My Hidden Chimp: From the best-selling author of The Chimp Paradox

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A great way to prove this is to ask your child to sit quietly for 30 seconds and count all of the thoughts that pop into their head during that time. We need to prevent our inner chimp from governing our self-worth, says Steve: “If my self esteem is on the chimp system, which is what I achieve, then if I don’t achieve everything at the right level I’m always going to have low self-esteem,” he says. Also, no amount of success will ever be enough: “The chimp will chase success but once it’s got that it will redefine it.” One of the most important things Peters says is this: the inner chimp is much more powerful than the inner human. When information reaches the brain, it gets to the chimp first. The chimp has first dibs. Which means that everything you see or hear is framed by your impulses. When you see something you want, yes comes first. Yes is louder. No is a distant second. Have you ever told yourself that you would start a gym regime but didn’t got around to do it? Or have you ever told yourself that you would focus on getting the assignment done but didn’t get past the introduction? Peters says that the first thing we need to do inside our heads is recognise these three powerful structures in our mind, if we do not we will always be running to catch up with ourselves.

I'm not wholly convinced by this, however, as it implies a level of self-awareness that surely isn't ubiquitous: Fortunately, our brains also have an inner Human who, when functioning properly, keeps our inner Chimp under control and allows us to interact with the world in a stable, positive, productive way. In The Chimp Paradox, psychiatrist Steve Peters outlines a mind management program that can help you manage your inner Chimp and lead you to happiness, success, and a sense of balance between your emotional and thinking selves. What Is the Chimp Paradox Model? Write down how you plan to meet those challenges. What can you do to prevent them, or in response to them when they happen? Will you need additional resources to face them? (If so, add them to your first list.) Even though you’ve got a burning desire to silence the inner savage, you can’t bring yourself to adhere to your principles.Results: These are stuff that doesn’t have an outcome you can control. Success is never guaranteed in these tasks. (eg. Presenting a new system which has been approved by the senior management) And, of course: “The power resides in the prefrontal cortex, which, if activated, allows almost endless ways of cooling hot, tempting stimuli by changing how they are appraised.” No – the emotional Chimp part of our brain responds up to five times faster than the human part. But although we are not responsible for the nature of our chimp, we are responsible for managing it. So most of the time we can control our inner chimp; well fantastic, that sounds good enough to leave it at that and call it a day? Not so fast I’m afraid. The problem with the inner chimp is that they have an annoying habit of turning up when they’re not welcome and then making you feel like they are helping when they are in fact hindering. Listen to your Chimp: Allow your Chimp to “exercise itself” by expressing its emotions. When your Chimp vents its feelings, it typically calms down. Therefore, allow your Chimp to get its feelings off its chest—to say whatever it feels, even if those feelings are irrational. Most Chimps only need about 10 minutes of an outburst and will then feel calmer and more in control. If the process might take longer, or your Chimp needs more than one exercise, allow as much time as your Chimp needs.

Emotion takes a long time to process,” says Steve. Sometimes we have to run over challenging things in our minds a few times before the chimp in us is able to accept them. What is also hard to omit is that the author is using way too many different metaphors, trying to create a coherent picture, but my opinion is that he fails miserably at this. Joining celestial body, technical and animalistic collations creates ch

Is Your Mental Ape Corrupting Your Life?

Now that I’ve told you about how I manage my inner chimp, I’d like to hear about your strategies and struggles to gain the upper hand. Helping kids understand what role the inner chimp is playing in their lives can be a great way to prevent these negative thoughts from taking over. What’s Your Inner Chimp Telling You? Sometimes it’s daunting to commit to being a better person, to act on your goals, or to do what’s necessary so that you can approve of the person in the mirror. I snooped ahead to see if there were tantalising things ahead that I should stay with the book to get to, and hit p. 220. This is where the the Proff explains that working mothers who feel overstretched and conflicted just need to adjust their minds. They need to accept that their maternal chimp is in conflict with their human (rest of brain) desire for fulfillment, and make some easy tweaks, such as asking for more help, or making compromises, and women will be able to 'do both really well'. Ask them to draw a brain with a line down the middle. On one side, draw the cheeky chimp that they picture in their head.