Survival Of the Fittest.
I am sure we have all heard this saying before. So, what does it mean? Well at first glance we all know that in the animal kingdom the fastest and most fit is the one that survives from being some other animal’s meal for the day. But what does this mean in the human world? Some say that it’s the smartest and most persistent and sometimes at all costs that survive.
In our new adventure in exploring the book A Path through the Jungle by Prof. Steve Peters, he takes us through the journey of a systemic way to identify and work with the elements in the jungle that seem at times to overtake us and get lost in that jungle.
He identified 3 teams operating in the mind
Team 1 : He called the Chimp
- Operates with drives
- Reacts to experiences with instincts
- Thinks from an emotional basis
- Interprets with feelings
- Its agenda is to perpetuate the species and help us to survive.
- Genetically it is predetermined
This team is not within our control, although he says we can influence it.
Team 2 The Human
- Thinks from a factual basis
- Responds to experience with rationality
- Interprets with logic
Team 3 The Computer
- Stores memory, facts and experiences
- Performing automatic behaviors
- The computer advices the human and the chimp
So the key in this journey is identifying which team you are operating from in your life to get the results that you want. You must recognize and manage the chimp in order to get to that goal. Here he is offering us a very simple and practical way of using these metaphors to work with our minds in managing our emotions and changing the behaviors we no longer want in our lives in order to make our journey through the jungle more pleasant.
Maria Jacques