An Interesting Exercise - Taming the Monkey Mind


Why don't you try an interesting exercise? Sit down with your back straight, relax, keep your hands in
your lap and close your eyes. Now simply watch your thoughts floating in your mind as you would the
moving pictures on a TV screen.

Do this for just two minutes.

 Did you notice how many thoughts flitted in and out?! Did you also note how your mind jumped from one
thought to another? This shows that it is not only the body that works.The mind also does a lot of work
(thinking, picturing, judging, planning etc.)

Think for a moment... Even if we want the mind to stay on a single thought, it keeps leaping from one
thought to another. Can you name something that jumps around restlessly all the time? Yes! A monkey.
This is why sages often compare the mind to a monkey. Disciplining the monkey mind... Firstly, why
should we discipline the mind? Let us take the example of watching TV.


We enjoy watching TV because it has lots of channels; and we can watch one of them undisturbed for
some time. Suppose the TV kept switching automatically from one channel to the other, while you were
trying to watch your favourite programme!

Would we be able to watch and enjoy anything? The mind is also like a TV. It has many channels of
thought. But in what condition is it now? It jumps continuously from one thought to another, as you saw
for yourself when you kept track of your thoughts.

So we should try and learn to be aware of the mind and fix it in one place to make full use of it. What
can I do to slow down my monkey mind? Always try to keep your mind on what you are doing. If you
are eating, think only of the food before you While doing homework, fix your mind on the books, and
so on. This only comes with practice. Start today!

Source: http://www.chinmayauk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Chinmayam_September_2008.pdf

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