It's Primordial in Nature

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Think, “flight-or-fight” response, the monkey-mind that has kept us alive for thousands of years. From the time on the Serengeti to the towers of New York this part of our brains has been our survival guide. It is our early warning system that is quick, powerful and overrides all other parts of our brain, mind, giving the monkey-mind control. 

The number one primary job of our brain is to stay alive, to use the flight-or-fight response per the directions of our monkey-mind. That is the primary goal of the monkey-mind and in addition its second function is to keep us as individuals connected to one another. We tend to gravitate towards like-minded others to create clans, tribes and groups. 

The monkey-mind is about the detection of threats. Not just the obvious ones that bring down violence on us like being hunted by lions and tigers and bears but to recognize “social threats” that would undermine the group dynamic that bonds a group together with the ultimate goal of surviving conflicts and violence. 

After all, back in the day, humans were and are thin-skinned, don’t have sharp teeth or claws, and in relation to all other species of animals we are not very strong no matter how much we can bench press because in the overall scheme of things that matters little up against other predatory animals like lions and tigers and bears, oh my. 

Remember, this is important even in modern times, social status in a group dynamic, i.e., families and tribes, is crucial to our very survival. The monkey-mind spends a lot of modern time watching and listening and feeling others around you especially those within your tribe, looking for signals and triggers that say whether you are respected, loved, and especially whether you belong. If triggered the monkey-mind spills some fear with a side of shame to remind us that we must adhere to the groups dynamics, rules and expectations because they mean - survival. 

After all, back in the day as well as today, modern techno-times, there are two ever-present possibilities - we die and we lose our social status OR we are kicked out of the tribe - banished. These two possibilities are referred to as our primordial threats. The very ones nature imbued in humans the moment we squirmed out of the primordial ooze and tried to crawl up on land. This is soooo critical that nature built or hardwired it directly into our brains. 

Modifications are a slow evolutionary process that our ancestors learned through the school of hard knocks that made it into our DNA, informing the monkey-mind and adjusting its abilities to perceive threats and allowed us to survive to modern techno-times. 

Here is the rub, where the tire meets the road or the smartphone finally connects at super fast speeds. IF the monkey-mind DOES NOT recognize or has not been programmed to recognize a viable threat, both physical and psychological (the social status thing), it has to guess whether or not it is a threat and the monkey-mind don’t like that one itty bitty bit. You can guess what happens next because if there isn’t anything there to trigger an appropriate action of the monkey-mind it defaults back to fight-or-flight (some would say it’s better to refer to it as “freeze, flight or fight” response. 

I say again, IF THE MONKEY MIND DOES NOT RECOGNIZE WHAT IT DOES NOT KNOW OR DOES NOT KNOW IT DOES NOT KNOW it cannot protect you or your tribe. Perceptions is everything, belief is reality and to achieve self-protection in self-defense you MUST program the monkey-mind to provide action appropriate to the situation. 

The monkey-mind is unable, cannot; will not; just ain’t happening, to perform risk analysis and assessments. When the fear button is triggered we all become simple-minded and single-minded as our ancestors who roamed the Serengeti hunting and gathering. 

When the monkey-mind shouts to the top of its lungs, “Woo-woo-woo! Something is wrong? DO SOMETHING!” It has to find it in its repertoire of fight-or-flight OR it has to have it conditioned in its hard memory properly trained and practiced and experienced closely simplistically related to that fight-or-flight response system. 

It comes down to this, “Know what is a threat, know and understand the actions you need to deal with that threat and then… train that to your flight-or-fight system because it is about WHAT YOU LEARNED TO REACT TO IN THE PAST (we call this experience; both in training and in real-life encounters) is how the monkey learns to use it when the monkey-mind triggers the fight-or-flight reflex along with that come the chemical dump of hormones and emotions and feelings and moods that will bury the rest of your brain in deep sand much like burying your head in the sand. 

When the monkey-mind is yelling, “Woo-woo-woo! Something is wrong? DO SOMETHING!” your brain is going to be hijacked and trigger two of our biggest mistakes, “First, to overestimate the threat and then to underestimate our ability to cope with those negative emotions in the monkey’s alarms.” Add in that without training, practice and experiences to supplement the flight-or-fight system ANY task we attempt, CAN FAIL. A big one is, “when we open our mouths and we offend others with what we say.” How we tend to trigger and escalate things, yes.

Other monkey-mind obstacles: 

1. we over review past errors; 
2. look to our future to prevent making more mistakes; 
3. we debate our abilities and decisions we have already made; 
4. we recycle old concerns; 
5. we indulge in endless regrets; 
6. we OBSESS over things we cannot control; 
7. we try to manage things:
• check smartphones;
• turn on TV;
• pour ourselves a drink;
• get a snack; 
• go shopping; 
• triple check everything we do, say or decide upon;

All this and more tend to undermine the very things we need to accomplish to remain alive and to maintain our social status in the clan - all about survival or NOT DYING. 

Remember, it is futile to resist our monkey-mind, it can’t be done. It is that ancient part of our brain that is simple, focused, and hardwired to be autonomous, beyond our direct control. One way to learn to handle things is through conceptualization. If you learn about your personal, tribe and environmental threats, you understand them thoroughly and you create and learn a program that enhances the monkey-mind fight-or-flight alarm and response system then when it chatters in your ear triggering the chemical dump you will begin to UNDERSTAND its the monkey-mind and that you are not the monkey but because you can now diffuse the monkey’s antics you create a space or void that allows you through training, practice and experiences to do something appropriate to the situation.  You allow your rational logical human-mind to notice your thoughts, emotions, and learn the things necessary to override the monkey-mind.  

If you create a program that trains you to build a resilience to the monkey’s alarms so you can think and act clearly in lieu of the usual monkey-hijacking process. Resilience means flexibility and resourcefulness for when threats rise up and you will find with practice, training and experience you will feel less out of control caused by the monkey-mind. 

In short, add to all your other “awareness models” a state of awareness of your monkey-mind. Remember that the monkey-mind is our action center that calls to action what the monkey-mind properly and effectively perceives as a bonafide and valid threat. The monkey-mind ain’t goin anywhere so get used to it and then learn to recognize the monkey and then learn to deal with it by learning and understanding all those things that may, could or possibly be a threat to you and your family and your clan. 

Become One with the Monkey!!!! 

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