our thoughts are powerful. What we say to ourselves can influence not just our image of ourselves but also the quality of our relationships and our lives. Stress is not the result of adverse external events but rather our adverse thoughts, predictions, and interpretations of external events. Resilient thinking starts with learning to separate our thoughts from the emotional and behavioral consequences of those thoughts. Once you reprogram your mind to exterminate the ANTS and instead feed your mind with words of empowerment, you will experience less stress and worry … and more happiness and joy.

If you want to learn more about meditation and gratitude, check out previous Wellbeing Elixir articles and this yoga flow on gratitude.

Cheers-

      Seena