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ANT-icide

"Your brain is like a supercomputer, and your self-talk is the program it will run." - Jim Kwik

Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs)[1] can be un-nerving if not debilitating, which are easy to identify, even if it seems insurmountable to curb. The aspect to keep in mind is that ANTs have two flavors; about ourselves and those of others. ANTicide are action items that serve as a catalyst toward a positive and empowering mindset, to create the right brain programs to run and thereby enabling us to achieve our goals.

ANTs hinder EQ improvements as they cause us to have emotionally charged reactions instead of being receptive to alternate optimum responses. Daniel Amen's book[2] delves into strategies against ANTs and is highly recommended.

Identify ANTs:

First and foremost, start paying attention to your thoughts to identify ANTs. ANTs are so prevalent and normalized that these are thought to be facts rather than the assumption they are.

For example, "I lack the proclivity to learn?", is this an ANT or a fact? As humans, we all are inherently curious and keen to learn. Our distaste to learning can be attributed to antiquated teaching mechanisms, forced to learn that which we dislike, and a fear of failure.

We often verbalize our ANTs and turn to these as our knee jerk reactions in conversations. Ask around and have a great starting point to identify your ANTs.

Anti-ANT experiments:

The steps in Programming Consistency describes the construct to use in detail. Here we look at the classic ANT "My boss never listens to me!" to understand how this may work.  A good two-step anti-ANT experiment is:
  1. Decide that you will ignore this ANT and speak up. 
  2. Discuss your problem with a peer you trust; asking them to encourage you to speak up and then jot their unbiased opinion of when you do in the upcoming group sessions.
The data you collect will help you determine if your boss, in fact, ignores you or if it was a story you made for yourself.

Bonus tip, Steps of the 6-Phase Meditation:

Each step of the 6-phases[3] is an ANTicide that can be promptly deployed. The six phases are:

1. Connection
2. Gratitude
3. Forgiveness
4. Visualization
5. Daily Intention
6. Blessing

These steps are versatile and will be covered in detail in an upcoming entry.

References:

Daniel G. Amen
3. Vishen Lakhani's six-phase meditation.

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