Mastering the Monkey Mind

Buddhists characterize the agitated, restless quality of our negative thoughts as the Monkey Mind. Like a troupe of monkeys swinging through the forest, our minds rarely pause to savor the peace of the present moment. Instead, they move wildly from branch to branch, chattering and screeching about what we have or haven’t accomplished, how we fear we’ve failed or will fail. Our negative thoughts keep us in a locked in a constant state of worry while we fritter away the moments of our lives in a turbulent back and forth journey between what was and what might be.