Palest Ink

I have been listening to an audio book at work (something I do frequently) about the brain. One of the chapters I heard today talked about how you could see the physical effect of negative/positive thinking on the brain in spect scans, and later outlined different types of ANT’s (automatic negative thoughts) to look out for and correct.
Generally, I consider myself to be a pretty positive person. I have been somewhat aware of the need to not allow these ANT’s to sabotage my life, and thought I was doing fairly well. However, when the book when into the specific types of negative thoughts, I realized I had very few of these categories under control after all. Funny how sometimes looking at specifics sometimes seems entirely different than viewing a topic as a whole.
Anyhow, I am renewing my commitment to be aware of these and to refute them whenever they come up. Having a concrete exercise to focus on makes my problems (in this case, one of feeling more insecure, inadequate) seem less overwhelming, and it will likely do me a lot of good.
In case anyone is curious, the 9 types are:
1) “Always” or “Never” statements: like “He never listens to me..”
2) Focusing only on negative: like when you receive 12 compliments and fixate on the 1 person who is not impressed
3) Fortune Telling: Assuming that you know in advance that something is going to turn out badly
4) Mind Reading: Assuming you know what he/she is thinking, and that it is bad.
5) Thinking with your feelings: like assuming that you’re not loved just because you feel unloved in the moment.
6) Guilt Beatings: saying “I should be doing this..” or “I need to do that” instead if “I would like this” or “I’d enjoy that”
7) Labeling: like “I am stupid” instead of “I occasionally do something stupid”
Personalizing: like when you assume your boss is in a bad mood because she is mad at you, rather than any other number of possible reasons.
9) Blaming: Pretty obvious, “it is all your/his/her fault I am in this situation”

So yeah, that’s a lot to work on. I plan on writing and rebuffing these statements as they crop up, and will report my progress once I have some.

By the way, the book I am referencing is Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Daniel G. Amen

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