How to Stop Automatic Negative Thinking
Do you ever wonder what goes on in your body and mind during an anxiety or panic attack? Well, it starts with a thought. People with anxiety are some of the most intelligent people; however, the issue is they think deeply about every situation. They dissect every thought, and their imagination takes over, and before they know it, they are playing the scariest movie in their heads, and unknowingly the fight or flight response is triggered in their bodies.
The fight or flight response is built into the human body as a safety mechanism that protects us from danger, but because most of the time, the danger is imaginary during an anxiety attack, the protective mechanism doesn't know the difference between an actual or perceived danger.
The protective mechanism starts to sound the alarms in the body by releasing chemicals like cortisol and adrenalin. The chemicals then cause the thumping and racing heart (you are not having a heart attack; however, you should visit the doctor for peace of mind), sweating, fearful thoughts, and feelings of wanting to run away physically.
The physical reactions from having an anxiety attack are all caused by a thought that triggered the fight or flight response. The fearful thinking then evolves into a spiral of many fears. After experiencing a wormhole of fearful thoughts and feelings, a new scary thought starts "What was that? What if it happens again?" At this time, fear consumes the body and mind, ultimately fearing the fearful feelings you experience. The incident now causes obsessive thinking about fearing those fearful feelings. It then becomes a circle of fears.
Reflect on the beginning of the article, and you will realize it all started with a thought that triggered fear in you. You became fearful of your feelings which initially started with a single thought. Do you see how the beginning of the circle of anxiety starts? By now, you are adding yet another fear to your already fear-filled head, and eventually, the body automatically starts reacting with physical symptoms. As the circle of fear increases, the more symptoms you will feel.
Now you know that anxiety starts with thoughts of a situation, an experience, or anticipation of an event. The million-dollar question is; how can you change your thought pattern to one that plays a more peaceful movie in your mind instead of a horror movie? Changing your thoughts can be an easy process. Yes, EASY! Have you heard someone say, "I changed my mind"? Yes, you can change your mind too! Negative thinking is simply a bad habit and behavior that can be changed.
People typically wake up with Automatic Negative Thinking (ANT) every day and without even realizing they have hundreds of ANT daily. Over time, ANT puts stress on the mind and body; before you know it, your protective mechanism is suddenly firing off. The physical symptoms of racing heart, breathlessness, faintness, dizziness, lightheadedness, and fearfulness all flood your body because of ANT.
How to Change your Thinking? FEED the ANT-eater!
You have to catch the ANT and feed it to the ANT-eater. That means replacing the ANT with a positive thought. The positive thought is your ANT-eater. For example, you have a job interview and are not confident you will get the job! What if they don't like you, or what if you mess up in the interview? The ANT is taking you into a wormhole of fearful thinking and "what if's" thoughts. How do you feed the ANT? You have to CHANGE YOUR THINKING with positive thoughts. For example, you are nervous about the job interview! Oh well, that is normal; everyone gets nervous in interviews. Remind yourself that you have the experience the company is looking for and the company is interested in your skills and abilities. All you have to do is sell your great qualities and work experiences, and you will be fine. See how you fed the ANT by changing your mindset about the situation.
Changing your mindset takes practice, but by feeding the ANT, you will be retraining the brain to minimize situations to a less stressful way of feeling. The brain will start to develop paths to accommodate new ways of thinking, and soon you will find that you are less stressed because of your new mindset. "As a man thinks, so he is." James Allen.