The quality of your thoughts also affects how your brain functions. Happy, favorable, positive thoughts improve brain function, and negative ones turn off certain nerve centers. Automatic negative thoughts can torment and torment you until you take concrete action to get rid of them.

We'll talk about the inner critic later, but for now, familiarize yourself with the concept of ants. Ant (English). - ant; For “automatic intrusive negative thoughts,” the abbreviation “ANTs” (automatic negative thoughts) is used. Or "cockroaches".

They are, as it were, the background of our thoughts. Involuntary negative thoughts come and go spontaneously, like bats flying in and out, bringing with them doubts and frustrations, we practically do not notice them in our daily lives.

For example, when you are late for the train, you think to yourself: “What a fool I am, I always do everything at the last moment,” or when in the store you try on clothes and look at yourself in the mirror: “Ugh, what a nightmare, it’s time to lose weight !

Negative intrusive automatic thoughts- this is an incessant voice that sounds in our head 24 hours a day: negative ideas, comments, negative thoughts about ourselves. They constantly drag us down, they are like footnotes that undermine our confidence and self-esteem. They are the “second wave” of thoughts that Beck noticed.

The first thing you must do is pay attention to these thoughts, learn to notice when they appear and when they leave your consciousness. Look at the picture of the glass: negative thoughts are foam on the surface. It fizzes and dissolves, revealing your thoughts or feelings that you feel at the moment.

They show the meaning we attach to what is happening around us. They also give us insight into how we perceive the world and what place we occupy in it. Automatic negative thoughts are a manifestation of what rises from the bottom of the glass, what bubbles to the surface from a deeper psychological level.

Automatic negative thoughts greatly suppress self-esteem, they are like endless nagging; Negative in nature, they will constantly make comments towards you, causing depression, giving everything you try to do or achieve a negative connotation.

Becoming aware of your negative thoughts can help you deal with your deeper emotional issues. Automatic negative thoughts weigh on you drop by drop, distorting your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Automatic intrusive negative thoughts:

they exist persistently in your mind

you just need to start noticing them;

they are aware

show how you think, they lie on the surface, this is not the subconscious;

they oppress

because they are inherently “bad”, they make you depressed and spoil your mood;

they are regulated

depend on the situation (for example, if you are walking down the street at night, you think: “I’m scared, now someone will attack me”);

they “seem to be true” - they are masks that we put on and believe them (for example: “I’m no good”, “I’m too fat in these jeans”, “I’ll never get my work done on time”, “I always choose not to”). this/wrong guy/girl”, “Nobody loves me”);

we conduct an internal dialogue with them

we can always convince ourselves of something or talk ourselves out of something: we put on masks and believe them;

they are constant, especially if your problems have long been embedded in your life, for example, if you have depression. Your NNMs constantly convince you that you are worthless, that no one loves you, that you are worthless, that you are helpless and alone.

Did you know that when a thought occurs, the brain releases chemicals? This is amazing. The thought came, substances were released, electrical signals ran through the brain, and you realized what you were thinking. In this sense, thoughts are material and have a direct impact on feelings and behavior.

Anger, dissatisfaction, sadness or frustration release negative chemicals that activate the limbic system and reduce physical well-being. Remember how you felt the last time you were angry? Most people's muscles tense, their heart beats faster, and their hands begin to sweat.

The body reacts to every negative thought. Mark George, MD, proved this with an elegant brain study at the National Institute of Mental Health. He examined 10 women on a tomograph and asked them to alternately think about something neutral, something happy and something sad.

During neutral reflections, nothing changed in the functioning of the brain. Joyful thoughts were accompanied by a calming of the limbic system. When they had sad thoughts, the subjects' limbic system became highly active. This is compelling proof that your thoughts matter.

Every time you think about something positive, joyful, pleasant and kind, you contribute to the release of neurotransmitters in the brain that calm the limbic system and improve physical well-being. Remember how you felt when you were happy. Most people relax, their heart rate slows down, and their hands remain dry. They breathe deeper and calmer. That is, the body also reacts to good thoughts.

What is the limbic system? This is the most ancient section of the brain, which is located in its very depths, more precisely in the center to the bottom. What is she responsible for:

sets emotional tone

filters external and internal experience (distinguishes between what we ourselves thought and what is actually happening)

designates internal events as important

stores emotional memory

modulates motivation (what we want and do what is required of us)

controls appetite and sleep cycle

makes emotional connections with other people.

processes odors

regulates libido

If you worry every day, namely, deliberately think about what bad things can happen to you and your family in the future, and at the same time you have a heredity of anxiety disorders and even have an adverse childhood experience, then it is likely that your limbic system is very active condition.

It’s quite interesting that the limbic system is stronger than the cortex, including the frontal cortex, which is aware and controls everything. So if a charge of activity hits from the limbic, the cortex cannot always cope. Moreover, the main blow does not hit the bark directly, but in a roundabout way. The impulse is sent to the hypothalamus, and it instructs the pituitary gland to release hormones. And the hormones themselves trigger this or that behavior.

When the limbic is calm (low-active mode), we experience positive emotions, have hopes, feel included in society and loved. We sleep well and have a normal appetite. When she is overexcited, the emotions are generally negative. The limbic system is responsible for translating feelings into a physical state of relaxation and tension. If a person has not done what he was asked to do, his body will remain relaxed.

I explain that bad thoughts are like an infestation of ants in your head. If you are sad, melancholy and anxious, then you are attacked by automatic negative thoughts - “ants”. This means you need to call on the big, strong inner anteater to get rid of them. Children love this metaphor.

Every time you notice “ants” in your head, crush them before they have time to ruin your relationship and undermine your self-esteem.

One way to deal with such “ants” is to write them down on a piece of paper and discuss them. You should not accept every thought that comes to your consciousness as the ultimate truth. You need to decide which “ants” are visiting you and deal with them before they take away your power. I have identified 9 types of “ants” (automatic negative thoughts) that show situations worse than they really are. By identifying the type of ant, you will gain power over it. I classify some of these “ants” as red, that is, especially harmful.

9 Types of Automatic Negative Thoughts

1. Generalization: accompanied by the words “always”, “never”, “nobody”, “every”, “every time”, “everyone”.

2. Focus on the negative: noticing only the bad moments in each situation.

3. Prediction: In everything, only a negative outcome is seen.

4. Mind Reading: the confidence that you know what the other person is thinking, even when he hasn't said it.

5. Mixing thoughts with feelings: in Believe in negative feelings without a doubt.

6. Guilt Punishment: accompanied by the ideas “must”, “obliged”, “necessary”.

7. Labeling: assigning negative labels to oneself or others.

8. Personalization: taking any neutral events personally.

9. Accusations: the tendency to blame others for one's troubles.

Negative Thought Type 1: GENERALIZING

These “ants” come crawling when you use words like “always”, “never”, “constantly”, “every”. For example, if someone in church annoys you, you will think to yourself, “People in church are always picking on me” or “Only hypocrites go to church.”

Although these thoughts are obviously wrong, they have incredible power, for example, they can scare you away from church forever. Negative thoughts with generalizations are almost always wrong.

Here’s another example: if a child doesn’t listen, an “ant” may crawl into his head: “He always doesn’t listen to me and doesn’t do what I ask,” although most of the time the child behaves quite obediently. However, the very thought “He always disobeys me” is so negative that it makes you angry and upset, activates the limbic system and leads to a negative reaction.

Here are more examples of “ant” generalizations:

• “She’s always gossiping”;
• “At work, no one cares about me”;
• “You never listen to me”;
• “Everyone is trying to take advantage of me”;
• “I get interrupted all the time”;
• “I never get a chance to rest.”

Type 2 of negative thoughts: EMPHASIS ON NEGATIVITY

In this case, you see only the negative aspect of the situation, although there are positive sides to almost everything. These “ants” detract from positive experiences, good relationships, and work interactions. For example, you want to help your neighbor. You have the ability to do this, and you know what needs to be done.

But, as you are about to offer help, you suddenly remember how your neighbor once offended you. And although at other times you communicated with him in a friendly manner, your thoughts begin to revolve around the unpleasant incident. Negative thoughts discourage the desire to help someone. Or imagine you're on a great date. Everything is going well, the girl is beautiful, smart, good, but she was 10 minutes late.

If you focus on her being late, you could ruin a potentially wonderful relationship. Or you came to a new church or synagogue for the first time. This is a very important experience. But someone noisy distracts you from the service. If you focus on the interference, the impressions will be spoiled.

Type 3 of negative thoughts: BAD PREDICTIONS

These “ants” crawl when we foresee something bad in the future. “Ants” predictors suffer from anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Predicting the worst causes an immediate increase in heart rate and breathing. I call these expectations red “ants” because by anticipating negativity, you are causing it. For example, you think it's going to be a bad day at work.

The first hint of failure strengthens this belief, and for the rest of the day you are depressed. Negative predictions disturb peace of mind. Of course, you should plan and prepare for different scenarios, but you can’t focus only on the negative.

Type of negative thoughts 4: IMAGINAL READING OF OTHER THOUGHTS

This is when you feel like you know other people's thoughts even though they haven't told you about them. This is a common cause of conflict between people.

Here are examples of such automatic negative thoughts:

• “He doesn’t like me...”;
• “They talked about me”;
• “They think I’m good for nothing”;
• “He was angry with me.”

I explain to patients that if someone looks at them darkly, then perhaps that person is just experiencing stomach pain. You cannot know his true thoughts. Even in a close relationship, you will not be able to read your partner's thoughts. When in doubt, speak frankly and refrain from biased mind reading. These “ants” are contagious and sow hostility.

Negative Thought Type 5: MIXING THOUGHTS WITH FEELINGS

These “ants” arise when you begin to trust your feelings without doubt. Feelings are very complex and are usually based on memories from the past. However, they often lie. Feelings are not necessarily true, they are just feelings. But many people believe that their emotions always tell the truth.

The appearance of such “ants” is usually marked by the phrase: “I feel that...”. For example: “I feel like you don’t love me,” “I feel stupid,” “I feel like a failure,” “I feel like no one believes in me.” When you start to “feel” something, double-check whether you have evidence? Are there true reasons for such emotions?

Negative Thought Type 6: PUNISHMENT WITH GUILT

Excessive guilt is rarely a healthy emotion, especially for the deep limbic system. It usually causes you to make mistakes. Punishment with guilt occurs when the words “must”, “must”, “should”, “necessary” pop up in the head.

Here are some examples:

• “I need to spend more time at home”; “I should communicate more with children”; “You need to have sex more often”; “My office should be organized.”

The feeling of guilt is often exploited by religious organizations: live this way, otherwise something terrible will happen to you. Unfortunately, when people think they have to do something (no matter what), they don't want to do it. Therefore, all typical phrases that appeal to feelings of guilt should be replaced with: “I want to do this and that. This aligns with my life goals."

For example:

• “I want to spend more time at home”;
• “I want to communicate more with children”;
• “I want to please my husband by improving our love life.”
• life, because it’s important to me”;
• “I intend to organize life in my office.”

Of course, there are things you shouldn't do, but feeling guilty isn't always productive.

Negative Thought Type 7: LABELING

Every time you put a negative label on yourself or someone else, you prevent yourself from seeing the situation clearly. Negative labels are very damaging because by calling someone a jerk, uncommitted, irresponsible, or opinionated, you equate them with every jerk and irresponsible person you've ever met, and you lose the ability to communicate productively with them.

Negative Thought Type 8: PERSONALIZATION

These “ants” force you to take any innocent event personally. “The boss didn’t talk to me this morning, he’s probably angry.” Sometimes it seems to a person that he is responsible for all the troubles. “My son was in a car accident, I should have spent more time teaching him how to drive, it’s my fault.” There are many explanations for any trouble, but the overactive limbic system chooses only those that concern you. The boss may not talk because he is busy, upset, or in a hurry. You are not free to know why people do what they do. Don't try to take their behavior personally.

Type 9 of negative thoughts (the most poisonous red “ants”!): ACCUSATIONS

Blaming is very harmful because by blaming someone else for your problems, you become a victim and are unable to do anything to change the situation. A huge number of personal relationships collapsed because people blamed their partners for all the troubles and did not take responsibility for themselves. If something went wrong at home or at work, they withdrew and looked for someone to blame.

“Ant” accusations usually sound like this:

• “It’s not my fault that...”;
• “This wouldn’t have happened if you...”;
• “How could I know”;
• “It’s all your fault that...”

“Ants” - accusations always find someone to blame. Every time you blame someone for your problems, you are actually assuming that you are powerless to change anything. This attitude erodes your sense of personal strength and will. Refrain from blaming and take responsibility for your life.

In order for the brain to function properly, you need to manage your thoughts and emotions. Having noticed an “ant” crawling into your consciousness, recognize it and write down its essence. By writing down your automatic negative thoughts (ANT), you question them and reclaim the power they steal from you. Kill the internal "ants" and feed them to your "anteater".

Your thoughts are extremely important because they calm or fire up the limbic system. Leaving the “ants” unattended will infect your entire body. Challenge automatic negative thoughts every time you notice them.

Automatic negative thoughts rely on irrational logic. If you take them out into the light and look at them under a microscope, you will see how ridiculous they are and how much harm they cause. Take control of your life without leaving your fate to the will of an overactive limbic system.

Sometimes people have a hard time challenging negative thoughts because they feel like they will be deceiving themselves. But to know what is true and what is not, you need to be aware of your thoughts. Most “ants” crawl unnoticed; they are chosen not by you, but by your poorly tuned brain. To find the truth, you need to doubt.

I often ask patients about automatic negative thoughts: are there many of them or few? To keep your limbic system healthy, you need to keep the ants under control.

What to do?

0. Develop awareness. Developed awareness is the best way to treat and prevent negative thoughts.

1. Monitoring negative thoughts. Learn to see them. Negative thoughts are part of a vicious circle. The limbic gives a signal - it causes bad thoughts - bad thoughts cause activation of the amygdala (the main guard of the brain) - the amygdala partially releases the excitation to the limbic - the limbic is even more activated.

2. See them as just thoughts - unreal formations. Don't give them any importance. They should not be actively pushed out either. Feed your anteater. Maintain the habit of identifying negative thoughts and reconsidering them. Praise yourself for this in every possible way.

3. Have doubts. Sometimes people have a hard time challenging negative thoughts because they feel like they will be deceiving themselves. But to know what is true and what is not, you need to be aware of your thoughts. Most “ants” crawl unnoticed; they are chosen not by you, but by your poorly tuned brain. To find the truth, you need to doubt. I often ask patients about automatic negative thoughts: are there many of them or few? To keep your limbic system healthy, you need to keep the ants under control.

4. Seek external confirmation. Attract more people who give you positive feedback. Good connections calm the limbic system, which also creates a feeling of gratitude. Focus on the positive, designate it. Positive thoughts are not only good for you personally, they also help your brain function better. Every day, write down five things you are grateful for that day.

5. Teach people around you to build strong emotional connections with you.(express your feelings, show the importance of the people around you, refresh relationships, strengthen intimacy, etc.). Reduce stress levels with the power of oxytocin. I will write more about this.

6. Act in spite of fear.

Can Positive Behavior Change the Brain? Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, assessed the relationship between brain function and behavior in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD were randomly divided into two groups. One was treated with drugs and the other with behavioral therapy.

The researchers performed PET imaging (similar to SPECT) before and after therapy. The drug group, which was treated with an antidepressant, showed calming activity in the basal ganglia, which is implicated in dwelling on negativity. The behavioral therapy group showed the same results.

Behavioral therapy involved placing patients in a stressful situation and demonstrating that nothing bad was happening to them. This therapy aims to reduce sensitivity to feared objects and situations.

This might interest you:

10 Beliefs About Diseases You Should Ignore

For example, people who had an obsessive fear of “dirt”, seeing it everywhere, were asked to touch a potentially “dirty” object (say, a table) and, with the help of a therapist, refrain from immediately washing their hands.

Gradually people moved on to more and more “scary” objects. Eventually their fears diminished and disappeared completely. Behavioral therapy also included other techniques: eliminating obsessive thoughts (people were asked to stop thinking about bad things), distraction (advice to switch to something else). published

There are no limits to human capabilities, comics teach us. What kind of superheroes their authors have not come up with! My favorites are Squirrel Girl and Door Man. The first one wears a tail and controls red rodents, the second one can teleport... to the next room. Probably, these two heroes were the last to arrive at the superpower store on the day of the total sale. But they were still lucky. You could, for example, learn to read minds. And this is much worse than a horde of rabid squirrels! At least they can be occupied with nuts.

Don't even think about it!

Previously, on dates, I made the same mistake - during a pause in the conversation, I asked the man a question: “What are you thinking about?” Here I must immediately clarify that I have a round, open face and the attentive gaze of a person who often does interviews, so many times in a row I ran into honesty and received the following answers: “About how to say ‘plunger’ in English.” Shit-chpoker?"
"About whether women epilate their nose hair." “About why my wife bought a three-meter pillow.” I was not offended and did not teleport anywhere. Happens. I have a lot of different thoughts in my head. Some are stupid, some are difficult, and some are downright scary. So scary that you drive them away, and then you sit and tremble, afraid that they will return. These thoughts cannot be shared - with anyone, ever. And I was thinking about not submitting this article or asking the editor to draw some places in it in black, like in secret documents.
For example, when I was five years old, I wanted to sell my sister J. into slavery: I heard on TV that this happens and that they give money for it, and then I wanted a new Barbie with bendable legs.

“Can you imagine, I thought about exchanging you for a doll,” I apologized to Sister J. “Aren’t you offended?”
- Not at all. “I actually wanted to kill you,” J. answered cheerfully. “I would have had my parents alone.” I dreamed that you would step on a manhole cover and fall into the abyss.

The evening of family memories took the form of a bloody confession.

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“And as a child, I imagined that hooligans would attack my dad in the gateway and kill him, but everyone pitied us, and we walked around with sorrowful faces.”
“And I recently re-read The Speckled Ribbon and thought about releasing snakes into the ventilation so that they could bite the neighbors who were disturbed by the clattering of the keys of my laptop.”
“And in the early stages of pregnancy, I was frightened by the scale of the event and secretly hoped for a miscarriage.
“And literally a week ago I was visiting my mother and thinking: it’s a nice apartment, I’ll get it...

J. and I took a breath. Wow, cute horror girls!

- Why do we have so much horror? Okay in childhood, but now? — I asked for some reason in a whisper.
“I think these are tricks of the brain,” J. answered calmly. “It tells us the simplest ways to get what we want.” It’s up to us to decide whether to take the advice or choose the side of good.

Magic task

I didn’t know whether to believe the man who dreamed of killing me as a child, and I decided to listen
specialist “We all sometimes have similar thoughts in our heads, even me,” my favorite consulting psychologist Nelly Yakimova tried to reassure me. “I remember the first time this happened to me: I was five years old, I broke a thermometer and learned from my grandmother that mercury is poisonous. The next day, while pouring water into a cup, I thought: “What if I add mercury balls to this, will it become poisonous?” And I imagined how I was treating my grandmother or little sister to poisonous water. Of course, I didn’t experiment with dangerous substances, but for a long time I was afraid that my thoughts would materialize, and I considered myself a bad person. This was a manifestation of childhood magical thinking. Now I am far from him and I firmly know that fantasies, even the most bloodthirsty ones, cannot harm anyone. Except perhaps for their author.” Magical thinking! Or maybe that's exactly the point
in it? That is, in our sincere conviction that our thoughts and words can influence reality and change it? After all, many of us are not ready to part with this type of thinking either at 30, or at 50, or at 101.
We are tormented by all sorts of “What if!”, we wait for punishment, we consider ourselves magicians and rulers, and our thoughts as magical and material. This means that we just have to admit that something is beyond our
competence - and you can move on with your life and think whatever your heart desires.

The shadows disappear

But where do good people get “bad” thoughts? “I tend to see in them a signal from the unconscious, from that part of it that Jung and his followers call the Shadow,” the psychologist explained. - This part of the personality, suppressed by our consciousness, hides socially disapproved qualities: greed, cowardice, cruelty, sexual promiscuity... Each person has his own list,
although aggressiveness fades into the Shadow in most women. This quality is usually sent to the “basement” in childhood, when our parents demand that we stop being angry and be obedient. Thoughts and fantasies that come straight from the unconscious frighten us because they conflict with how we see ourselves and how we position ourselves. And the more vehemently we deny the existence of our “dark side,” the more actively it invades our lives, so prohibiting ourselves from “bad” thoughts is not the best idea. The shadow will definitely find another way out, breaking through in dreams, depression, phobias, panic attacks or somatic symptoms. A smarter way to release it is to get to know it without fear and try not to perceive it as an enemy.”

So, not only are we not magicians, but we are also not perfect? Yes, this is not easy to accept. I am still afraid to go down into the basements of consciousness alone, without support. That’s why I started small - I honestly admitted that I have negative qualities. For example, I'm a bit greedy. I panic easily. I hope for a miracle where it would be worth pushing and working. I'm afraid of conflicts. Prone to paranoia. All this is there, but this is not all of me! Moreover, the “light” Antonina quite successfully raises the “dark” one - simply because she knows what to expect from her. It is unknown how long Antonin will survive until the finals, but so far the forecasts are optimistic. And if anything happens, we’ll involve an army of squirrels.

Text: Antonina Kozlova

A feature of our limited egoistic mind is the generation of a huge number of thoughts. Experts have calculated that between 60,000 and 100,000 different thoughts flash through our heads every day. And most of these thoughts in a modern person, as a rule, are somehow connected with the negative.

And this would not be so terrible if these negative thoughts did not affect our physical condition, did not affect our affairs, did not result in thoughtless words, and did not interfere with our productivity. But we have to pay for everything, including the negative thoughts in our heads.

And these thoughts are like a virus - they tend to multiply and multiply. And they do it pretty quickly. Before you even have time to blink an eye, the world, which was quite normal a minute ago, has turned into a dull and terrible place.

You need to clear your head of unnecessary, unnecessary and harmful thoughts to your health and well-being, but in no case should you fight them, since, according to classical Buddhist truth, everything we resist and bravely fight with only intensifies from our vain attempts.

The more you blow on the fire, the hotter it flares up.

Let's look at how you can clear your thoughts of everything unhealthy, toxic and unnecessary.

Recommendation #1. Write down your thoughts on paper – a method as simple, ancient and reliable as a Siberian felt boot. This is a kind of independent psychoanalysis. All you need is a pen, a few sheets of paper and at least 30 minutes of private time. During this time, write everything that worries you most at the moment. At the same time, your task is to write in one sitting, without interruption and without thinking about what you are writing, just a pure and uncomplicated “stream of consciousness”.

After you finish writing out all the exciting and disturbing thoughts, it is useful to analyze and rationalize them - you can learn a lot of new and interesting things about yourself and your life.

Recommendation #2. Perceive reality through sensations. In other words, make a mental leap from thinking to feeling. Feel what you think. This simple technique, when performed correctly, can work wonders. Our mind rules over thoughts, but this is no longer its diocese, this is already the level of the unconscious. And by moving to the level of feeling the situation (or problem), you take the path of resolving it at the deepest level.

Recommendation #3. Let go of the malignant thought. Imagine that you are sitting at a bus stop, see a bus passing by, and suddenly jump up and run after it, catch up and grab the bumper. The bus doesn't stop and continues to drag you along. You are dragging along the asphalt, you are in pain, you are screaming about your suffering, but for some reason you continue to cling to the bus. Maybe finally let go of the bumper? Believe me, this will make things much, much easier for you.

Recommendation #4. Break the habit of reading the news. In fact, there is no practical value in the news that is posted on the Internet or reported on TV. They are simply exploiting the ancient (“caveman”) human habit of keeping abreast of the news of their community - finding out the news, gossip and rumors in order to know what will help them survive. If today's news has anything to do with survival, it is in an exclusively negative way - those who read and listen to it have less chance of surviving. Therefore, forget about the news.

Recommendation #5. Keep Focus on the Main Goal. This is the most powerful way of all. If you know how to always and in any situation think only about your most important Goal, then you will not be afraid of any troubles or troubles, not to mention various negative thoughts. Such a Goal, being tied to 2 deep and very strong instincts, is itself a source of energy and inspiration and, like a guiding star, will guide your ship of life through curtains and storms. By the way, if you don’t have a Main Goal yet, you can find it within the program.

Recommendation #6. Do only one task at a time. The habit of “chasing 2 birds with one stone” (or even 3-4), despite the well-known proverb, continues to live indestructibly in the heads of our people. In addition to a sharp decrease in productivity, this habit also gives rise to a stream of not the best thoughts, which multiply, swarm, confuse and confuse the further and further. Try to train yourself to focus on one task at every moment of your life. And deal with it faster. And awareness will grow.

Recommendation No. 7. Substitute. If unpleasant thoughts stir in your head for one reason or another, put something directly opposite in their place. From the school physics course we know that 2 objects cannot occupy the same place in space. This is true for the mind too. You can't think two thoughts at the same time. Therefore, if you start thinking about something pleasant or interesting to you, then clear your thoughts of bad things.

Recommendation No. 8. Observation of thoughts. In essence, we are talking about a simple meditative practice - start looking at your thoughts from the outside. Or, in other words, just listen to the voice that is muttering something in your head. This voice is your limited egoistic mind. Listen to him impartially and without judgment, do not argue with him or judge him. By using this practice regularly, you will learn to enter a state of presence in the present moment.

Recommendation No. 9. Observing the space between thoughts. This practice is somewhat similar to the previous one. The difference is that you begin to monitor not your thoughts, but the silence that separates or surrounds them. It’s as if you are looking at a highway along which an endless stream of cars is rushing, but you are not watching the vehicles of various sizes quickly replacing each other, but looking at the road itself, which is unchanging and constant like the ocean. This is the Real. When you feel it, you will feel deep joy in your soul.

Recommendation #10. Change your attitude towards your mind. Think of your mind and everything that happens in it as a radio or TV that constantly mutters something while you are doing something or enjoying the current moment. If you still can’t turn off this TV, then just don’t pay attention to it. Think about what you are doing at the moment or enjoy a state of peace, or enjoy what you are doing (eating fruit, reading a book, admiring the sea, etc.). And let your mind mutter to itself.

Recommendation No. 11. Stop internal dialogue. Usually, internal dialogue is conducted between different subpersonalities, but most often it communicates with you Overseer- a special social program that makes sure that you remain an obedient slave of society and do not jerk where you shouldn’t (“the overseer” is a structure that develops in the psyche during the process of human socialization). And if subpersonalities can still be dealt with using special techniques (I use one of them in the processes

Our thoughts are ourselves. If you ask a person with which part of the body he identifies personality, most will answer that it is the head or the brain. There is no consensus on the question of what comes first - thoughts or character. That is, does a person’s character deteriorate due to negativity in his head, or does a person think about bad things because his character is bad. But we know that it is difficult for every person to cope with their nervous activity, this results in psychological problems, affects the general condition of the body and is visible to the naked eye. It is important to get rid of bad thoughts in your head before they become a serious problem.

If you give up on bad thoughts, they do not always calm down. The development of pathology can lead to mental illnesses such as:

• depression;
• persecution mania;
• panic syndrome;
• social phobia;

Of course, this is the worst case scenario. Serious consequences occur in a small percentage of cases, but it’s still too early to rejoice. All other “happy” owners of obsessive thoughts are guaranteed to receive a source of constant stress, additional stress on the nervous system, a lack of positive emotions and poisoned years of life.

Why do bad thoughts come into my head?

According to one version, bad thoughts are a symptom of a number of mental pathologies. They develop well against the background of complexes, phobias, fears, depression, after psychological trauma and in conditions of difficult relationships with others. In other words, if you have a hard time, then bad thoughts will come into your head. In this case, it is necessary to treat the source disease, for example, to fight depression.

The second option is more difficult and dangerous. The patient of a psychologist or psychiatrist has neither pathologies nor other reasons for the development of obsessive states, but the conditions still develop. It feels like the symptoms appear out of the blue. However, the absence of a disease-cause does not mean that there is no cause at all; rather, it suggests that it should not be looked for in the field of pathologies. What could it be? Your own way of thinking, habits, reactions to stimuli.

How does this happen? No life is complete without negativity, anxiety, disappointment and other powerful negative emotions. This is normal and even has some benefit, because without negative emotions a person, firstly, would lose the taste for positive ones, and secondly, would not be able to keep himself in the necessary tone.

The problem is not the presence of problems or even the number of them, but the way you choose to relate to them.

But where one person overcomes negativity and puts a “plus” in the journal of personal experience, another allows negativity to take over his thoughts. Here are a few types of people who will seem familiar to you:

1. Sufferers. They revel in suffering, love to procrastinate and count their misfortunes. They cannot drive them away for a very long time, because they themselves feed them.
2. Hypochondriacs. They see the danger of getting sick or losing their health in everything. They pay attention to every change in their condition, always perceiving it as something bad.
3. Underpants. They are afraid of everything in the world, they always exaggerate or even invent danger. Very nervous and suspicious.
4. Defeatists. Whatever a person with a loser complex undertakes, he knows in advance that he will not be able to do anything. If the outcome depends on luck, he will be unlucky. If from effort, he will not have enough strength, experience and abilities.

Many blame the peculiarities of temperament for the problems that arise due to obsessive thoughts, the inability to get rid of the negativity within oneself and learn to enjoy life. Don’t repeat this mistake: living in constant negativity and stress has nothing to do with temperament, it is an acquired mental problem.

Bad thoughts and OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious mental disorder that can lead to severe consequences. Its main forms of expression are obsessions - uncontrollable obsessive thoughts and compulsions - obsessive actions. A person becomes a hostage to the conditions imposed on him by the disease, without being able to overcome them on his own. This greatly affects all areas of life, interferes with work, becomes a hindrance in relationships, and affects family life.

The causes of OCD range from biological and hereditary to psychological, but most often occur in combination.

Normal bad thoughts are not OCD, at least as long as you manage to cope with them. But if you feel the need to perform meaningless actions, for example, constantly checking if your keys are in place, if the door is closed, if there is dust on the windowsill, if there is a smell from your clothes, etc., then it’s time to sound the alarm. The disorder may develop from a long-term anxiety state. If you let it take its course.

How to stop thinking bad thoughts

The advice you will find here is not suitable for treating OCD or other illnesses that cause negative thoughts. If your problem is medical in nature, it should be treated with complex therapy, that is, a combination of psychotherapy and medication under the watchful supervision of a doctor. If there is no serious problem yet, there is only discomfort and a desire to improve your sense of self, then these methods are for you. With them, you can stop thinking bad thoughts about yourself, prevent the development of pathologies, restore healthy well-being, reduce the degree of nervous tension and stress without medications.

Don't follow the lead

The thoughts in your head are always different. The number of negative or positive thoughts can prevail only under the influence of external or internal circumstances. For example, if there is fighting in the region where you live, it will be difficult to distract yourself from bad thoughts and fear. If you have OCD, your thoughts will also be mostly bad. The first circumstance is external, the second is internal. Under normal circumstances, you have both.

For example, imagine opening a news feed in your browser and seeing many different headlines there. Some headlines generate pure negativity: increased crime, rallies, terrorism, etc. Other headlines give reasons for optimism: economic growth, the arrival of good weather, new social benefits, etc. The content of the articles under these headings is not up to you, but you can choose what to read and what not. In one case you will be happy, in another you will ruin your mood.

Thoughts in your head appear according to the principle of news feed headlines; you can choose which thought to give importance to, what to think about. An abundance of bad thoughts indicates that you choose bad news in your feed. The best method of counteraction here is not to be led by bad headlines, no matter what they contain, no matter what techniques are used to attract your attention.

Intentionally look for the positive.

You can make an effort to intentionally add positivity to your information field and expand your choices. You know best how to do this, you know yourself better than anyone. If you have no ideas, just try something new all the time, change the environment, make friends, change your hobbies. Sport gives a lot of positive feelings, this happens at the chemical level, since the body is programmed to encourage beneficial physical activity by releasing the hormone of joy. You don't have to buy an expensive gym membership; try a simple jog in the morning or evening. All you need are running shoes and a little patience.

Another powerful source of positivity is art and creativity. The difference between these concepts is that art is accessible to you as a viewer, creativity is accessible to you as an author. These are completely different emotional states - from participation and from creation. It doesn't matter what you do, be it dancing, drawing or acting - everything is equally effective.

Calm your mind

Human consciousness is like a child forced to sit in one place. It is disobedient, fickle, constantly jumping from one object of attention to another. Conduct an experiment - focus on something monotonous, for example, counting your breathing. See how quickly you lose count. The reason for this is not even the thoughts that pop into your head, but your inability to fix attention. It just doesn't obey you.

To correct the situation, you need to train yourself to keep your attention on an object or action that you choose yourself. But not by coercion and force, this is the path to nowhere. Try to deliberately not think about something, and you will immediately understand why compulsion does not work here. To set yourself up for the good and get rid of bad thoughts from your head, be patient, exercise every day, do it wherever possible. Public transport, breaks at work, etc. will do.

Come up with a substitute for bad thoughts

Have you heard of mantras? These are short phrases of religious content, mainly in Sanskrit or Chinese. Europeans often confuse mantra with prayer and make mistakes, because prayer is an appeal to God, and a mantra is just text. Even if this text contains an appeal to God, the mantra is not used as a prayer; it is needed for endless repetitions. It is in Buddhism and Hinduism, two religions that practice mantra meditation, that much attention is paid to harmonizing consciousness, clearing it of bad thoughts and anxiety.

You can choose the one you like on the Internet. You may not even be interested in its meaning. The main thing is to start repeating it out loud or mentally every time you are overcome by bad thoughts. While repeating, concentrate only on it, do not let your attention slip away and switch. This practice is a good way to remove bad thoughts from your head before bed or an important event.