Good morning
In this newsletter I will be talking about a section from the book of The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters.
What is the Chimp?
When you was born two different brains, the frontal lobe ( Human) and the limbic (Chimp which is an extremely emotional machine) developed and integrated themselves to form a connection.
The Human and The Chimp have different agendas are different personalities with different agendas which have different ways of thinking and modes of operating. Technically, you basically have two beings inside you !!!
The chimp is an emotional machine which works completely independently and it offers emotional thoughts and feelings that can be very constructive or very destructive. The main purpose of this newsletter is to give you an insight on some tips on how to manage your Chimp
Let me ask you a question…
Have you ever had thoughts which are not pleasant? have you ever carried behaviours which you knew that were good but you done them anyways? have you ever said some stuff to a friend or family and regretted it straight after?
That is the Chimp operating. It is quite fascinating how you can be two people at once
What is the science behind it ?
When you are calm and collected what usually happens is that the blood flows to your frontal lobe ( the Human) which is the REAL you and that is the person you want to be. If you are emotional and somewhat irrational then the blood will flow to your limbic ( the chimp) which is NOT who you are and not the person you want to be at ALL!. The chimp is overpowering your human mind therefore taking over your thinking and actions.
“YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NATURE OF YOUR CHIMP BUT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGING IT”
What are some traits of emotional thinking?
Jumps to an opinion
The chimp usually twists the facts to fit its opinion and is very unreasonable when challenged
Thinks in black/White
You do not see both sides of the story and you are very judgemental.
paranoid
You think that is safer to be paranoid and wary of others/ situations rather than
irrational
The chimp typically jumps to conclusions and fills in missing details with anything it chooses. it can therefore become very unreasonable and end up looking foolish
emotional judgement
The chimp may judge others to fulfil they’re own agenda such as getting revenge or to wield power over someone
Now that you know what the Chimp is, how can we manage it and acknowledge it
Development Time
I personally use this exercise every day and it has been a key part in my journey to happiness
“development time: is time specifically set aside to reflect on how you are managing yourself. This session must be easy to do otherwise your chimp will not agree with it. Try make it 10 minutes long and as enjoyable as you can.
During this time you need to reflect on the last 24 hours and reflect on how you managed your chimp, Invest in a dairy/Journal to write this.
Try to improve your ability to recognise when your Chimp is hijacking you with thoughts, feelings and behaviours that you do not want to have. By doing this you are practising differentiating the difference between you and the chimp.
Hope you enjoyed todays DailySelfHelp newsletter, message me on “arzevent” on Snapchat how you found it :)
Have you learnt anything new?
Let me know what you learnt🙏