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

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Part of the nurturing process is to let the chimp have its say. By allowing the chimp to process its emotion it then starts to settle, Steve says. Firstly, realise you can’t bully your Chimp. You have to nurture it. Meet the needs of your Chimp first and it will be in a position where you can then talk to it rationally and it will listen. How? There is an infinite number of tasks waiting to be done, but what makes a difference in your placement would be how you categorise these kinds of tasks. I have learnt this on a course I attended during my placement which I thought was very useful and I am currently still doing it. Then, there’s this special book that helped a great deal of people to find purpose in their lives. Some even claim, it saved their lives: 12 Rules for Life – An Antidote to Chaos.

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. Maybe it's not you, it's me. It happens sometimes with us older men. The second half of the book didn't do it for me. Nurture your autopilot responses to events or circumstances that keep recurring so you can ensure that the Chimp response doesn't define you. 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? Party or book? “The hotter and more salient the desired reward,” writes Mischel, “the more difficult it is to cool the impulsive reaction to it.”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. Mindfulness teaches us that we are not our thoughts. They are in effect mental events – oh, I’m having unhelpful thoughts of anger towards the writer of this note. Our thoughts are like clouds, some big, some small, some dark and some light but all passing across the sky that is our mind. 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)

The idea behind Dr Peters’ mind model is that the inner chimp is the primitive part of the brain that cannot control our impulses. If we were to profile the characteristics of the inner chimp then we’d describe it as paranoid, neurotic, impulsive and emotional.Describe a project you’re planning to take on. Make a list of everything you’ll need to be successful in that project. (This might include both physical items like office space or craft tools, and it might include intangible things like time.) But, they can understand that their inner chimp is not a reflection of who they are and who they want to be. You can gain control of your Chimp by recognizing that when it decides on a course of action, it’s merely making a suggestion, not a command. So, when your Chimp wants that cookie, and asks your Human for permission to eat it, your Human does not have to say yes. The inner chimp can also be responsible for those late-night worries that disrupt sleep or unhelpful thoughts and creates emotional outbursts that feel sudden, spontaneous or irrational to other people. I’ve gone to the Isle of Man TT before with what I called a no-stone-unturned attitude, where I’ve had the bikes right, got the team right, got the fitness right, but I realise now I’d not got my head right.

The Chimp’s reactions are more immediate: When our brains process information, messages go first to the Chimp, not the Human, to determine the threat level. If the Chimp decides there’s no danger, the message gets passed to the Human. But if the Chimp detects danger—or desire—it reacts immediately. This is why your emotions are often triggered before you’ve had a chance to fully assess a situation. To control your Chimp, you must recognize that its instincts and drives will always be there. If you try to simply ignore them, they will inevitably pop up and take control of you—for example, telling yourself before bedtime that you’ll get up early and exercise won’t prevent your desire for extra sleep from rearing up when morning comes around. And if you don’t have a pre-planned method for dealing with that desire when it arrives, it will drive your actions. Preventive: Indulge Your Chimp’s Drives Now I’m sure you know that I’ve recently been writing about Mindfulness and Meditation and that I’ve said that mindfulness gives us the ability to be able to observe, non-judgementally, our thought processes. They still have the responsibility. They can’t let their inner chimp run wild without consequences! The first is the “chimp” system – so called because we share it with our hominid cousins. This part of our brain is in play when we act impulsively, without regard for the consequences. Our inner chimp is emotional, greedy and lazy and with us from birth. 2. The Human SystemBoth Human and Chimp areas of the brain store stuff here, but more importantly refer to this part in new situations. There is a term in computing GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you store bad data in your computer memory you’ll get bad data out. If you have a strong foundation of positive helpful beliefs and values, when your Chimp looks to your computer it’s calmed by the new situation. For example, your Chimp will not panic when it meets strangers if your underlying value is ‘treat all people with respect.’ More

However, if you need any support with the process or helping your child to better regulate their emotions, we’re always here to help. This principle of separating your emotions from the essence of who you are is most popularly documented as managing your ‘inner chimp’, which comes from the best-selling book The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. But I don’t say yes. Not yet. The no part of my brain is still in the fight, a boxer taking punches. The no inside my brain is resilient. Will you really enjoy the party, it’s asking me. Think of the book. You’ll never write the book if you spend your time going to parties! If you interested in inner chimp concept, you should read The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters! Great book! Self-Empowerment What were some more realistic expectations you could have programmed into your Computer that might have prevented you from feeling negative emotions when the other person didn’t live up to your standards?

When we are around two years old, a new system comes into the equation. As children we start asking “why?” We begin to get facts established and, by age four, use those facts in our decision-making. This is our “human” system: it’s the part of our brain that considers, rationalises, and empathises. 3. The Computer Caution must be taken with this method to avoid the ‘Animal Farm’ effect of ‘All athletes being equal, but some more equal than others’ but this can be achieved by ensuring the alpha male knows his role is to aid the group through his extra responsibility, not to wield power, and that you remain in charge. We don’t look at our friends and like them for what they achieve, Steve says, we like them for who they are. We should measure our own success in the same way. Are you a positive person who can motivate others? Are you kind? Do you have integrity? If you are measuring success against your values – rather than what car you own or how much you earn – then building self-esteem is in your own hands. 6. Spend ten minutes every day reflecting on whether you’re meeting your values Why not take advantage of the fact that the mind can’t distinguish between what’s (vividly) imagined and what’s for real?