What is the Monkey Mind?

The Monkey. He is you. You get in your own way.

He jumps out from behind the tree. Images roll though your mind like flash cards, unrequested and intrusive. Sometimes graphic, almost always emotional charged.

BOO!

Sometimes appearing out of no where. Is he testing you? Or is he on your back and you don't see him whispering in your ear? Let your guard down, for even a minute. He will.

Repetitive thoughts, rolling without course, spider webbed-linked by strange connections like a dream. Bounce from one topic to another, non-stop. The Monkey. He is the unconscious mind. He always, ALWAYS wants to be going somewhere. Anywhere. Bad, good, it's all the same to him. He is the block to mindfulness, the block to lucidity. The king of toppling forward, looking backward.

For a while, he is interested in the meditation practice. But he gets bored with it after a few weeks, and starts throwing bananas.

SHOCK the monkey? Doesn't work. He gets even more unruly. So how to contain him?

Practice, Practice, Practice!