The Monkey Mind and You

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Let me paint a picture for you. It’s morning time and you have just woken up. You are poised to start the day brilliantly. You wake up and the first thing you do is grab your trusty phone. You begin to go through facebook, Instagram, snapchat and twitter. It’s now an hour later and you are still in bed, taking in all the social media and letting it rub off on you (whether or not you like to admit it, it happens all the time)
You look at the clock and it is an hour later and you decide all this reading has made you tired, so you snooze again for another 30 minutes. You wake up thinking you are refreshed and grab your phone again to “see whats going on”. You get sucked in for another 30 minutes between the texts, emails and social media.
You drag yourself out of bed. Maybe you grab some coffee or tea, jump in the shower, replaying an article in your head that you read that really has you “miffed”. You finish your shower, eat and start your day 2 hours later than you really wanted to. “Oh well my workout will have to be pushed back to tonight” you think.
You grab your stuff to head out the door and now your mind is racing. Thought after thought after thought. One after another and they wont stop coming. Maybe some great ideas slip in there, but for the most part its things you need to do and that damn article or that comment that someone made.
While heading out, someone bumps into you on your way into the store. You semi smile and say “no problem” but really you are now pissed. You get in the store and they don’t have the “thing” you had your heart set on and now you are getting more frustrated.
You continue this process for the whole day, and lo and behold its now 7 pm and you still haven’t worked out, journaled or done the things you said you were going to do this morning. You are frustrated and instead of checking in with yourself, you have another glass of wine and watch another episode of Soul Suck, before you drift discontentedly off to bed.
Now imagine this routine for a month
2 months…
6 months…
A year…
Your monkey mind has robbed you. We wake up in the morning with monkey mind. It keeps us from focusing on what we really need to be doing, or feel best doing. It keeps us from focusing on our goals, visions, and ourselves.
Most of us don’t let it go on for a year, but it has happened to the best of us. We are not our truest self when this happens. Monkey mind exists in all of us and it is important to recognize this, because if we don’t, it can often send us in a tailspin of emotions and crazy thoughts.
Learn to control your thoughts. Learn how to set positive intentions for yourself and for the day. I shared a post yesterday on my page from Alexi Panos and although it doesn’t have to be exact, its a great way to set your intentions for the day. Her break down is Connecting, Meditating, Affirming, Visualizing, writing, clearing and learning.
Please note: I am not as detailed as she is in my timing. I devote 15–20 minutes in the mornings as well as the evenings,for meditation and that seems to really help. The point here is get into an “attitude of gratitude” before you even pick your phone up for the day. Give thanks for what you have and set that intention and then focus on taming the monkey mind.
Until next time…
If you liked this article, please like(  ) down below and share, and THANK YOU for reading! You are AWESOME!
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email: chad@bordes.com
I am just a guy in the world, trying to do right by others. I feed the homeless, love watching movies and reading. Hiking and cycling are my two favorite things in the world. I love great conversation and tend to be interested in many things. Open to conversation: https://m.me/cbordes71

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