I refer to the "monkey mind" a lot.
It’s meant to be a constant a reminder. A warning of the tricks your monkey mind will play on you if you let it run the show.
What is the monkey mind and how do you know if it's in charge?
From an issue of the Letter:
Monkeys like gifts.
Studies that show if you give a monkey a banana a banana, they exhibit small signs of gratitude and the dopamine centers in their brain light up like a Christmas tree. If you give an entire group of monkeys one banana each, they all celebrate.
Make sense.
Here’s the interesting part…
If you give a group of monkeys two bananas each, they have the same response as if you gave them each one.
…and if you proceed to take one of their bananas away, they are pissed.
They throw fits, start fights and start flinging poo all over the place.
In either scenario the outcome is the same: the monkeys have one more banana than when they started.
In the first scenario, have one banana more than when they started makes them happy. In the second, they are angry, even though they have one banana more than when they started.
How often are we more focused on what we’ve lost than what we have gained?
How often do we fail to appreciate what we already have?
How many disadvantages do we incur by misframing our own problems?
…It depends on how often the poo-flinging monkey mind is in charge,
The monkey mind is the impulsive part of you that is too drunk on momentary feelings to zoom out and keep perspective. It’s the part of you that makes decisions in moments of extreme euphoria or desperation.
That's your monkey mind.
It will try to make sense of things quickly. It will create false narrative and misframe reality.
…and guess who incurs all the disadvantages?
You do.
The monkey mind is the dim light in Three Levels of Light.1
It's the Human Mindset in Dr. Jeff Spencer's Human Mentalities2
It’s impulsive System 1 in Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow.3
In my opinion, it doesn't matter what form4 you you give it (what you call it), what matters is that you recognize it’s function is serves; the illusion of sobriety. It tricks you into believing you are seeing things clearly and know exactly what to do.
The monkey mind is a master illusionist.
And it never goes away.
It is fighting for control of the wheel at all hours of the day. It's hard-wired into us.
To combat it, we must develop the habit of slowing down, fighting for sobriety, and overriding the monkey mind, especially in moments of extreme fear or euphoria.
Look around.
Ever see someone flinging poo at the world when they should be feeling gratitude?
Their monkey mind is in control.
Every see someone celebrating something that is unsustainable (often referred to as the honeymoon phase)?
Their monkey mind is in control.
Once you see it, it’s like stepping out of the Matrix. And, like the Matrix, most would prefer to stay inside; to let their monkey mind stay in control because it’s so. damn. convincing.
To combat the Monkey Mind you have to step outside of the Matrix. The monkey mind will fight like hell to pull you back in. Fight back. Study the resources above (linked in the footnotes).
The recently launched direct mail newsletter is written for and shipped to those that are committed to winning the war on the monkey mind.
There are no digital copies.
Fighting a war against the monkey mind on digital and distracting mediums is a little bit like fighting Jaws in the ocean. It’s not impossible to win, but the odds are against you.
The Letter is shipped each month so you can study it offline and distraction free, where you have the advantage.
Onward.
Nic
PS. If you choose to fight the good fight against the monkey mind in the digital realm, you can check out the Guardian Academy5.