🎈(#9) Calm The Monkey Mind

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Message from the author:

In this issue, I just want to bring awareness to our mental wellbeing and taking care of ourselves.

Our world can be a busy place, where we are always connected and have everything out our fingertips.

Really convenient… but sometimes this convenience becomes a problem within itself. We forget to switch off.

Like fully switch off, unplug and sit in silence.

Think about the last time you just sat without looking at your phone and observed everything around you.

I really like this topic… let’s make our mental wellbeing a priority and find moments to sit for a bit.

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The words mediation, mindfulness & stillness tend to have a stigma around them, and I get it.

To the average person it can be one of those things that only hippie vegans do…

or monks…

or it’s one of those things that only the super woke individuals do, right?

Wrong.

If you’re subscribed to the MAKER newsletter and reading this…

You are far from average!

The thing is… this mindfulness stuff actually works, and it works really well when done consistently.

If you are anything like me, you have times where your brain feels like it is going to explode.

The overthinking, pressures of the day and internal chatter can become a lot.

When we are in this state for long periods of time without exercising any form of mindfulness practice, our bodies stay in fight or flight mode.

We become tense, little things trigger us, and we can feel on edge or anxious.

In this issue I want to discuss my personal experience with mindfulness.

I will also highlight some fact-based benefits and finish with some key takeaways you can start today.

So, let’s get into it.

Calming the monkey mind

Have you heard this term before?

They say that when you sit in stillness - you start to see or hear your monkey mind i.e. the chatter and thoughts.

I have heard people say it is like a monkey swinging from branch to branch which is a metaphor for your mind switching from idea to idea.

My view and experience is a little bit different though.

When I sit with my legs crossed, my eyes closed, breathing in and out slowly, I feel my body starting to relax, and then….

BAAAMMM!!

It’s not a freakin’ monkey swinging from branch to branch.

It’s in a cage and it’s shaking the bars screaming at me.

“What the heck is going on in my brain right now!” Is my initial thought.

If you have tried mediation, I believe this is where most stop or don’t come back to it.

Sitting still and being alone with your mind is scary place for a lot of people.

Here’s where we challenge ourselves a little.

If you can encourage yourself to sit a little longer, and do it long enough, just focusing on your breathing and not attaching to the thought or fighting the monkey.

Old mate monkey starts to sit with you for a bit, the cage disappears and then…

Silence.

In a five, ten or even twenty minute session this pattern of the cage rattling to pure silence can happen multiple times.

Those moments of the calm monkey is that Zen mode you’re looking for.

That’s where you want to be.

If you find yourself adding this into your daily routine, the cage rattling seems to not happen as often (most days anyway), and it doesn’t feel as chaotic. Also, the calm monkey tends to sit with you a little longer just casually chillin’.

Cool right?

Before we get into some benefits, I just want to share my experience with meditation.

My honest opinion

I actually love it!

But to be honest, I just don’t do it as often as I should.

Why?

I don’t have an excuse.

This practice is probably one of the most beneficial things I could do for myself and it’s free!

I’ve been reflecting a bit on this one lately and think I know why I have fallen off at times.

It’s not because of the screaming monkey… I don’t mind that guy.

I believe I know the single reason that I have a good run and then suddenly stop.

It’s just that I don’t feel productive sitting, especially when I know I have a lot of things to do.

I just want to move and do the things, that’s where I feel productive.

So, when it starts to get busy, sitting just seems counterproductive to what needs to be done.

Now…

At this point in time, I am actually dialed in. I have been fairly consistent for the past few months.

But I have been here before and I have pushed my mindfulness practice to the bench in the past.

My goal right now is to continue reminding myself that sitting in stillness for ten minutes a day, every single day, is going to benefit me more than any number of physical tasks I can complete within that time and more.

If you have found yourself here, use this as a reminder that looking after your mind is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do.

We owe it to ourselves to block out the five, ten or twenty minutes each day.

Trust me on this one.

Physical and Mental benefits

The physical

• Improves

  • immune system

  • sleep

  • oxygen in the body

  • heart function

  • energy levels

• Decreases

  • blood pressure

  • cholesterol

  • insomnia

The mental

• relieves stress

• reduces anxiety and depression

• improves mood and happiness

• boosts concentration

• improves self-esteem

• produces a state of peace

• reduces impulsivity and cravings

• increases resilience

This is only some of the key benefits… but you get the picture.

If you search online, you will find the above plus dozens more and with science-based facts to back it up.

What I wanted to highlight here is that, with all the benefits available to us at zero cost, we seem to push this one down on the priority list when it comes to looking after ourselves.

I am not asking you to commit, but just think about it.

What have you got to lose?

A few tips before we go.

If you have made it this far and want to start giving mediation a try, here are some quick tips from me.

I’m not going to go into a full breakdown of how to meditate. This is about creating the habit and getting used to the experience.

Once you have built and formed this routine, you can start to build techniques and sit longer.

1. Start small and just sit. Commit to five to ten minutes in the morning or night and just sit. Remember, when the monkey mind kicks in, focus on your breath, resist the urge to fight, just let it happen and observe the thought from a distance. To be honest, if it is your first time, the monkey may not calm at all, but don’t let that deter you from showing up the next day.

2. If you miss a day. Follow the “no two-day rule”. I sound like a broken record by now. If you want to build habits and consistency over time, don’t miss two in a row. From my experience, two turns to three and three turns to four and before you know it, you are back to square one.

3. Music vs Guided vs Silence. There is no one rule. You do whatever is best for you. I have tried them all. I went through a phase of guided for a while and actually didn’t mind it. Right now, I use some type of meditation song on Spotify and play it on repeat.

4. Dynamic mindfulness. You can practice different forms of mindfulness whilst you are moving. Things like walking (my favorite), running or yoga are really good ways to tap into the benefits of mindfulness. For added focus, try and stay as present as possible when doing these movements, experience how you feel, what your body is responding to and when your mind drifts, bring it back to this.

My whole system I have created for myself is to have a no excuse way of doing things when it comes to my health and wellbeing.

We are all busy, some more than others for sure.

But sometimes we can use that as an excuse… do you agree?

As you can see from the above, tapping into the benefits of mediation is not a huge commitment, there is actually zero risk - with only positive gains.

All we have to do is sit still.

One small quote I will leave you to ponder this week.

Until next week fam!

JC