Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”  While this may be oversimplified, there is some truth to it!  It is believed humans have anywhere between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day!  Many of those thousands of thoughts fall in the category of automatic negative thoughts or ANTs.  These ANTs crawl around in our minds and can make us feel pretty crummy.

One way to stomp out ANTS is to start recognizing they are there!  ANTS tend to fall into 4 categories:

The perfectionist

The perfectionist is never satisfied and always expects more.  This is the voice that tells you you’re no good when you get second place instead of first or you got a 95% instead of 100%.  The perfectionist results in burnout and chronic stress.  The perfectionist will steal your happiness despite your achievements.

The worrier

Do you think, “What if something bad happens?”  Worrying promotes anxiety and magnifies problems.  If you’re preparing for the bad things that “could” happen, it makes it difficult to have joy in the present moment.  The truth is most of what we worry about never comes to be!

The critic

The critic tells us we will never be as good as someone else.  When we judge and criticize ourselves, it leads to low self-worth and ignoring the positive traits we do have.  Comparing ourselves to others leads to feeling inadequate and inferior.

The victim

When you encounter an obstacle, you may believe it seems too difficult to work through.  Being a victim occurs when we feel helpless and out of control about something. It’s easy to tell ourselves, “I can’t do this!”  Playing the victim leads to feelings of depression:  feeling hopeless and unable to create a change.

So what can you do about these ANTs?  Extermination isn’t easy, but it is possible to extinguish some of those thousands of negative thoughts.

To start, notice your ANTs and see which type of ANT tends to appear in your mind.  Are you a perfectionist, a worrier, a critic or a victim?  It’s not uncommon to be a little of each!  Next, ask yourself, is this particular thought always true?  Is there evidence to support this thought?  Then, find more realistic positive thoughts.  With a little practice, we can eliminate some of the ANTs and like Abraham Lincoln suggests, make up our mind to be happier.

Here’s to empowering change!

Ann