[Music] imagine a day full of negative thoughts where everything just does not seem to be going your way and you're stuck thinking about how horrible everything is even if something starts to go well your brain just will not let you forget that mistake you made on your math test or the fact that you spilled milk all over your table at lunch if this has happened to you then you have a bad case of the ants or automatic negative thoughts these thoughts are always negative they leave you feeling pretty bad they tend to stop you from problem solving they're definitely unwanted and they're believable because you're stuck in the web of negative thinking and once you get stuck it can be kind of tricky to get yourself out on your own these thoughts are just like ants at a picnic when there's just one or two we can manage them but when they swarm or invite their aunt buddies to your lunch they get so annoying or overwhelming that they start to take away any of the joy you felt from just being in the sunshine eating your lunch in the first place negative thoughts are totally normal we experience all sorts of thoughts in our day so the ant buddies are bound to show up with their negativity at some point or another in fact our negative thoughts are actually there to try and keep us safe by helping us identify what might hurt us and helping us to try and learn from our mistakes unfortunately when we're stuck thinking the same negative thought over and over again it tends to spiral into even more negative thinking which leaves us feeling pretty stuck when the swarm of ant buddies takes over it can leave us feeling afraid anxious worried or even angry the ant buddies tend to pop up without you even being aware of them at first once the ants show up they can change the way you feel about yourself other people or even the world around you there are 15 main ant buddies that cause negative thoughts to pop up for us when these bugs come around they try to change the way we think which can then lead to problematic feelings and behaviors from betty who makes us blame everybody else to marty who thinks he can read the minds of other people and all the others in between each ant buddy has one core job to make you feel bad about yourself what's going on around you or what might happen in the future 15 seems like a lot but don't worry the more you learn about them the more you'll recognize the ones that come around for you the most there are ways to swat or stash these bugs away when they have come to visit there are a few simple things you can try in order to get the ant buddies to bug off first focus on recognizing the thought swat the ant buddy and stop the bug in its tracks using a thought stopping statement this part happens fast but it's so important once you've swatted and stopped the bug you can then catch it to take a closer look plop it in a jar and question the thought by writing it down look deeper into how it's making you feel is the bug buddies thought making you feel sad angry worried maybe something else then examine the bug until you think you know exactly which ant buddy is causing the problem is it ollie or maybe betty once you know use questions that will specifically challenge the bug finding the truth of what is going on makes it much easier to solve the problem and makes it more likely that the bugs won't stick around don't forget if you are having a hard time figuring out how to get unstuck from the web of negative thinking find a trusted adult that can help you catch and question the ant buddy that you have sticking around it's pretty easy to get trapped in our thoughts by the ant buddies leading to self-doubt anger or worry you may not be able to completely control when the ant buddies show up but you do have the power to choose if you're going to accept what they're telling you or question them to make them leave the more you practice catching and questioning them the more likely they are to bug off to learn more about the ant buddies and what you can do when they come around visit sclsketches.com