There are ten basic types of ANTs that you may be using in your life. Let’s go over them.

• Should Statement

These statements occur when you use definitive, inflexible language regarding expectations you have for yourself or others. Besides “should,” these statements can also include “must” and “ought to.”

• Mind Reading

When you make an inference about someone’s behavior or thinking without having hard evidence to back it up, you are mind reading. You are convinced you know the reason behind their behavior.

• Catastrophic Thinking

Catastrophic thinking happens when we think everything is, well, a disaster. It can also apply when we are anticipating a catastrophe to occur.

• Overgeneralization

Also known as “always/ never” thinking, overgeneralization is when we take one (or a few) instances of an adverse event and use it as evidence that the event is bound to happen again and again.

Personalizing When we personalize something, we assume that people’s behavior is a reaction to something we, ourselves, have said or done.

• Filtering

When we ignore positive information about a situation and instead concentrate on the negative, we can be said to be “filtering” out the good in order to focus on the unpleasant.

• All or Nothing

Many people tend to be extreme in their thinking, refusing to give themselves a middle ground. Something is either right or wrong— black or white.

• Fortune Telling

Sometimes when we assume we know how something will turn out, we inadvertently help our supposition to manifest.

• Big/ Small Thinking

Sometimes we tend to overstate the importance of adverse events while minimizing the benefits of positive ones.

• Emotional Thinking

We often mistake what we feel for concrete facts because of the intensity of the feeling.

Recognize: You’ve done this! You’ve learned to “see” your thoughts and know when you have negative ones or ones that are worrisome. Good job! Realize: Now, learn to change the direction of your thoughts as they “appear” in your mind. Notice the negative thought. Recognize that it’s okay to have this thought, but realize that you’d rather have a positive one instead!

Re-Route: When you recognize the negative thought, re-route it through visualization. Replace the original negative thought or image with a positive one.

Then, take all those negative thoughts, write them down and release them by tearing, crumpling, throwing away or burning the paper they’re written on. This may seem simple and even silly, but studies show that it works. Physically removing these thoughts from your environment has a definite impact on your happiness levels!

Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.