Brad and I share his story at the National IM conference... what an honor! 

ANTs as you become independent in Sync training

ANTs
Automatic Negative Thoughts - These nasty guys can rise up just about any time during IM.  Most people, children and adults alike, will experience either a short day of ANTs, or up to a week or two, but they are transient in nature. In time, you can learn to control them. I believe there is GREAT power in IM in this ANT realm.

What does guilt do to mental processing?

This morning, my young IM student was making good gains in being able to identify his ANTs, Automatic Negative Thougths. With enough experience in IM, I can now watch the numerical patterns of an individual doing an IM task and tell with in 2 to 3 seconds when they have a negative thought, such as thinking, "This is too hard." The person does not need to verbalize it at all. It can be fleeting or persistent, but you can SEE it in the numbers. Honestly, simply the thought impacts the score! The person does not always even recognize they had the thought... at first. With enough IM, they too can recognize their thoughts in the numerical pattern.