Monkey-Mind vs. Monk-Mind
Jay Shetty, one of my favorite authors who wrote Think Like A Monk introduced me to this concept of “monkey minds” and “monk minds.” He said: “The monkey mind, swinging from branch to branch, thought to thought, tries to avoid the root of the problem and the issue. Looking for its next fruit it seeks instant pleasure and gratification not recognizing long term gain. The monkey mind can keep us in a difficult situation. Let’s work to unleash our monk mindset and our inner peace and calm that we all have inside of us.”
Our monkey minds can keep us unsettled and distracted if we are not aware of what is going on inside ourselves. Being more “monk-like” can help to settle our thoughts and help us to live more healthily and harmoniously, especially inside our heads.
Monkeys vs. Monks
An article by Giovanni from Live and Dare explains the difference between a monkey mind and a monk mind quite well:
“There are two ways to go about our life.
One is to look outside and focus on what we can’t control. This leads to blaming, frustration, and often a feeling of disempowerment. We lose our center and get agitated. We don’t really know who we are; we don’t know our power.
This is what the meditation masters call the monkey mind.
The other way is to look inside and focus on the only thing we can control: our mind, the way we see things, the stories we tell ourselves, and what we choose to focus on. This leads us to feeling more in control of our lives; more centered, empowered, and content.
I like to call this the monk mind.
The monkey mind is anxious, restless, scattered. The monk mind is calm, centered and focused.
The monkey mind seeks happiness in external things—money, fame, beauty and status. The monk mind knows that happiness is something you cultivate inside yourself—it seeks growth, contribution, connection.
When the monkey mind is not feeling well, it tries to fix the situation by numbing itself through unhealthy habits, jumping from branch to branch, or working on the symptoms of the problem, through things like medication.
The monk mind rarely feels unwell; but if it does, it knows it just needs to let go of something, or change something inside itself. It works at the root: the mind.”
What can we do to get ourselves into monk-mind mode?
Diana Raab PhD recommends the following from her Psychology Today article titled “Calming the Monkey Mind”:
The monkey mind insists on being heard, and sometimes it takes a lot of self-control to shut it down. It is also the part of your brain that becomes easily distracted, so if you want to get anything done in life, your challenge will be to shut down the monkey mind.
The first step in doing so is to become grounded and calm the mind—that is, remember to be in the here and now. Being present in this way is called mindfulness. It is an essential state for inspiring the best writing because it taps into the messages of your heart and soul. Being mindful encompasses awareness and interconnectedness between your inner and outer worlds. If you are more awake and alert, you can more easily receive messages from within as well as from the universe.
In her book, The True Secret of Writing, Natalie Goldberg reminds us of the importance of mindfulness as we move about our days, whether we’re writing, doing errands, or engaging in interpersonal relationships. Some of the characteristics of mindfulness also include being nonjudgmental, patient, accepting, trusting, and letting go.
When considering how to quiet your mind, try to sit still for a minute and think about what calms you. Contemplate how you can incorporate these activities into your daily life. Even just a few minutes of walking meditation or mindful breathing can bring you into the present moment. In addition to incorporating mindfulness into your day—even when standing in line at the bank—it’s wise to practice mindfulness before sitting down to write. My day always begins with a meditation, sometimes even before I have my coffee. Sometimes I do a shorter meditation later in the afternoon to give me a boost of energy.
In her Zen writing retreats, Goldberg reminds her students to anchor their minds to their breath by using paper and pen to write. This helps them stay in the moment, as does the mantra: “Sit. Walk. Write.” She calls this the “true secret.”
Even though the mind is a wonderful thing, it can sometimes get in the way of creativity, mainly because the voice in our head can get in the way of what our heart wants to say. Sometimes this voice turns dark and can lead to feelings of fear, guilt, anger, sadness, envy, and resentment, instead of a sense of lightness of being. This voice might seem like a nagging parent or spouse.
The ego has the ability to create false thoughts, which is the inner chatter we hear most often. In fact, it is the voice in our heads that we sometimes tell to “shut up.” Otherwise, we can become overwhelmed by these thoughts or even lose touch with reality. This is one reason why during meditation it’s a good idea to let thoughts come and go, rather than becoming obsessed with them or focusing on anyone in particular. If we focus too intensely on our thoughts, there’s a greater chance that we’ll lose touch with the here and now.”
