Patty Mayeux Blog

ANTs…Automatic Negative Thoughts. You have them, right? No? Are you sure? They are automatic, after all. In “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” Dr. Daniel Amen illustrates how thoughts change our brain chemistry. Our emotional state responds with feelings of tension or relaxation*. This system can get out of whack when we listen to ANTs. His solution is simple, not easy: Kill the ANTs. Pay attention. Catch them in the act. Write them down. Challenge their validity. 

I have a big ANT that says I’m not worthy to hang with those I deem to be ahead of me in the pursuit of craft. It’s so deep, it pops out in my dreams as public nakedness or late for class nightmares. Can you relate? So often I feel the flunky while zooming with writing friends or struggling with new drum rhythms. But I can kill that ANT, challenge the originating thought that drives the bad Habitude. I can refuse to believe its falsehood. It serves only to ruin my pursuit of passion, just like ants at a picnic. Our thoughts are real, they affect how we feel and what we do. Recognize the fault of those thoughts. Send them packing then serve yourself a confidence sandwich with a big glass of I Got This lemonade.

*Read Amen’s book for an in-depth explanation of how our brains work and his suggestions for treatments of serious complications. Killing ANTs is only one of his exercises to help lay readers understand and shape how their brains work.