Taming the Monkey Mind

🐒 I keep hearing people say, “You can’t trust your Monkey Mind.”

 That’s mostly true — but saying you can’t trust part of yourself feels disempowering.

🥋 As a martial artist and self-defense practitioner, I like to pressure test everything, including my coaching tools. And “you can’t trust your Monkey Mind” doesn’t hold up well under pressure.

🧠 What does hold up is understanding why you can’t always trust it.

The Monkey Mind evolved in early proto-human societies, where upsetting your group could get you cast out. Back then, that was basically a death sentence.

That stopped being true about ten thousand years ago. But the instinct remains.

🎤 That’s why singing karaoke or public speaking can feel deathly scary. Your Monkey Mind isn’t trying to sabotage you — it’s trying to save you.

➡️ It’s just ten thousand years out of date.

🌍 Nowadays, if your group rejects you, you can change your job or career, move to a new town, or even to a new country that welcomes immigrants.

💭 When my Monkey Mind goes a little wild, as Monkey Minds tend to do, the thought that works for me under pressure is:
“That’s so totally ten thousand years ago.”

➡️ I’m not fighting my Monkey Mind. I’m interpreting it.

When I have time to reflect, I say:
“Thank you, Monkey Mind, for trying to protect me. But society has evolved. You can rest now.”

That said, I still don’t want to sing karaoke — and that’s my choice.
But public speaking?
Heck yeah.

❓ What Monkey Mind–taming thought works for you under pressure?