The Monkey Theory

by Sfurti Sahare

  That’s the Purple Island for you!

  The Purple Island is the ‘present land which should be the home of Human Monkey’.

  Take a moment and just think about it! Create your own purple island. The only catch here is that it should look purple!

  This is where Human Monkey should stay. But with day-to-day challenges, the Human Monkey is forced to stay with the Fear Monkey, the Ego Monkey, the Sad Monkey and others. Everyday, we are so exhausted with day-to-day things that we hardly notice the many miracles that are happening around us.

  The Purple Island is a zone where magic does happen. But are you trained enough to see the magic? That’s the big question.

  What this Island can do for you

  Here, on this island, a person’s focus multiplies, worries divide, the past gets subtracted and stillness and calm are continuously added. People become creative and new ideas and solutions are constantly pouring out. And why the purple colour? You will know that soon!

  On this island, all the good monkeys become active and the wild monkeys lose their power, or fall in line with your dream. Yes, they use their power to fuel your dream. For example, a Fear Monkey is bad when he is not letting you perform, but he is good when he keeps you away from danger.

  On the Purple Island, the Fear Monkey will be active only to avoid danger. The Procrastinator Monkey will procrastinate only on the things which are unimportant. The Drunk Monkey will work for you. There will be moments of anger, but only for constructive reasons. There will be confusion, but only for you to make better choices.

  Here on this island, champions are made! Warriors are born! This island can turn the unfortunate to fortunate, the sick to healthy and the clueless into a wise one. It is because the purple sand here doesn’t allow wild monkeys to swing and somersault, but makes them stay focused and co-operate.

  People here love to wake up with that bright smile of ease, and be aware that they have twenty-four hours added in their account to live fully and cultivate the gems of passion and hard work. The people here truly listen to all kind of sounds because they are attentive as the wild monkeys don’t dance. They can recognise the sound of a chirping bird, the sound of a baby’s laughter, the sound of waves, the sound of trees… Here, everyone understands that the true gift of life is this moment, and everything else is an assumption based on experience.

  How can you spend maximum time on Purple Island?

  As the Human Monkey walked around the Purple Island, he took in its many sights—its pristine air scented with mogra flowers, the soothing breeze, bright sunlight and most of all, its many purple lotuses.

  The island was full of purple lotuses of compassion, purple birds of positivity, the purple air of stillness and in fact, the purple cold breeze which is as powerful as the sword!

  Even as he was mulling over this, for the first time he paid attention to the little purple birds which he sees everyday but never paid attention to!

  He saw purple lilies dancing in the breeze. This moment filled him with pure love and he experienced a stillness. He experienced his own presence at this moment. His attention went to each cell of his body and he saw life! Miss Gratitude came in from somewhere and sat on his shoulder. He never understood what happened.

  Whenever he breathed in the purple breeze, he felt as though every cell had washed itself and rejuvenated itself with pure stillness. He realised that whatever had happened in the past had happened just to bring him to this moment. He was happy with the past now and had made peace with it.

  He understood the depth of his dream and sensed the power of his vision. He felt light as a feather and as powerful as a sword. He came into contact with a new, fresh perspective of life.

  The Human Monkey then spotted an old resident. He appeared to be a happy soul with bright fierce eyes, a sharp pointed nose and a radiant pink face. The persona of this man was extremely powerful and strong.

  He thought to himself, ‘Though he is old, he looks fresh.’

  This was the first person he saw on the Purple Island.

  Intrigued, the Human Monkey asked him the question he had been dying to ask, ‘Hi Sir, I am new to this land. How can I spend my maximum time on this land?’

  The senior resident replied, ‘Oh, I am so glad that you want to live here. Atleast you found this place, otherwise today’s generation is very far from this place. They are almost unaware that it exists and I doubt they will ever discover this land. They will always keep running behind material wealth and fall short because with just material wealth it is impossible to obtain true success. This is the only reason why human beings have started falling ill and getting hideous diseases early in life inspite of advanced medical science and technology. Now that you are here, I will tell you the ways to do well in your personal and professional life.’

  Rules to Stay on at the Purple Island!

  Steal the remote control.

  The Human Monkey didn’t understand what this meant at first. The senior resident then asked him to make a list of people on whom his happiness depended.

  Let’s write the names of people on whom our happiness depends!

  All these people have the secret remote to control you. Take that remote back. Once you snatch the remote back, you will have full control and now you can activate the monkey you want.

  Once you are in control, it’s all up to you. If you feel you are getting complacent, you could activate the good Fear Monkey. He will make you come on track. If you feel your Ego Monkey is taking control, you could activate feeling grateful. You could always keep Confidence Monkey with you and keep your passion fires burning.

  Wear a ‘Thank you’ and ‘Sorry’ label.

  The senior resident said, ‘I saw many people in my lifetime for whom their pride and ego were the biggest things. They keep feeding the Ego Monkey by taking credit all the time, by putting others down and by not being open to listening. This leads to poor relationships, which is a permanent invitation to sadness.

  ‘Thank you’ and ‘Sorry’ are two words which will keep your Ego Monkey in control. And trust me, when it is controlled, half the problems are solved!

  To stay on this island you should be humble enough to accept your mistakes. To stay on this island you should be grateful enough to digest criticism. Good and bad are just labels. Without these two labels, your Ego Monkey will remain active and once it is active, your exit from the Purple island is guaranteed. Once a person start being humble and grateful, the Ego Monkey will stop growing. He will not get his food and eventually he will shrink because of starving.’

  Expect less and execute more.

  The senior citizen also added, ‘You have to focus more on work and expect less from results. Here Fear Monkey will fool you. You have to beware of him. If you keep thinking and worry about the results … you won’t get there! A lot of your time will just go into analysis which will lead to stress. You will feel like you worked enough when you hardly worked! You need to execute more and it automatically takes up your chances to qualify for better results. Most people keep getting stressed about the future and then they are again thrown out of Purple Island.’

  Listening to all this, the Human Monkey started believing in the process rather than overstressing about the results. He wanted to make himself more capable and a doer than just a wishful thinker!

  Use the monkey-numbering meditation technique.

  Now this meditation technique is also called as ‘thought numbering meditation’ as each monkey comes up with a thought. When you label and count them, you can actually separate your thoughts and choose the best one for you!

  Meditation releases the feel-good hormone called serotonin and oxytocin which are responsible for lifting the mood. It will help all the good monkeys to take control. Oxytocin is a love and caring hormone and will make you empathetic.

  Stress, on the other hand, leads to the monkeys dancing and this dance lead to the release of cortisol, a stress hormone. When you meditate periodically, good hormones
are released and it is a sure way to continue staying on the Purple Island. Even if Wild Monkeys try to pull you out, you will have the power to kill them.

  If you are new to meditation, start with short durations. But make sure you are consistent with it. Don’t let the P-Monkey interfere and distract you.

  Pretend you are wearing an invisible Purple Crown.

  Look around and try to spot the colour purple. Let the purple colour be a gentle reminder for you to be in the Purple Island. Try and feel that there is purple energy on your head asking you to be cool, relaxed and effective. This is your Purple Crown.

  Start reminding yourself about the Purple Crown every day. Once you subsequently make it a habit, you will be more effective in your work. It’s not the crown which is changing you. It’s the attitude that it engenders in you.

  A Few Months Later

  T he Human Monkey got back his remote from all the people on whom his happiness depended. He started being happy most of the time. He began to notice a great amount of creativity in his work. He always kept an eye out for the invisible Purple Crown. He did not dwell much upon others’ opinions, though he did listen to everything carefully without judgment. He planned his work and gave his 100 per cent without worrying about the results.

  He got up every morning and finished his daily morning rituals. He breathes the purple breeze regularly. He participated in all sorts of activities and finished every assignment on time. Life was smooth.

  The Human Monkey also discovered that with every wild monkey he dropped, a new world opened up.

  One fine day, he came across his old friend, the Eagle.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ asked the Human Monkey.

  ‘I live here,’ replied the Eagle.

  ‘What? You live here?’ The Human Monkey was surprised.

  ‘All animals stay here. It’s humans who find it difficult to stay here. Maybe because they don’t follow the rules.’

  The Eagle further added, ‘Let me tell you, the Purple Island is not a physical land. It is the moment you are in right now! In fact, it’s a land on which your existence depends! If the land slides, your physical existence ends! Think about it! This Island can give you everything, but only if you value it and only if you manage to stay on it. Apart from this Island every other place is full of trouble. Try living in the Ego Monkey’s house or for that matter in the house of Revenge, Fear or Anger and you will suffer!’

  The Eagle continued, ‘The present island is the most beautiful. It’s the actual Heaven! In fact, Hell and Heaven are what you create! Hell is when you are overpowered by wild monkeys and start to complain, start being ungrateful and start to crib. Heaven is when you control your monkeys, learn to be at peace inspite of tough situations’

  The Eagle let his message sink in before speaking further. ‘Why the name Purple Island? The purple colour is a signal to live in the present moment. It is purple because it brings balance of blue and red. The purple colour is obtained by mixing the blue and red colours. Red brings intensity and energy to the colour and blue brings stability and relaxation. Together they become purple which is a perfect balance of these two.’

  The Human Monkey then asked, ‘But if the Purple Island is the very place, the very moment that I live in, then why don’t I live in it every day?’

  The Eagle of Wisdom smiled. ‘Because your Wild Monkeys also have a life! They also want to live! And they don’t want to die like that!’

  The Human Monkey then asked, ‘But what if the Wild Monkeys haunt me again and take me to their land? I am not sure how long I will stay here?’

  ‘Then again come back to the Purple Island!! Keep your Confidence Monkey on one shoulder and Miss Grateful on other. They will help you control your wild monkey. You can also use a variety of techniques. Use the Candle of Hope when you are afraid, shut the Drunk Monkey up when it attacks, use the reverse engineering technique when the P-Monkey is on the prowl and so on. You know all of them. The fact that you realised that they are monkeys and not you means half the battle is won.’

  ‘Eagle, a last question please?’ requested the Human Monkey.

  ‘What about that message which I saw often, but couldn’t decode what it meant? I feel something for a moment whenever I see this message and then that feeling vanishes!’

  (The jumbled message ‘nay ady acn eb het alts yad!’ which was mentioned at the beginning of the book on Page 10.)

  In a flash, the Eagle rearranged the jumbled English letters and read, ‘ Any day can be the last day!’

  The Human Monkey smiled. He had understood what he had to do.

  He was ready to face the world.

  His new life began.

  Points to Remember

  ‘Any day can be the last day!’ Don’t forget that fact.

  The present moment will automatically push the wild monkeys aside.

  Only your confidence and gratefulness will be with you in the present.

  Whenever you feel, you are surrounded by the monkeys the first thing is to come into the present moment. It has all the solutions. Try!

  A Personal Note

  H ow are you doing?

  I hope you have recognised your inner monkeys and begun controlling the wild ones.

  A suggestion: for one week just attempt to recognise the presence of the wild monkeys. Once you are able to recognise them, you are a step ahead and they will automatically start to lose their power. From there on, move one step at a time to work towards controlling them.

  Life is beautiful and it is up to us to choose to see it. Let that choice stay with us and not with our unwanted emotions.

  I have made a list of a few thought branches that these monkeys keep swinging to and fro from all day. They will help you understand which monkey is attacking you and how you can respond to them.

  Please write to me with your experiences with these monkeys over email: meet.sfurtisahare@gmail.com

  Or find me on Instagram at ‘sfurtisahare’.

  A Few Daily Situations

  Neha decides to start work on her assignments before the deadline. While using the washroom, she checks her face. A voice pops up, ‘My double chin is quite visible. How did I become so fat? I look miserable. Also, I am not that tall and I have pimples on my face too.’

  Neha … WAITTTTT! You are complaining.

  Solution: Bring Miss Grateful into the picture and think of the things you have. You have a fully functional heart, liver, kidneys and other body parts. Be grateful for them. Don’t take them for granted.

  While preparing for your presentation, you suddenly start to think about what could go wrong when you are making the presentation. These thoughts haunt you:

  ‘What if they ask me this question?’

  ‘What if the slides don’t change when I want them to?’

  Wait … wait. Your Fear Monkey is trying to dominate you.

  Solution: Make yourself strong. Bring in the Confidence Monkey and recall your last big win. Take a deep breath and use the mantra, ‘Let me see what happens next!’

  Anna bagged a business deal. In that moment of victory, her thoughts start with ‘Wow, I am so happy. Finally, my hardwork has paid off!’ and then move to, ‘Now I will show him how good I am. Last year he had said I was useless. Let me show this idiot!’

  Wait … wait, that’s not you. It’s your Revenge Monkey showing up.

  Solution: Remind yourself that the Revenge Monkey is just trying to misguide your focus. You may not realise it now but it will impact you in the long run. Forget the past, focus on the present and learn to be more empathetic.

  You are trying to call someone dear to you. The phone’s busy. You start to wonder, ‘Whom is he speaking to? What if he is seeing someone else? Is he cheating on me?’ Your thoughts then move to, ‘Let me teach him a lesson. I will make him realise, how it feels when the phone is on wait for half-an-hour.’

  Wait … wait …Your Revenge Monkey and Fear Monkey are attacking together.

  Solutio
n: It is quite natural to feel trapped when two monkeys attack you simultaneously.

  In this case, first kill the Fear Monkey using the Candle of Hope. The Candle of Hope will bring back your trust and help you believe that everything is and will be alright.

  Your boss says, ‘You are not prepared for this position now. You probably need to wait for six more months.’

  Your thoughts go, ‘How dare she! Me? Unprepared? Who is she? She doesn’t know me. I have always been a topper. I have been a gold medallist at my university.’

  Wait … wait … Your Ego Monkey is showing up.

  Solution: Knowing that the Ego Monkey is likely to crop up in this situation and ruin everything, try and find a solution before that can happen. A massive ego is a big roadblock in enjoying the small things that life has to offer.

  Let us look at a few more scenarios and possible solutions that you could use to tame the monkey of the moment!

  Incidents

  Attack

  Counter Attack!

  What a big queue!

  Red Drunk Monkey

  Relax. It happens sometimes

  Why the hell did she speak like that!

  Her Anger Monkey was active due to unmet deadlines.

  She is a good person. Give her the benefit of doubt.

  Slow internet. These people are useless.

  Red Drunk Monkey

  Can I do something? If not, I need to be patient.

  No. I can’t do it.

  Fear Monkey

  Feed the monkey with cherries.

  Let me eat this chocolate one last time.

  Beware. P-Monkey is showing up.

  Say no.

  Why is it raining? I was about to leave.