The Chimp Paradox, The Mind Management Programme.

[sharonsiff]

Just Wow!!!

 

Has anyone read this book?

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chimp-Paradox-Management-Confidence/dp/009193558X

 

I can immediately see how this book will help get my brain chemistry back to normal without medication!

 

I can see how this bookbwould certainly help people who pledge Nope then crack, or why people still romance the cigarette.

 

I am very, very excited! Apart fromnAllen Carrs books I have never read, or fancied readingva brain selfbhelp book in my life. So glad I decided to read this.....

[babs609]

I think I am going to order it :)

[sharonsiff]

I think I am going to order it :)

O.M.G Babs....it is brilliant!

 

You know you trusted me on Bad Grandpa? Trust me on this....

 

I don't know if Action is reading this but Dr Steve Peters is the current phycologist at Liverpool football club. Lee was telling me that it was in the UK newspaper that other clubs want a slice of him, due to Liverpools current success rate. I can see why...

[sharonsiff]

Babs did you make a purchase in the end?

 

I have to say I absolutely love this book, I get it!

 

I can see now why I was, in the past, a 30 year serial quitter! It's like...ahhhhhh, so I get it now, I get why The Easyway book alone just didn't reach the me. Far too many germlins in my mind that I didn't trust or know I had the power to destroy. I think this book would be excellent for serial quitters, those with the 'strong emotional tyes' in their minds with regards to stopping smoking. Weight too, I can see how applying the same 'manage the chimp' could help folk manage their eating habits.

 

I am going to refuse the medication from the doctor, when my bloods come back, as the book is teaching me how to flush the blood to the right part of my mind, and balance my brain chemistry myself. Stopping smoking was the best choice I ever made and reading this book is definitely up there, a tye with that event. Just brilliant.

[El Bandito]

Wow Sharon!

 

You are proper gushing about this!

 

So much so - that I just bought the electronic version of it...Ill let you know how it goes for me. :D

[sharonsiff]

Wow Sharon!

 

You are proper gushing about this!

 

So much so - that I just bought the electronic version of it...Ill let you know how it goes for me. :D

I just so get it Stu!

 

I look forward to sharing views on it with you, if you fancy?

 

I am going to read it through once, then, am going to start myself a blog so I can express my learnings and thoughts and have a place that I can check my progress on. By starting to understand how my mind works I can see, with the exercises, how it can help me to actually manage my mind....priceless!

[El Bandito]

I'll have a bash at Chapter 1 now...

 

Standby.

[El Bandito]

Right then.

 

7 Brains. (La Bandita argues that I have none!)

 

3 Brains in the Psychological Mind.

Human, Chimp and Computer.

 

Human is kind of me 'conscious me'. Computer is data bank (for Human and Chimp) Chimp is an emotional thinking machine - whatever the heck one of those is.

 

Chimp is not something I am responsible for - rather something i am responsible for managing.

 

I am to put aside 10 minutes per day to assess how I managed my Chimp and myself in the last 24 hours.

 

Okey-dokey....interesting enough to drag me into Chapter 2....

[sharonsiff]

I'll have a bash at Chapter 1 now...

 

Standby.

Will do ;)

 

Fingers crossed we end up having a mini book club on this ;)

 

Mind you I have never been to a book club in my life so guidance on how to be part of a cyber book club would be well received :)

[sharonsiff]

So far so good Stu.... ;)

 

Off out to enjoy the day, catch you later.

[El Bandito]

Have a great time!

 

Chapter 2..

 

Okay. Some thinking to be done here. An interesting 'parameter'; the concept of two separate entities at peace or in conflict...hmmmmm

[El Bandito]

Sharon - I have no idea how a book club operates either. - I guess we just put out our thoughts/feelings about what we read...

 

Chapter 2 - so - actually not much new here - I have thoughts about things and I have feelings about things. Rational versus Instinctive. Emotional versus intellectual. Etc. Etc...

 

It is interesting the imagery used to describe how the chimp works and reacts - and I assume that later in the book we are going to explore how we allow the Chimp his/her chance to express but not to take over!

 

Definitely going to read more.

 

LOL moment - the explanation of why some women have to fight indecision - about something like what to wear. I may finally understand why La Bandita asks "Does my butt look big in this" and why I am going to need to learn a whole new skill set to give her the 'right' answer... B)

[El Bandito]

Hmmmmm..Chapter 3 read now.

 

Im going to think on it a while - and then perhaps wait for you to chime in Sharon! Else I might turn the thread into a monologue (My Chimp would love that!)

[action]

O.M.G Babs....it is brilliant!

You know you trusted me on Bad Grandpa? Trust me on this....

I don't know if Action is reading this but Dr Steve Peters is the current phycologist at Liverpool football club. Lee was telling me that it was in the UK newspaper that other clubs want a slice of him, due to Liverpools current success rate. I can see why...

I read everything lol

 

But I might give this book a try for sure ;)

[babs609]

I just ordered it!! :)

[sharonsiff]

Action...if the concept is good enough for LFC... ;)....Lee desperately wants his beloved West Ham to employ him...lol

 

Stu...post away, let you chimp free.

 

It does later teach us how to manage the chimp.

 

Having been drugged up to the eyeballs for the last 30 years (300 shots per day) all this is new to me, I obviously just got on with life's ups and downs Stu, knew no different. When I read key points, like this...

 

The golden rule is that whenever you have feelings, thoughts or behaviours that you do not want or welcome, then you are being hijacked by your chimp.

 

The very simple question, therefore, is to begin with 'Do I want....' and then finish the sentence. For example: 'Do I want these feelings?" Or 'Do I want these thoughts?' Or 'Do I want to be behaving this way?' If the answer is 'no' then you are in chimp mode and if the answer is 'yes' then you are in Human mode.

 

That in itself has already helped me understand that the chimp is hijacking me, and I now need to manage it.

 

I also foundbit very interesting that the chimp, the limbic part of the brain, is only black or white. It mentions children and I could relate to that, I can already see when my girls have a spat it is chimp v chimp. Then....to be honest my own chimp got involved too!

 

Reading on....reading on... ;)

[El Bandito]

Interesting though to understand that you need to understand:

 

1. Your chimp is who you need when the chips are down...

2. He/She is 5 times stronger than your Human

 

It has just occurred to me that anyone logging in and reading this thinks that we are completely bonkers!

 

I suspect that anyone reading the book will instantly identify with the internal dialogue. I am also fascinated with expanding the metaphor. La Bandita has always been "an expressive"; (we both come from a training background and use this type of category a lot) - at times I get incredibly frustrated because she poses questions, but ignores solutions that I suggest.

 

I now think she is taking her chimp for a walk.....

[sharonsiff]

As you say folk, no doubt, will think we have lost the plot. ;)

 

Agree my chimp is there, no choice, and can give me helpful, accurate information. I too read that it is 5 times the strength of the Human brain.

 

You know how I say I'm like a working springer spaniel? How I laughed when I read :

Having a chimp is like owning a dog. You are not responsible for the nature of the dog ( was born with the chimp I have) but you are responsible for managing it and keeping it well behaved.

 

I also like that it says: The main purpose of this book is to help you manage your chimp and to harness its strength and power when it is working for you and to neutralise it when it is not.

 

My girls and hubby want to read the book after me, as I have been sharing key things from it. That makes me really happy as I can imagine it to be a huge help to my hormonal daughters.

[sharonsiff]

I can already see, from the few chapters I have read Stu why past quits hit the skids. My chimp was in overdrive, out of control, filled with so many gremlins that hadn't been removed via education. Now I know that the chimp is 5 times stronger than the human I can see, as the book says, it was no match and willpower never wins, it couldn't.

 

It's like ahhhhhhhh, finally I get why it was so not easy peasy in the past.

[El Bandito]

Ok - so read Chapter 4. Dealing with the Computer. Gremlins and Goblins....not sure that I can remember any Goblins - but I guess they must be there. Gremlins...lots of those.

 

I can see that in order to adopt the recommended approach - then there is a fair amount of work that needs to be done - both as a one off but also as an ongoing process.

 

hmmmmmm....

[sharonsiff]

Loved the summary points....

 

The computer has two principal functions: running automatic programmes and acting as a reference source for the human and the chimp.

 

The computer is even faster than the chimp, four times faster and twenty times faster than the human. Oh my life, need to get my computer's gremlins removed! Both unhelpful and destructive and tis no wonder I am fatigued with a mind full of unhelpful thoughts.

 

I used an example of difference between 'truths' and 'values' this morning to calmly settle a dispute between the girls. It really helped our Megan understand that although it was important to her, that Lucy stopped doing whatever, it was her value and not Lucy's. Really made headway using what I learnt in that sense today.

 

I can also see, having two kids at once I have made a 'huge' mistake making life fair between them! As much as I've said time, and time again 'life is not fair' if I'm honest I can see my personal actions have not reflected the words I've used. Plenty to work on my end...gremlins? Then some..lol. ;)

[babs609]

ok lady....slow down on the reading...I didn't my book yet and I want to be in the conversation!!  haha  :)

[sharonsiff]

Will do....will wait for you ;)

 

Plus....can check my understanding of it then...

[El Bandito]

Hey there...no reading today, too busy. But thinking on it....

[sharonsiff]

Babs, Stu....How's it going with the book?

 

I am still enjoying it and have found myself feeling different already. I am able to diffuse a run in between the girls in a quarter of the time! I can see them going into chimp mode...head to head... really am getting a lot out of this book.

 

I re read pg 52..The Chimp Makes An Offer....put me in mind of when folk use the phrase nicodemon. I also see now that from past attempts to quit my main failure was the chimp hijacking and that you do NOT have to follow your emotions/impulses...it's only an offer and not a command. Obviously in June I did not give in to the chimp, instead managed it, but wouldn't have been able to explain to someone that as I didn't realise that, that, was what was happening.