Do you often find yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself? If so, you are not alone. Automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) are very common and can be difficult to overcome. However, with a little bit of effort, you can learn how to stop negative thinking and start living a happier life. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips that can help you overcome automatic negative thoughts.
What exactly are Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs)
ANTs are simply negative thoughts that pop into your head automatically, without you even thinking about them. They can be about yourself, other people, or the world in general. For example, you may have an automatic negative thought whenever you make a mistake or someone criticizes you.
These thoughts can be very harmful because they can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Additionally, they can prevent you from taking action or achieving your goals.
Fortunately, there are things that you can do to stop these negative thoughts from taking over your life.
Why do we have Automatic Negative Thoughts?
There are a number of reasons why we may have automatic negative thoughts. For some people, it may be due to past experiences or traumas. Others may have learned negative thinking patterns from their family or friends. Additionally, some people may be more prone to automatic negative thoughts due to genetic factors.
Whatever the reason for your automatic negative thoughts, it is important to remember that you can overcome them. With the tips below, you can learn how to stop negative thinking and start living a happier life.
How to overcome Automatic Negative Thoughts
1. How to identify ANTs
The first step to overcoming automatic negative thoughts is to become aware of them. This can be difficult because, as the name suggests, they are automatic. They happen without you even thinking about them.
One way to become more aware of your ANTs is to keep a thought journal. For one week, write down every negative thought that you have. Be sure to include the date, time, and situation in which the thought occurred. This will help make you more mindful of how you are feeling at times during the day. Try to also identify what may have triggered the thought if you can.
After one week, take a look at your journal and see if there are any patterns. Are there certain situations or triggers that lead to negative thoughts? Once you become aware of your ANTs, you can start to work on changing them.
Another way to overcome ANTs is to practice mindfulness. This involves being present in the moment and aware of your thoughts and feelings without judging them. Mindfulness can help you become more aware of your automatic negative thoughts so that you can start to change them. Additionally, it can help you learn to accept yourself as you are.
2. Start trying to replace ANTs
Since ANTs are as the name says “automatic,” we can’t just stop them easily. Once you have started to identify them, then it is time to try and respond to these thoughts in a better way. One way to do this is to come up with a list of positive affirmations. These are statements that you can say to yourself whenever you have a negative thought. For example, if you have the negative thought “I am not good enough,” you could replace it with the affirmation “I am doing my best.”
It is important to find affirmations that work for you and that you can believe. If you don’t believe the affirmation, then it won’t be effective. Additionally, it may help to write down your affirmations or say them out loud to yourself. Repeating them multiple times will also increase their effectiveness.
3. Be more Socratic about your ANTs
You can also try to challenge your ANTs using Socratic Dialogue. Socratic dialogue is a method of inquiry and discussion between two or more people that is based on the questioning of assumptions. The goal of a Socratic dialogue is to stimulate critical thinking and see things from different perspectives. The dialogue typically starts with someone making a statement or claim. The other participants then ask questions to explore the validity of the claim. This doesn’t mean you have to have other people you can talk with about your ANTs though. It’s more about the process of questioning and exploring assumptions that can help to uncover the source of some of your automatic negative thoughts. It will also force you to stop and attempt a more rational train of thought regarding the ANT and what caused it.
It will take time and practice
Becoming better equipped to handle your automatic negative thoughts won’t happen overnight or even over a month. This will be just like any other skill in that it will take time, ongoing effort, and plenty of patience. That last one is critical. Do not let yourself fall into the trap of your negative thoughts stirring up because you’re taking “too long” to get them under control. The whole goal is to eventually get to the point where you can have more control over your thoughts and not the other way around.
In the end, if you try as hard as you can and still cannot get a grasp on your ANTs, then you may have some deeper issues to deal with. This is where it can be useful to speak to a professional, and as with anything else you can do that easily online with BetterHelp. If you truly feel you are not making progress, sign up for BetterHelp and get matched to a licensed therapist quickly.
