Body image and your ‘inner chimp’
If you’ve ever felt like there’s a gremlin in your head hurling abuse at your body, this post is for you!
I’m looking at how a part of your brain, while trying to keep you safe, is potentially sabotaging your happiness and body confidence.
To help you manage your mind so it doesn’t derail your happiness, I’ve got three things for you to try.
Now while you might find some of my tips a bit ‘out there’, try them, because they work!
Watch or read below:
Meet your inner chimp
Believing that your physical appearance is what defines your worth is a symptom of your inner chimp at work.
The concept of the inner chimp comes from The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters, which, I highly recommend you read.
In his book, Dr Peters presents a simplified model of the brain to help us better understand our psychology.
Peters describes your inner chimp as the emotional part of your brain, programmed, among other things, to keep you safe.
When it comes to body image, the inner chimp mistakenly leads you to believe that your appearance is important to your worth.
Peters describes the logical part of our brain that is able to reason as the ‘human’. It’s able to appreciate that there is a lot more to being a human than just looks.
Managing your inner chimp
If you’re constantly having an inner struggle about the importance of your appearance over your personal qualities, put this down to the natural tendency of your inner chimp. Sometimes, just knowing that the chimp is responsible for these struggles, can help to lessen its influence.
To help you manage your chimp, I’ve got three strategies for you to try:
Acknowledge when your chimp is in charge of the way you feel about your body
Just noticing that the chimp has hijacked your thinking can help take away its power. Then, consult the human part of you for a more balanced view. Appreciate that the real you, your human brain knows there is more to you than the way you look.
Bring your chimp to life
Imagine what your chimp actually looks like, give him/her a name, and hear its voice. As your chimp chatters away in your head, imagine the chimp in front of you saying the thoughts in your mind. Make your chimp as ridiculous as possible in looks and voice, and you will help to disarm it!
Feed it bananas!
A funny thing happened to my husband when I told him about the inner chimp. He had a dream where the chimp was stressing him out about all the tasks he had to do at work, and how he wouldn’t get them done.
In the morning, my husband told me that he gave his chimps some bananas in the dream, and he went quiet. I know it sounds strange, but it worked. Just imagining feeding your chimp bananas helps to make it seem ridiculous, and lessens some of its power over you.
I’d love to know how these tips help tame your inner chimp, so please leave me a comment below.
