{"id":199,"date":"2019-09-08T21:17:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T21:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thepowerofpositivedoing\/?p=199"},"modified":"2019-09-08T21:17:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T21:17:53","slug":"taming-my-monkey-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thepowerofpositivedoing\/2019\/09\/taming-my-monkey-mind.html","title":{"rendered":"Taming My Monkey Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buddha was the smartest psychologist I\u2019ve ever read. Over 2500 years ago he was teaching people about the human mind so that they might better understand themselves and discover how to stop their own\u00a0suffering. Buddha wasn\u2019t a god or a messiah \u2013 he was simply a very wise teacher with keen insights into human nature. He learned much by meditating and learning from his own experiences, as well as by observing the behavior of others.<\/p>\n

Buddha described the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys \u2013 jumping around, screeching, chattering, and carrying on endlessly. We all have a \u201cmonkey mind,\u201d Buddha said \u2013 with dozens of monkeys all clamoring for attention. Fear is an especially loud monkey \u2013 sounding the alarm incessantly \u2013 pointing out all the things we should be wary of and everything that could go wrong.<\/p>\n

\"monkey-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Buddha showed his students how to meditate in order to tame the drunken monkeys in their minds. It\u2019s useless to fight with the monkeys or to try to banish them from your mind because \u201cthat which you resist persists.\u201d Instead, Buddha said, if you will spend some time each day in quiet meditation \u2013\u00a0simply calm your mind by focusing on your breathing or a simple mantra \u2013 you can, over time, tame the monkeys. They will grow more peaceful if you lovingly bring them into submission with a consistent practice of meditation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that Buddha was right. Meditation is a wonderful way to quiet the voices of fear, anxiety, worry, and other negative emotions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also found that engaging the monkeys in gentle conversation can sometimes calm them down. I\u2019ll give you an example: Fear seems to be an especially noisy monkey for people like me who own their own business. As the years go by, Fear Monkey shows up less often, but when he does, he\u2019s always very intense. So I take a little time out to talk with him:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the worst that can happen?\u201d I ask\u00a0him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll go broke,\u201d Fear Monkey replies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, what will happen if I go broke?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll lose your home,\u201d he answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, will anybody die if I lose my home?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cHmmm, no, I guess not,\u201d he responds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s just a house, isn\u2019t it? There are other places to live, right?\u201d I continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh, yes, I guess so,\u201d Fear Monkey agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK then, can we live with it if we lose the house?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we can live with it,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n

And that usually does it. By the end of the conversation, Fear Monkey is still there, but he has calmed down. And I can get back to work, running my business and living my life.<\/p>\n

Learning to manage your own monkey mind is one of the best things you can do to transform your fears. Pay attention to how your monkeys act \u2013\u00a0listen to them and get to know them, especially Fear Monkey. Take time to practice simple meditation on a regular basis. Learn how to change the conversations in your head. Practice kind, loving, positive self-talk and see how it can transform your fears.<\/p>\n

\"Being<\/a>
“Being Buddha at Work: 108 Ancient Truths on Change, Stress, Money, and Success” by BJ Gallagher and Franz Metcalf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Buddha was the smartest psychologist I\u2019ve ever read. Over 2500 years ago he was teaching people about the human mind so that they might better understand themselves and discover how to stop their own\u00a0suffering. Buddha wasn\u2019t a god or a messiah \u2013 he was simply a very wise teacher with keen insights into human…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,53,134,67,208,209,210,55],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-buddha","tag-buddhism","tag-freedom-from-fear","tag-meditation","tag-monkey-mind","tag-overcoming-fear","tag-transforming-fear","tag-what-would-buddha-do"],"yoast_head":"\nTaming My Monkey Mind - The Power of Positive Doing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning to manage your own monkey mind is one of the best things you can do to transform your fears.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thepowerofpositivedoing\/2019\/09\/taming-my-monkey-mind.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taming My Monkey Mind - 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