Don't Feed the Animals: Getting Rid of your Monkey Mind

How many times a week do you find your mind racing over all the assignments you have to complete, the clients you need to call back, the bills you need to pay, the childcare pickup times you need to meet and other wonderful features of your life as a busy lawyer who is also trying to be a human being. When you experience this wonderful state of mind, you my friend are experiencing  “Monkey Mind”.  “Monkey Mind” is a Buddhist term meaning "unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_monkey).  We have on average about 40,000 thoughts a day but only about 2,000 of them are new. The rest is just mental chatter that repeats itself out of habit whether it’s useful or not. It is no wonder that our minds race the way they do considering the nature and demands of being a lawyer. But, even though it is our job as lawyers to be super analytical to think through problems that our colleagues and clients face, that doesn’t mean that same approach is the way to find our peace and happiness when we are not “on the clock.” Check out this article that discusses how mindfulness is ultimately the only way to a truly tranquil mind: http://www.find-happiness.com/monkey-mind.html.