Have you ever heard the term Monkey Mind or Mind Monkey? The term correlates a situation in our mind with incessant thoughts jumping from one subject to another as a monkey jumps from one branch to another. This not only affects our mental peace, it takes away vital energy from us as well.
The concept of Monkey Mind was originally coined by Buddha. He told that the human mind is filled with drunken monkeys. They all chatter, screech and do all sorts of things to draw attention from us. If we fail to give attention to any one of them, it will make us crazy. Some of the monkeys are smart enough to draw our attention, every time they appear. Fear is one such monkey.
The obvious outcome of the monkey mind is restlessness, mental anxiety, inability to concentrate and fail to memorize. As we are becoming more and more civilized, this syndrome is becoming more prominent. It may be because of our ever changing life style; demand from the society and family; stressful life; long hours at work. All of us are now multi-tasking and deal with plethora of information day in and day out. The core existence of Monkey Mind is data processing that we accumulate through our activities all over the day. Our mind continuously does all sort of permutation and combination with the data to find a way out of the situation or determining next step. So, where monkey mind is a cause of concern for us, it is simultaneously a necessity to dodge through the way of our complex life style.
Knowing that Monkey Mind is a necessary evil, we need to find a way to tame these monkeys. To do so, we need to first find out the reason of the very existence of these monkeys, one by one and then tame them one by one. As beating a monkey or run away from a monkey adversely affect the situation, opposing a particular thought or delaying action for a particular thought will push us toward the walls and make the situation worse for us. Rather, we can hear to the monkeys and understand the situation. Either we can take an action to pass through the situation or prepare a tasktask list to overcome it. It is imperative that we write down the tasktask list on a piece of paper or in our multi-media device. It ensures that the monkey will not make much noise for some time. However, the mind monkey again becomes active after some time.
While organization helps a lot in keeping the monkey mind in peace at least for some time, it does not solve the issue completely, neither it helps us to overcome the distraction issue. According to a joint study by Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, our brain is naturally primed to wander wherever possible. It has suggested that we should take a break whenever we don’t enjoy our job. Jonathon W. Schooler, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara said “If you don’t take regular breaks – especially when you are not enjoying your job –your brain will take them for you’’. As you can understand, this very concept is closely associated with monkey mind or unquiet mind. To overcome this kind of situation, it is often suggested that we go for a break when it is required. It is very much important that we live at that moment and don’t think about future and past frequently.
The ultimate solution of Monkey Mind is to train the monkeys. Meditation is the best solution for the same. Through continuous meditation, we can tame our mind monkey. The positive affirmation is one of the best tools to tell ourselves i.e. the mind monkeys that we are calm and relaxed. You can exercise a very simple meditation.
1.Sit at a calm place comfortably.
2.While inhaling, say “I am”
3.While exhaling, say “Calm”
While doing this meditation, keep proper attention to your inhale and exhale pattern. You may be initially distracted by different thoughts. However continuous practice will help you to focus and once you will be able to do this, you can find that your body and mind become relaxed.
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