Is your Monkey Mind playing you up?

We can become worried and anxious.  

If you text someone and don’t get a reply, depending on how secure you feel, this can an elicit emotions of beginning to worry if the person is upset with you or whether they think badly of you in some way because they have not responded in a timely fashion.  

When they finally text back there is that sense of relief but sometimes their response may be that they were busy in meetings, taking part in an activity or they simply had no signal. 

So you’ve spent all that time worrying about something that had no real grounding. So much overthinking where valuable mental energy could have been spent on a much more worthwhile activity. 

This has all the trappings of what is referred to as to monkey mind. 

It can make it hard for you to enjoy the moment and be present because of all the negativity affecting our mind. This overthinking can also affect mood – we feel less in happy, even angry, or restless. It makes it harder to concentrate and may even negatively impact our behaviour and our interactions with others.  

How can you get it to calm down? 

• Recognise that monkey mind exists.  

• Allow yourself 10 mins a day for your monkey mind to run rampant, but know that you can tame it, you are in control. 

• When it is in full swing, stop and have a conversation and understand what it is trying to tell you. Is there something worrying you? Reassure yourself that everything is going to be okay. 

• Journaling helps you write down your thoughts and to better understand any underlying thoughts like resentment or anger over a past experience. 

• Breathing and Meditation – these may sound often overused but are underrated. Taking even 5 mins a day to breathe in and out can get yourself grounded.  

• If it is hard to stop the monkey mind what can be a good way to interrupt the thinking is to recite a mantra – for example repeating “Calm” can help tune out the monkey mind jungle of thoughts. 

Using wellbeing solutions steeped in innovative technology, Govox provides data and insights that helps leaders in schools , sports clubs and the workplace spot at-risk individuals and give much-needed support.