How to Get Rid of ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts)

Everyone has them. Some people have more than others. The real question is: can you control them before they control you? No-one is saying it's easy. Just as soon as you think you have them under control, they're back with a vengeance to mess things up. But no matter what they do and however long it takes, these bugs must be exterminated. I am talking here of those terrible ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) which bug all of us on a daily basis.

They come from that persistent, fault-finding, inner Critic who is always telling you that you're no good. That you will never be good enough. That your success and good fortune are just a fluke and will not last. That you don't have what it takes. You will never be able to afford "it". You will never be able to lose that weight, find the love of your life, get married or get out of debt. He tries to convince you that "they" will never hire you. You are not smart enough. Or thin enough. Besides, "they" just dont like you. You are a loser and will remain so until kingdom come.

The first thing you should know about the inner Critic is that although he has been with you since early childhood, he, however, was not born with you. You've never heard newly-borns berate themselves. It's grown-ups who do that. The Critic is nothing but the sum total of your acquired collection of negative input received from peers, pastors, parents, parishioners, the press etc. His strategy is very simple: minimize, catastrophise, over-generalize.

He polices your every move and worries about what everyone around you thinks. This self-appointed judge will agree with every negative judgment other people make about you. He won't allow you to receive gifts and compliments without questioning the motives of the giver. That sucker is really the one hindering your growth, change and success in relationships. He does this by keeping you small, frightened, bound and ineffectual. He is a major contributor to the epidemic low-levels of self esteem that we see in our world today.

So lose him. Squash him like a bug. It's time to reclaim your brain. "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind"(Rom 12:2). The most powerful supercomputer that you have in your possession right now is your mind. But you will have to change the programming so that, instead of getting ANTs all the time, you can begin to have automatic positive thoughts. How do you do that?

Well, one of the major ways to acquire thoughts is through speech. Jesus taught that this was one way people develop thoughts of worry. "Therefore take ye no thought, saying What shall we eat?" (Matt 6:31). You take a thought by saying it. Words paint pictures. And what you see is what you get.

So, when you think of yourself what pictures do you see? Learn and begin to interrupt all automatic negative thoughts and pictures with words consistent with where you want to go, and who you want to be. Fumigate your ANTs and shut that inner Critic up. How? By using constructive speech to paint new pictures. Use your tongue to write new scripts for your life. The Psalmist put it this way: "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer" (Ps 45:1).