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Today we’re looking at your pesky Monkey Mind – and the tricks it plays to get your attention – especially when you’re learning to meditate.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” bg_position=”left top” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left”][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text][heading]How did you get on with the whole ‘finding time’ thing yesterday? Do you have any top tips you’d like to share? Or questions you’d like answers to? Here’s where we’re talking about how to magically find time to meditate, even when it feels impossible! How do you find time to meditate?[/heading][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Today we’re looking at the tricks your Monkey Mind plays, to stop you from meditating, and how to get around them, as well as what to do if you miss a day and – vital – acknowledging that meditation can ‘stir the pot’ of your emotions, I’ll share with you a beautiful technique you can use as what I call ‘emotional first aid’.
Your Monkey Mind’s Tricks
One of the things your Monkey Mind loves doing is chattering. And evaluating and criticising and judging and commenting and replaying coversations and running ‘what if’ scenarios.
So it’s no wonder that, if we decide we want it to quieten down a bit and do something radical like meditate, it can freak out.
And it’s gorgeous and beautiful and clever and oh-so-annoying in its ability to find ways to distract us.
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- It might give you that irresistable itch, that simply has to be scratched!
- It might give you an ache that distracts you totally from your meditation.
- It might remind you about that totally crucial thing on your ‘to do’ list that simply cannot wait for ten minutes (even though the only things that really won’t wait are breathing, saving someone’s life and catching a flight?)
- It might tell you that meditation is stupid and a total waste of your time?
- It might tell you how bad you are at it and how it will never work for you?
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Do any of these sound familiar? I’m curious: which games does your Monkey Mind play, to distract you from meditating? Could I tempt you to share? Here’s where we’re talking about it: What does your Monkey Mind get up to, when you’re trying to meditate?[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_background” bg_position=”center top” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_color=”#0a5282″ scene_position=”center” text_color=”light” text_align=”left” top_padding=”7″ bottom_padding=”7″][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
Now, before we deal with that pesky Monkey Mind, I’d like to do a quick detour – and handle one of the things that can really get in the way of learning how to meditate – judging yourself.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Firstly, you’ll never get me judging you! And if anyone in the online group shows signs of that, they’ll be asked to stop – compassionately, but firmly!
So no one else is going to judge you.
And there’s no point in you judging yourself.
Some days your meditation might feel great; other days you might wonder, “Why did I do that?”
Sometimes you’ll even miss a day – and that’s ok – just pick up where you left off and get going again.
If your meditation goes well one day but not the next, the only person that needs to know is you. Nobody is going to be sitting there telling you off. It’s ok. It’s part of the process. There is no critique here. There is no feedback or appraisal. You won’t be judged; you won’t be scored. You can’t get it wrong!
If you find you’re judging yourself, please just laugh and let it go. :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
So, diving into the Monkey Mind…
Many of us find that, as soon as we sit still and quietly, our mind starts to race. It’s as though everything it has been trying to say to us all day has to come out at once, because it’s finally got our attention. In fact, this is the reason why many of us feel uncomfortable with silence. You can spot this by seeing whether you need to have the radio or television going in the background most of the day.
Actually, the Monkey Mind races most of the time, but we’re used to keeping busy and drowning it out.
The problem with a racing Monkey Mind
There are many physiological and psychological effects from a racing Monkey Mind. These include:
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- Stress hormones go wild.
Our fight / flight mechanism is regularly triggered by stressful thoughts and the sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive. This can lead to fatigue, difficulty with concentration and, if it’s regular, ill health. - Shallow breathing.
Shallow, upper-chest breathing is a common symptom of a racing mind. It reduces the amount of oxygen available to the body, which impacts everything from your cellular-level health to your mind’s ability to think. Oxygen is the body’s main food. - Foggy thinking.
With the reduced oxygen levels, your mind will struggle to think clearly. With the constant stream of Monkey Mind commentary, it’s hard to access a state of mind that leads to insight and inspiration, so you’re more likely to find it hard to complete even simple tasks, let alone complex jobs. - Stress creates stress.
A stressed-out mind is like a perpetual motion machine: it just keeps going. If your Monkey Mind is telling you stories of stress and worry, it will breed more stories to justify keeping that cycle going. It isn’t going to stop, unless you do something differently.
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What’s Going On When You Meditate?
What’s still happening, when you’re doing ‘nothing’ (also known as meditating!)?
Thinking! Thinking! Thinking!
Your Monkey Mind provides a constant stream of entertainment and distraction. It will want to be absolutely anywhere, other than ‘here and now’.
Meditation invites us to sit with our thoughts; to stop fighting them; to stop resisting; to stop repressing them; to stop engaging with them – it’s about becoming a silent, non-judgemental observer of our thoughts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_background” bg_position=”center top” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_color=”#0a5282″ scene_position=”center” text_color=”light” text_align=”left” top_padding=”7″ bottom_padding=”7″][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
As the psychotherapist Carl Jung famously said:
“What you resist persists.”
And that goes for your Monkey Mind, too.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]As soon as we resist a thought, we are giving it our power and attention. As soon as we fight it, it wins. We make it stronger by feeding it with our attention, engaging with its story. And here’s an Insider Secret:
Left to its own devices, that thought would simply melt away.
Many years ago a Buddhist monk taught me that no emotion or thought can last longer than 60 seconds without us ‘feeding it’ by telling ourselves stories or engaging with the thought. I found that really challenging at the time, because I was very good at being stuck in a particular emotion for days on end. But, with practice, I found what he said to be true.
A thought left to its own devices arrives, grows and then gently fades away.
That is the natural course of the thought.
The reason our thoughts hang around for so long is because we keep feeding them.
The more you try to stop your mind from racing, the more it will resist your efforts. Acceptance of the mind is the key to inner peace.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
What’s The Solution?
Instead of fighting a thought, instead of trying to make your mind go quiet, how about becoming a conscious observer of your thoughts? And don’t just leave it for your meditation practice time!
Allow yourself to become detached from your thoughts; stop telling the stories. Perhaps you might imagine your thoughts to be like soft clouds, floating across the sky – you observe them, but you are not engaging with them or trying to control them. And, just as mysteriously as they arrive, so they can leave.
Of if you prefer you might imagine the thought being on a conveyor belt, it arrives on the conveyor belt: you notice it and it moves away without you having to do anything. Remember the number one meditation myth? Meditation is NOT about shutting up your Monkey Mind – or getting rid of it! (See Day One).
But an untrained, untamed mind is like a sugar-laden, over-excited kid at Christmas. You can’t expect it to behave calmly and it’s likely to end in a tantrum.
So the goal of accepting your Monkey Mind is to stop resisting it, but also to stop engaging with it. Whereas the goal of your meditation practice is to teach it habits that lead to your inner peace, not to chaotic inner stress.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][image_with_animation image_url=”11948″ animation=”Fade In” img_link_target=”_blank” img_link=”https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152053461101238″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
Time For Action!
How about allowing your thoughts to turn into passing clouds, just for the next sixty seconds?
And notice what happens in your mind, in your body and in your emotions?
And here’s where you can share your experiences of this: Turning your thoughts into passing clouds
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Emotional ‘First Aid’
Meditation is famous for its ability to ‘stir the pot’ – to help us gain clarity of what is ‘real’ and what is ‘story’, but also holding our current issues up for us to see and deal with.
Sometimes – just sometimes – that ‘pot stirring’ can drag up emotions that we might need some help with. And that’s why I’m sharing an amazing 5 minute ’emotional first aid’ technique with you today.
This technique helps you get yourself back into a space of clear-thinking resourcefulness, so you can choose whether or not to deal with the root cause of the emotion. It’s a way of handling that emotion, without suppressing or denying it. It sets you free from feeling ‘stuck’ in it. Want to find out more?
Emotional First Aid: How To Deal With Difficult Emotions In Under 5 Minutes
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I hope you have found today’s instalment useful and that it has inspired you to carve out ten minutes to meditate.
I’d love to hear how you get on today.
I’ll be back tomorrow when you’ll learn the little-known truths (that nobody tells you!) for turning an ‘occasional’ meditation into a habit you look forward to – for the 7 days and beyond – nuts and bolts and more!
See you there!
With love, Namaste,
P.S. If you’re serious about creating a long-term, life-changing, sustainable meditation habit and want to dive in more deeply, then you’ll love my 10 week meditation programme. In it, we cover the whole ‘Monkey Mind’ problem in much more detail. And you’ll get to experience four different types of meditation, so you can really find one that works for you, no matter how busy you are or how much your Monkey Mind chatters.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]