Meditation and the Monkey Mind

The monkey mind is the constant chattering of unsettled ideas, hopes, worries, fears, desires, and so on, which are a part of the human experience.

At times we can find ourselves scrambling endlessly to appease the monkey mind, explaining away worries and fears over and over to that dumb monkey up there to no avail. There’s always something else to want or worry over.

Practicing meditation and mindfulness is as if to sit in front of that monkey mind and acknowledge it. Hearing it, gently. Allowing it its say, and allowing that to pass. Allowing the monkey mind to get tired of its games, and to fall silent.

We spend so many of our days following out the instructions (desires, thoughts, worries) of the monkey mind that we even conflate what it is to be “I” with this endless chattering in the head, leading into traps of fears and desires that leave us unable to fulfil our potential as human beings.

“I think, therefore I am”. Rather – I am, therefore I think. The mind is a wonderful tool and asset, but it need not and should not be your whole being.

Train the monkey mind to be silent, simply by sitting, being aware, and letting it pass, and you unlock the world of self that had been lost in the noise all this time.