Most normal people hear little voices.
Their little voices talk to them constantly.
Most people ‘hear’ that little voice in their heads.
For most people, the little voice sounds like their own voice.
For other folks, the voice may come from just in front of their face, in front of the place where the top of their nose connects with the spot between their eyes. Apparently, for some folks [and this is rare] the voice comes from another place…like in front of their chest or in front of the pit of their stomach.
Regardless, a natural part of the human condition is having that little voice. Some, perhaps most people, consider the little voice to be their guide – the voice of their conscience.
Most people – most normal human beings – hear their little voices chatter negatively throughout the day…their little voices are saying negative this and saying negative that…over and over and over….all day…every day. Their little voices feed them a continuous string of negative thoughts.
Dr. Daniel Amen calls negative thoughts ANTS
ANTs = Automatic Negative Thoughts1
For example, Dr. Amen describes 2 of these ANTs as:
- ANT 4 [red ant]. When the little voice delivers this ANT it tries to make us believe we know what other people are thinking even when they have told us what they are thinking Mind Reading ANT
- ANT 7 – the Labeling ANT. When the little voice delivers this ANT it tries to make us place labels on ourselves and other people
These ANTs contribute to our biases.
Bias2 = a: bent, tendency b: an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially: a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment: prejudice c: an instance of such prejudice
In a prior Thought Post3 I wrote:
People are biased and make a fundamental attribution error
In summary, when the bias is at work we judge like this:
- When other people do poorly we blame their behaviour [ie, we blame them]. However, when other people do well we give credit to the situation.
- We do the exact opposite when it comes to judging ourselves.
I believe Tony Robbins4 recognized these sorts of biases. He recognized many people get upset when things do not go their way. He recognized even he, a well-experienced motivational educator who knew better, got upset from time to time in response to other people’s actions. He decided to create a tool to help himself and other people get over this negative thinking….get to a much better way of thinking and get to a much better way of communicating.
Tony Robbins called his tool the ‘Reality Check tool’. He describes that tool in his audio CD ‘Live With Passion’.
The tool contains a list of 7 questions we can ask ourselves when we feel upset with/about another person. The tool contains value: I recommend the audio CD.
Wrapping up…
That’s how Little Voices, ANTs, Biases, & Robbins fit together.
The great news is we can ‘CHANGE FOR THE BETTER’.
Here’s a link to introduce more thoughts on this topic…
PS: that link takes you to my 1st effort at creating an educational video….one take…with my son Jack doing the production, direction, and camera work. That experience is a fond memory.
Footnotes: