What to do with Monkey Mind

Every meditator notices this: the mind wanders.

In the ancient days, the wandering mind was called the monkey mind. The monkey mind can’t sit still. It jumps from thought to thought.

Many meditators, when they notice this jumping, get discouraged. But, they’re missing something wonderful.

When you NOTICE the monkey mind, the mediation is working!

You’re making progress. Here’s why: Before practice, you weren’t (as) aware of the monkey mind. You followed its direction. You identified with it. You believed it.

Now, through practice, you stop following, identifying, or believing and start observing.

Observing is different from judging.

Judging is observation with an axe to grind. The observing mind simply sees what is so in this moment. No axe to grind. Nothing extra. Just witnessing, observing awareness.

Imagine this: You’re sitting there gently focusing on the mantra or the breath..

But then you realize that you’ve spent the last few minutes lost in a thought stream of fantasy. In that moment, you’ve stopped and shifted from being lost in mental content to noticing the process of wandering.

The content of the wandering thoughts and ruminations aren’t primary. What’s primary is becoming aware of wandering itself.

Many people have the idea that meditation is about stopping thoughts.

It’s not. Meditation is observing the mind’s tendency to wander, associate, remember, project, imagine, without becoming entangled or identified with the content.

Rather than follow the wandering attention, you very, very, gently return it to the object of meditation.

There’s nothing to be upset about or to judge. There’s only observing and returning. Observing the monkey mind and returning it to the object of meditation.

Gently, gently, gently. That is our practice.

What are your reflections on this?

What are your experiences with wandering attention?

What are your questions about meditation practice?

Share in the comments below.