September 14, 2023

Manage your monkey or (part 2)

By Steve Hauptman

(Continued from Part 1.)  fro

*0m

1. Monkeymind is, arguably, insane.

That’s if we define sanity as being in touch with reality.

Monkeymind is anything but.

Preoccupied with memories of the past and projections of the future, it spins a narrative saturated with fantasy and only minimal awareness of what’s actually happening right here, right now.

Anyone who’s tried to meditate knows this narrative all too well.

Never have? Try now:

Sit still.

Close your eyes.

Take a deep breath.

Stop thinking.

Put all your attention on your breathing instead.

Count your breaths.

(Authorial pause while reader counts.)

How far did you get before your counting was interrupted by a thought?

That chatter you heard?

That’s monkeymind.

(Concluded tomorrow.)

*

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 14th, 2023 at 9:31 am and posted in control. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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