What I propose here is that you use your non-dominant handle to write down the habitual negative thought. Journaling has long been put forward as a way to handle depression and anxiety, and it works. 2. Write it Down with Your Non-Dominant Hand In the same way, great comedians can make us realize how ridiculous a certain behavior, idea or action is, turning our negative thoughts into caricatures can make us see in the light of day how absurd they really are. Nobody likes to be associated with the butt of a joke, so when we ridicule a negative thought, we automatically distance ourselves from it. Start with a cartoon character, like Mickey Mouse, or even put it in the voice of someone you find a little annoying. If you want to stop buying into whatever a negative thought is telling you, try to repeat it five to ten times in a silly voice. Here are 6 tactics proposed by cognitive behavioral therapists, Buddhist teachers, coaches and neuro-linguistic programming practitioners, which help us to neutralize the impact of negative self-talk and in the long term, stop them for good. To kill negative self-talk in its tracks we have to neutralize it. Self-talk, in particular, is one of the most influential patterns of thought on our behavior, and negative self-talk is a covert killer of dreams. Whether they come in the form of sounds, images, or even our own self-talk, we need to master how we respond to them to master our lives. So what we need to do is distance ourselves from them. The problem with ANTS is that we identify with them. Our brain is smart (imagine that), it recognizes this behavior as incongruent with our feelings, and it can actually make things worse. But while positive thinking has its place, this isn’t the best way to overcome ANTS. Popular books and self-help gurus often teach us to overpower negative thoughts with positive ones. Unfortunately, the whole “positive thinking” movement has distorted how we are supposed to handle negative thoughts. These ANTS plague most of us - at least from time to time - but what we really need to watch out for are infestations - when these thoughts become so frequent that they overwhelm us. Daniel Amen has labeled these thoughts ANTS (automatic negative thoughts). New York Times bestselling author and psychiatrist Dr. If they’re negative, however, they can be a massive source of anxiety, holding us back and stifling us for days, months, sometimes even years. If they’re positive and uplifting, they can give us momentum and resilience pushing us towards our goals. We give our thoughts far more credit than they deserve.Īnd because of this, they often determine in large part, our long-term successes.
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