Don't Let A Monkey Take Over Your Mind

I went for my morning walk and chanced to come upon a garage sale. There were some bookcases there for a good price so I asked the seller to hold them for me until I finished my walk. As soon as I walked away to continue my exercise I started worrying that she would sell them before I got back. Maybe I wasn't clear enough that I really wanted them. I wasn't sure what to do. It was a little early to call my husband because I didn't want the phone to wake my daughter. I worried and worried and then finally decided to call  my husband so he could go over and pay for them. On the way back from my walk I could see a strange man looking at the bookcases. I started to worry that someone else was buying them before I could. I hurried to get back to the garage sale.

Here's the weird thing. I didn't even know I wanted these  bookcases until just that morning. I had been perfectly happy walking along looking at the ducks and rabbits and Joshua trees. All of a sudden I got in a tizzy. My mind started going round and round and worrying over something that wasn't even that important.

I like to call this Monkey Mind. This is not an original name. I understand that it is a Buddhist concept. In her book "The Energy of Money," Maria Nemeth describes Monkey Mind as "a criticizing aspect of our mind that swings us from doubt, to worry, and back to doubt." So Monkey Mind made me think that these bookcases were absolutley crucial to my happiness. I was going to be very upset if we didn't get them. This is crazy. I was making myself upset over something that wasn't really even that important.

I imagine that I'm not the only one who does this. In fact, I'm sure of this. Way back somewhere between AD 55 and AD 135 the Greek philosopher Epictetus said, "People are not disturbed by things but by the view they take of them." This means then, that what affects your mind and emotions is not what happens to you, but how you interpret what happens to you. I started to think I was going to be deprived of the bookcases. I interpreted this to be a very bad thing and so I became upset and worried.

The funny thing is that the man who I saw looking at the bookcases was actually part of the garage sale. He was helping my husband load the bookcases into the car. I guess I will have to talk about making assumptions sometime.

I have included this rendition of "Monkey In The Mango Tree" sung by Ricardo Montalban because it is funny and a little twist on Monkey Mind. The monkeys decide they are insulted by being compared to humans and at the end say, "Don't identify yourself with me." This song is from the musical "Jamaica."


The Monkey In the Mango Tree