The Monkey Is the Messenger

Hope for all those who want to meditate but feel they can't because they think too much: A remedy. Making friends with the infamous "monkey mind" to make it a means for healing and awakening.

It's a common story. Someone wants to take up meditation, but they take themselves to be one of those people for whom it just doesn't work because they think too much. And they give it up in frustration after an hour or a couple weeks or a year. But though it is often taken to be the scourge of meditators, repetitive and excessive thinking is an experience common to everyone. The Buddha famously called it "monkey mind," and that term has become nearly a household phrase.… Keep Reading