What is Chimp Rage? It is excess, unburnt energy in our bodies which can cause tension and negative moods. Chimp Rage therefore also implies burning off energy through physical activity and action.
It comes from the idea that we are descended from chimpanzees and chimpanzees are often angry and violent. I’m not a scientist but like it or not, we have anger and violence in our DNA, or at least the potential for it. I believe that all humans should do some form of regular physical activity and energy burning to maintain health and keep the anger, tension, stress and negativity in check.
Many humans are angry/anxious/depressed, but these “negative” energies don’t always have to have a negative outcome. I’m interested in diverting the energies of anger and stress towards positive outcomes. I’m interested in flipping a “negative” mood into something positive by re-directing the energy towards some form of exercise and activity, like releasing rage on a boxing bag, or lifting weights, or cardio, or swimming, or yoga, or anything, as long as it burns off some energy.
If we stop physically moving our body, the body becomes lazy or angry which causes a decline in our health and wellbeing, a weakening of our muscles and sometimes excess storage of fat (fat is stored energy). The human body does not like stagnation.
Physical effort inherently involves some mental effort. We have to start with decisions and intent in the mind to push our bodies to do something. The mind is in the brain, which is in the body. Body = mind. So not only do we exercise our bodies, we also exercise our minds. The main purpose of burning off Chimp Rage is a healthy mind. Angry body = angry mind. Happy body = happy mind.
Action is the weapon we use to fight a perpetual battle against resistance, laziness and apathy. I used to be the laziest person in the world, but now, like a lot of other people, I battle against these things inside my head every single day. When we keep putting in effort, we exercise the effort and motivation “muscles” in our minds. It’s not easy, but the longer we maintain the habit of taking action, the easier it becomes to build motivation and fight laziness. We have to regularly exercise the motivation and effort muscles in our minds in order to maintain balance. It’s supposed to be challenging, it’s supposed to take some effort because that’s what makes us strong and keeps us strong, just like regularly showering and eating keeps us clean, alive and energised.
Exercise should be a regular habit with no end, just like eating or having a shower. It’s something that we do regularly to maintain a healthy level of wellbeing a vitality. It becomes habitual, a part of a person’s routine, a thing we do to maintain body and mind. We live life, we eat food and absorb energy from it, we do activities which burn off the energy and strengthen the body and mind, then we go to sleep to recharge. Then we repeat the process. Perpetual maintenance.
Exercise changed my life. Exercise lifted me out of a depression that I had been in for years. It continues to help me feel stable, healthy, clear and motivated rather than unnecessarily stressed and angry. If you have these kinds of negative moods in your life and you’re not exercising, give it a go for a couple of weeks and see how it makes you feel. It might change your life.
Do you exercise? Let me know in the comments.