The monkey mind..

 What Are We Really Looking For?

At different stages of life, we’re always searching for something .....wisdom, love, security, purpose, or maybe just a good cup of chai. Lately, I found myself trying to think, analyze, and visualize the stages I have yet to live. And there it was again..... the monkey mind.

Now why do we call it the monkey mind and not the chimpanzee or gorilla mind? My guess: the person who coined it must have been really fond of monkeys.

But what does this restless mind actually do? Most of the time, it simply revolves....like a ceiling fan on high speed, making a lot of noise but not really cooling much.

The past few days, I was knee-deep in writing, researching, and talking to people about a particular topic. My energies felt overly stimulated ....intellectually, socially, and even spiritually. Finally, when the draft reached its destiny, I was happy, of course. But in the evening, I caught myself asking: Was it really you who wrote all this?

The honest answer: probably not just me. There are so many parts of us that we don’t even know exist until a situation calls them forward. Sometimes, we surprise ourselves more than anyone else does.

I found an old note in one of my diaries that said: “Ignoring the mind is a beautiful sadhana.” How true!

The idea of a free soul, freedom, vibration, and so on sounds beautiful, until you realize that we’re usually the ones holding on. A disciple who went to his guru complaining, “I want to meditate, but people around me just don’t let me.”

The guru, in his wisdom, told him to return the next morning. When the disciple did, the guru said:

“The tree wasn’t holding on to you. You were holding on to the tree. Similarly, people are not holding you. You are holding on to people.”

That’s exactly who we are most of the time......professional tree-huggers of our own worries.

So perhaps the real question is: what are you still holding on to? And more importantly, is it worth all that grip strength training?

Janne dou! 🐣