Stilling the Monkey Mind—3 Quick Ways to Stop Repeating Thoughts That Cause Stress
By Sue Brenner, PCC, PMP

It's 2 a.m. You have to get up early tomorrow, as usual, to get the kids off to school and take the train to the subway. "Wait a minute," you ask yourself. "Why am I still awake? I have to go to sleep!" But you can't stop thinking. There it is—monkey mind. Your mind keeps circling around and around. And the more you think, the more your stress rises. Maybe it's that one thing you said to your boss that you wish you'd said differently. Maybe you're obsessing on figuring out a new piece of technology at work. Or you forgot your mother's birthday and you can't stop thinking about how you’ll explain it
to her tomorrow.

Do you feel powerless? Not sure what to do? With practice, you can find your way out of the monkey mind maze. In his book Learned Optimism, Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman offers the following easy "thought-stopping techniques." So next time this uninvited guest occupies your thoughts, use these 3 quick tricks to quickly evict the monkey mind.

1. Halt.
   If someone was seriously getting on your nerves, you’d tell them to stop. In the same way, command monkey mind to come to a halt. Say, "Stop!" in your mind, or even out loud. Be strong and firm, so that monkey gets the message. If you're really having trouble, type the word "Stop" or "Halt" in a large font, print it out and post it in your work area. If you can't sleep at night, tape it to your ceiling. Seligman also suggests wearing a rubber band as a bracelet and snapping it when
   monkey mind moves in.

2. Shift.
   To keep the monkey from jumping back into your mind, shift your attention. You’ve told your mind to stop and it obeyed. Now immediately focus on something else. Look out your office window at the leaves of a tree. Get up right away and refill your cup of coffee. Pick up the phone and return a call. Take some immediate action unrelated to the monkey. Re-direct your mind down a new thought path as you hone in on your new activity.

3. Reschedule.
   Like an Aikido master, turn the very nature of monkey mind against itself. After all, monkey mind feels that it's playing an important role by running the same thought over and over in your head so that you’ll act on that thought. What to do? Reschedule. For example, if your mind ruminates on picking up the dry cleaning, reschedule this thought. Say, "I will think about the dry cleaning at 5:00 p.m." Write "5:00 p.m. — Dry Cleaning" on a sticky note or enter it in your electronic calendar with a reminder.

Use these 3 simple tricks to free your mind and get back to the priority at hand. When monkey mind pays you an unexpected visit, remember to halt, shift your attention and reschedule those thoughts for a later time. Escorting the monkey out the door will give you less stress, greater peace of mind and more room to focus.

Copyright © 2008 Sue Brenner

Read more articles by Sue Brenner or subscribe to her free eZine, Ignite Your Life.

Editors, publishers & webmasters: You may reprint these articles free of charge if you follow our reprint guidelines.

Action Symphony
www.actionsymphony.com
Email Us (info@actionsymphony.com)