Positive Thinking Workshop Week 1: The Power of Your Thoughts

"It is so important for us to develop  new attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs--so that we have more capacity to successfully deal with the new and surprising situations life has in store for us." - Lyle Wildes

What is your definition of health? We believe that society puts a greater emphasis on the physical aspect of health. We recognize that working on physical health is noble, but we see a need to focus more attention on our emotional health. After all, having a positive attitude has many physical health benefits such as; stronger immune system, heart health, longevity, better cholesterol and lower your risk for a stroke.

The purpose of this workshop is to:

• Increase awareness of your thoughts
• to understand the powerful mind/body connection of thoughts
• and equip you with some tools to improve your thoughts

Dr. Amen, an award winning psychiatrist, blames negative thinking on 9 ANTS or "Automatic Negative Thoughts." He claims that if we can squish the ANTs in our lives we will start thinking more positively. The species of ANTs that many people encounter in their lives include;

1. Always/Never thinking: Thinking that something that happened will 'always' repeat itself.
2. Focusing on the negative: Only see the bad in a situation and ignore any of the good parts that might happen.
3. Fortune Telling: Predicting the worst possible outcome to a situation
4. Mind Reading: Believing that you know what another person is thinking even when they haven't told you.
5. Thinking with your feelings: Believing your negative feelings without ever questioning them.
6. Guilt Beatings: Happen when you think words like 'should, must, ought, or have to.'
7. Labeling: Whenever you attach a negative label to yourself or someone else, you stop your ability to take a clear look at the situation.
8. Personalization: Occurs when innocuous events are taken to have personal meaning.
9. Blame (The most poisonous red ANT): When you blame something or someone else for the problems in your life, you become a victim of circumstances and you cannot do anything to change your situation.

Taken from http://ahha.org/articles.asp?ld=100

If we can challenge every thought that we have for its validity and talk back to the negative thoughts, we will be able to 'squish' the ANTs that are present in our lives.

We would like to extend the Happiness Advantage Challenge to everyone. Choose one of the following activities to participate in everyday for 21 days. If you do this devotedly you will see a difference in the way you perceive the world.

• Write down 3 different gratitudes
• Journal one positive experience
• Exercise
• Meditation
• Random Acts of Kindness

Come next week at the same location and time (Health and Justice Building 2601 @11 AM) for more insights on developing a more positive outlook on life.