Monkey Mind

I always knew what the term "Monkey Mind" meant to me; little did I know there is actually a legitimate definition. It actually explains a lot.

MONKEY MIND ( by W. Bradford Smith: The Reading Corner)

The mind creates 50,000 thoughts a day! The trick is not to become attached to any of them. These thoughts are simply the byproduct of the brain's metabolism, nothing to take too seriously.

The term "monkey mind" is a poetic way of describing your mind's constant chatter. The monkey mind refers to the little voice in your mind that comments on nearly everything you do or experience. It is that stream of consciousness that keeps flitting from one thing to another like a monkey jumping from branch to branch. Even when you are concentrating your mind drifts off to fantasies about something you are going to do next weekend or an unresolved problem you must face tomorrow.

This chattering voice not only distracts you in most situations, it also uses valuable brain power. In today's times with modern technology such as the television, radio,and the Internet, this chatter is reinforced as we're constantly bombarded by input. The monkey mind becomes even more of a block when we allow our actions to flow from the ramblings of the monkey mind. How many of us have been on a phone call with another, or perhaps in a class, when suddenly the monkey mind thought is, "I wonder what emails I've received?" If we're not careful, before we know it, we're reading our email messages while supposedly listening to the phone call.

Taking time once or twice a day to quiet the mind can prove very helpful in the long run. Meditation, reflection or prayer can quiet the restless nature of your mind. Also, periodically dumping all the thoughts you've been trying to hold onto can be very freeing from the monkey mind.

And that, my friends, is why I have a blog.