Don't Feed the Monkey Mind

By: Jennifer Shannon LMFT

Narrated by: Jennifer Lund Jorgens

Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

The very things we do to control anxiety can make anxiety worse. This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help you recognize the constant chatter of your anxious "monkey mind", stop feeding anxious thoughts, and find the personal peace you crave.

Ancient sages compared the human mind to a monkey: constantly chattering, hopping from branch to branch - endlessly moving from fear to safety. If you are one of the millions of people whose life is affected by anxiety, you are familiar with this process. Unfortunately, you can't switch off the "monkey mind", but you can stop feeding the monkey - or stop rewarding it by avoiding the things you fear.

Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows you how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness techniques. By following the exercises in this book, you'll learn to identify your own anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.

Once you stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive your life can feel. This book will show you how anxiety can only continue as long as you try to avoid it. And, paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make you anxious can you reverse the cycle that keeps your fears alive.

©2017 Jennifer Shannon (P)2017 Jennifer Shannon

LIFE CHANGER!

This book really breaks down and simplified our relationship with anxiety disorders. As someone who has lived with health anxiety for 15 years, I’ve tried too hard to reason with my monkey to no avail. Never once thought that trying to reason with said monkey was like talking to a wall. The monkey just doesn’t understand. Thank you for changing my life, I now feel like I can take on the world one day at a time. I’d recommend people with generalized anxiety to first read DARE by Barry McDonagh then read this book to make a strong connection with how Dr. Shannon writes. Both books compliment each other perfectly and Dr Shannon’s book is the necessary finally to drive the point home. 5 star all the way! Thank you Dr. Shannon, you really have changed my life. Cheers!

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great info that can be put to practice immediately

Excellent book! easy to follow along. the info makes sense. I'm using the tools to help me with my anxiety driving. I already have a new perspective and I realize that I was valuing "safety" over independence and growth. I'm ready to use these tools and conquer the anxiety and embrace the unexpected twist and turns while driving and through life!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

I'd give it 58 starts if I could

This book is brilliant. I wish I could have read it years ago. Instead of fighting negative thoughts, learn to deal with them. Love the "thank you" response to the monkey and setting aside time to worry. Mental illness is nasty and in today's society only seems to get worse. This book gives you tools to help. Bravo!

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

The Real Deal is right!

More impressive than the strategies are the analogies and anecdotes that explain the mechanisms behind anxiety. This is exactly what I needed and I plan on listening several more times as I begin to make friends with my monkey.

USABLE TOOL FOR ANXIETY <br />

Compliments dare response by Bary Macdonah
Consise and too the point.
Must read for anxious guys out there

Great Book! Very helpful.

Great book and very helpful! Recommend to all who want to improve there lives. I will re-listen to it multiple times.

Breaks the Code

This one may be the one that breaks the code for my unsolvable anxiety disorder. It is explained thoroughly, for anyone needing to analyze something. User friendly and amazingly simple.

Thank you

This is the only book I’ve ever understood about anxiety. This book has got me out driving outside of my comfort zone and out of the house in bed. I am so thankful to the writer of this book. I will re read it when needed to stop the “monkey chatter” 🐒😂 as silly as it sounds it’s sooo true

One of the best books on managing anxiety.

If you are looking for a practical and easy to understand book on managing your anxiety, this is it. I have read many books and found this one extremely helpful.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Factual, Realistic, and Accesible

This book opens a new accesses way into the self help genre, wisely staying away from the tepid remains of "positive thinking". Jennifer instead presents the practical art of taming your anxiety (your "monkey") by embracing it rather than fleeing or shielding yourself from it. she wastes no time and her succinct writing style is a pleasure to listen to. I've listened to this book twice already since I bought it three days back and I've learned something new each time.
Read/listen to this book and you would build a cognitive infrastructure to curb the impact of your anxiety and to live the life you want rather than the one your monkey wants.