I don't remember where or when I heard, "A.N.T." referred to Another Negative Thought. Today I was reminded of this analogy.
At school a coworker started jumping around like a chicken with her head cut off. She was slapping her arm. I went to rescue her thinking she must have a predator (spider, bee, or mosquito) harassing her.
I asked her, "Are you okay?" She frantically came unglued, "NO NO, there's an ant on me! Do you see it?"
With raised eyebrows and a face that could stop a clock, I answered, "An ant. You're freaking out over an ant?"
She squirmed, "Yes, I can't stand them. They make me crazy. How did it get on me?"
Lord have mercy. Only the two of us (three with the ant) were in the teacher's lounge. The scene made me think of a variety of things. Phobias and fears. The stuff we carry in our heads.
For my friend, a teeny, tiny ant was like a snake to me. I understand being upset by a snake on my body, but an ant?
Back to the beginning of this blog...Years ago I heard our negative thoughts are like ants. Too many of them cause us to lose our balance. In her case, just one.
The speaker said, "For every negative thought, replace it with two positive thoughts." So when you see ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah, remember the A.N.T. (another negative thought) idea.
Replace your garbage, icky, negative thoughts that make you frown with sunny, positive, happy thoughts that make you smile.
As for my friend, I'll keep an eye on her when we work in the school garden.
