“The internal critic is an idiot posing as a king.”  Donald Robertson

What is one of the things that happened to you yesterday that made you happy or brought you pleasure?

A glad heart makes a happy face; (Pv. 15:13a; NLT)

Let’s serve up one more plate of ANT poison.  If you recall, earlier this week, I spoke of ANTs, an acronym for automatic negative thoughts.  Research shows that as many as 80% of our 60,000 thoughts a day are ANTs.  Further, ANTs tend to stress us out, in effect poisoning the various systems of our bodies.  I also pointed out that we have been divinely equipped to be able to take those thoughts captive as they come to us and either nurture them along to maturity or cast them out before they can take root.

In the last DG we talked about how important it is to recognize that the “little voice” we hear isn’t telling us the truth.  BTW, that “little voice” is the internal critic that Robertson calls an “an idiot posing as a king.”  One of the most powerful doses of ANT poison is to recognize the voice that is telling you how stupid, weak, ineffective, and unable you are, is a cowardly idiot who would never talk to anyone else the way it is talking to you.  Awareness is a huge part of the battle.

Today, I want to finish this little visit to the ANT farm with another suggestion.  This is a slight variation of one of my favorite topics, gratitude.  I have written multiple DGs around the idea of getting in the habit of writing a gratitude list.  This has the effect of focusing the brain on the positive and in effect “wiring new pathways” in the brain. 

This variation on a gratitude list comes from Marci Shimoff and her book Happy for No Reason.  She writes: “To incline your mind toward joy, start registering your happy experiences more deeply.  The first step is to make a conscious decision to look for them.  You can make it a game you play with yourself.  Have the intention to notice everything good that happens to you: any positive thought you have, anything you see, feel, taste, hear, or smell that brings you pleasure, a win you experience, a breakthrough in your understanding about something, an expression of your creativity–the list goes on and on.  This intention activates the reticular activating system.”  (See the 10/17/07 DG for an explanation of the reticular activating system.)

This activity kind of reminds me of the old classic book entitled, The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard.  Bottom line, is that the One-Minute Manager managed by walking around his workplace looking for the good things people were doing, i.e., what they were doing right.  How refreshing!!! 

Now, you may be saying, that this all is a bunch of woo-woo mumbo jumbo.  If that’s how you feel, I am really sad for you.  Most of our problems are located right between our ears!  And, as I said before, the Bible  makes it very clear that we have a choice about the thoughts we allow to stay in our heads.  I love what one of our faithful readers, Cheryl Thomas, wrote earlier in the week.  She said, “I think I may mentally rename my Bible ‘ANT Poison!’” 

What more can be said?  Have an absolutely fantastic weekend looking for your happy experiences.

Prayer Power
Lord, I thank You that we are made in Your image which includes the mental abilities to be able to make choices, even choices about what we think.  Grant us the grace to use that incredible capability wisely.

Link of the Day
How to Get Rid of ANTs

Blessings on you as you go forth with your ANTs under control.