At support meeting this week we had quite a discussion about killing the ANTS. I'm talking about Automatic Negative Thoughts. It's amazing how many times our minds will take us to our least happy places - how the traffic is constantly terrible, our boss is completely unfair, we will always be unorganized, unhappy, underpaid, unappreciated. Every ANT in my mind represents a well- worn neural pathway, an expressway of nerves that automatically trigger when my life situation is stressful. Giving constant attention to these negative thoughts is the definition of depression.
It takes real effort to kill the ANTS. I must create a new neural pathway and then correct my thinking in that direction regularly until that becomes the new habit. My friends at Support had many suggestions that work for them - breaking stressful tasks into small manageable bites, giving yourself rewards for small successes, keeping a gratitude journal. I found this last one most intriguing, as it's almost impossible to be grateful and negative at the same time. I will try to remember all the things that are going right - the beating of my heart, the wonder of the sunset, chocolate! They always outnumber the ANTS.
More on depression and positive thinking here.
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