Every member of the team here at I AM L.I.P have suffered in one way or another with the effects of family breakdown and divorce.
There is such a diverse range of emotion and feeling that has been experienced that we all thought about individually sharing our experiences with you. And as we wrote down our feelings, we came across a term called ‘monkey brain’.
Nobody had heard of it before or even recognised it. But it existed. What fascinated all of us was how many of us had suffered from it and we didn’t know. What was even more fascinating was that there were ways to deal with it and reduce its effects.
So we decided to write this article and introduce it to you.
What Is Monkey Mind?
Monkey mind is a Buddhist term/description for when your mind is restless, troubled, confused and overwhelmed with thoughts and worries.
It is when there are a million things racing around in your mind.
Money mind also describes your inability to quieten and calm your mind.
What Causes Monkey Mind?
Stress, anxiety, distress and worries can be the cause of a monkey mind.
What Makes Monkey Mind Worse?
Too much screen time and multitasking can exacerbate monkey mind.
When you are bombarded with too much information and are not given enough time to process the information, this can also exacerbate your monkey mind.
What Are The Symptoms Of Monkey Mind?
Some of the symptoms of money mind are the inability to sleep, anxiety, confusion, and lack of focus and concentration.
Also your mind is constantly in overdrive.
How Can You Calm Your Monkey Mind?
There are many ways to calm your monkey mind. Some of them are:
Try Meditation – Meditation will slow your mind so you can organise and file your thoughts. It will also help clear your mind of all the thoughts that are circulating round and round and causing you anxiety.
Please remember if your mind wanders when you meditate and thoughts are still dominating your mind, it doesn’t mean that meditation is not working or you are doing it wrong. It means you need to practice it a bit more.
Have Gratitude – Showing gratitude and appreciation for all the good that is in your life and for all the good that happens to you will slowly start to change your outlook in life to a positive one. Over a period of time gratitude will make you see your cup is half full and neural pathways will form where your brain will look at things in a positive way. This will make you handle things in a calm fashion and will control your monkey mind.
Be Present – This is something that requires a bit of practice but you can get there. Try and focus on what is in front of you or what you are doing at that moment. Do not let other thoughts, worries and troubles contaminate your present. Another word for being present and focusing on being present is mindfulness.
Can You Learn To Control Your Monkey Mind?
Yes you can. Over a period of time and using the techniques described above you can keep your monkey mind at bay, learn to stay calm and stable when you are getting overwhelmed and overall have a sense of peace about you.
If you know any more interesting things about monkey mind, let us know on our forum and social media! Share some of your thoughts with others and start a conversation.
DISCLAIMER
Before you start any new diet, health programme, exercise routine, and ingest or topically use any oil, vitamin, mineral, product or compound, it is very important to consult your doctor, therapist or do a patch test to make sure you do not have any adverse reactions.
We do not offer any form of medical or psychological advice. The information in our wellbeing articles are offered for educational purposes only. Our wellbeing articles are not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. Thank you.
