Restless Monkey

The mind out of control is like a restless monkey, jumping here and there senselessly.  You have to learn to control it, see the real nature of the  mind.
-The Buddha (I think??)



I was in such a hurry to write today...had some issues with my signing in...felt frustrated and overwhelmed by it, snappy and irritable even.  Finally get in and think...why do I want to write anyway? Inspiration...poof.... gone.

Monkey Mind

Monkey mind ( what many of the traditional Tibetan Buddhists call the over active mind we humans tend to possess) had a little fit when it thought it wasn't going to get the banana it was after (some notion of how my moment should be) and now that it got it, it realizes it isn't even hungry. ugh!!!!   Oh these minds of ours, lol.

I must admit for a minute I became the monkey.  For a moment, I was unaware of the aware Self within me.  I was the one chattering in frustration  and making all kinds of noise. I was even flinging a bit of you know what at D. for logging me off last night when he just had to know I never remember my passwords.  :)

Stand back and watch the monkey

As soon as I stood back and started watching the monkey having its  tantrum (as mild as it may have been for most monkeys lol) it was easier to think clearly. I realized I could be the one in control...rather than the  monkey.  What this little fellow was doing, chattering on about, wasn't me. I was just witnessing it. 

Then ...I began to settle down and relax into the frustration.  I began to look at the so called "problem"  clearly in the "light" and realized it wasn't a problem after all.  It simply was what it was. Within minutes D. and I had me back in to this site and the monkey, having his banana and little to no attention ...became quiet once again. 

Do we really want the bananas we go nuts for?

It wasn't so much getting the banana that made the monkey quiet...it  didn't even really want it.  Like many of the things we seek for in life...go after...attempt to gain, claim or cling to...we just think we want these things , need them to fill some hungry belly within us that never seems to get filled. The belly is the ego mind. We can never fill the ego mind but man will it go on and on, chattering and jumping about...flinging whatever it can at others and ourselves  in an attempt to have its crazy mixed up needs met.

I seem to have a lot going on around me and in me...and I thought I needed to have my morning go the way it goes every morning, the way it "should" go to fix and soothe the ego, to keep it quiet and under control.  Life had a little lesson planned for me instead. 

Learning About Choices

All our so called "problems' are wonderful learning opportunities if we choose to look at them as such.  I was being shown that what I needed to do, was simply be quiet and aware of ego...watch it from a distance, ignore its temper tantrum and just be. I need to see the monkey in the mind when it is acting up so I  come to be the knower, the quiet Observer who witnesses the monkey.  I then make a choice about who I want to be in control of my life (which is this moment and only this moment).....the wild noisy   monkey or the Quiet Observer. 

Who would you chose, I wonder?

Oh I guess I had something to write about after all. That was the wiser, Observer me writing, btw, not the monkey. Just in case you are wondering.  lol :)

All is well in my world.