When was the last time you checked the ANT’s running through your head? Yes, we all have them, some have more than others. ANT’s are automatic negative thoughts. They’re images or mental activities that happen unconsciously. This can occur as a response or trigger to an event, action or thought and can actually affect your mood and feelings, but one of the biggest effects it can have is causing chronic stress which can lead to long term changes in the structure and function of the brain (a fact from the researchers from the University of California-Berkeley) which in turn can have a major impact on your health.
Do you want to know how you got these little ANT’s in your head?
You had a thought about it, someone said it to you or head it. We have about 60,000 thoughts per day and 90% of our thoughts are repetitive, this means you keep telling yourself the same thing over and over every day until it became a sort of default to you and now you say it or think it without question. Some of these thoughts can really keep us stuck and limit our growth in areas of our lives, I’ll give you a few examples:
I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul
I just can’t make ends meet
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Good things don’t happen to me
I’m going to die from something so I may as well enjoy my life now
It’s hard for me to lose weight
When I get a new promotion or a new job I will be happy then
I love desserts, I can’t stop eating sweets
Diabetes and high blood pressure runs in my family, so it’s just a matter of time
It hard to find a good single man/woman out here, they’re all taken
I am too old to change my ways
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
I know what I need to do, I’m just not doing it because….
All of these are negative thoughts that we have that limit you and allow you to procrastinate, and all of the above are false! Ask yourself what have you been telling yourself and how could it be hindering your health and success?