The human mind is a wondrous thing, but it seems that far too often the voices we hear in our heads are more against us than for us. One author has labeled those thoughts of negativity as “ANTS” or Automatic Negative Thoughts, and I like that imagery because these little stealers of my life just keep coming no matter how much I try to shoo them away. ANTS emanate from a primitive section of our brains, and those that study the brain have humorously referred to their voice as “The Itty Bitty Shitty Committee.”
I think these ANTS, just like real ants, need three things to survive: a place to live, food, and a way to reproduce. Since these little critters make their home in my head, I cannot literally destroy that home without undesirable consequences, and therefore I’m left with the dilemma of finding a way to take away their food, and in a way, take away their chance for having sex.
I should have said reproduce, but writers know that if you use the word sex once or twice in an article more people will read it to the end.
We writers like books for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that sometimes by reading we find an answer to a question that has plagued us for a long time. In this case I found a way to kill these little life suckers.
Every time I begin to think one of these negative thoughts, I now yell in my mind the word “Cancel,” and I imagine stepping on the thing, so that I stop its reproductive cycle.
Yesterday was one of those days when the critters were swarming, and several times I let them take control. But as I worked through the day, I got better and better in getting rid of them. I don’t know yet if I’ve killed their queen, but I do know I’ve got them on the run.
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