How Mindful are you - Monkey Mind or Monk Mind?

What is Mindfulness? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the SRMB program - “Mindfulness is a state of heightened alert-awareness, a form of non-judgmental and nonreactive attention to experiences occurring in the present moment-including bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts as well as environmental stimuli, such as scents, sounds, etc.”

So how mindful are you? Another way of putting it is - Do you have a monkey mind or monk mind? 

Naturally many of us have been programmed to be operate with our Monkey mind. Our monkey mind is very easily influenced and controlled by outside forces, it also loves jumping to the familiar past and predictable future as much as it can.

In the world we live in today nearly all of us naturally live in a state of Monkey mind – far from the present moment.

To begin our mindfulness month here is an exercise you can do in 5 minutes that will turn on your monk mind and tame the monkey. It can be done anytime and anywhere. You can also do this with your children – in the car is always a great place to practice.  

‘The Five Senses in Five minutes Exercise.’  

The intention here is to calm your mind by using your five sense to focus on your environment and tame that monkey. Bringing you fully into the present moment.

Here are the steps to complete this exercise:

·       Notice 5 things that you can see. Look around you and become aware of your environment. Try to pick out 5 things that you don’t usually notice.

·       Second, notice 4 things you can feel. Bring attention to the things that you’re currently feeling, such as the texture of your clothing or the smooth surface of the chair/couch you’re sitting on.

·       Third, notice 3 things that you can hear. Listen for and notice things in the background that you don’t normally notice. It could be the birds chirping outside or an appliance humming in the next room.

·       Fourth, notice 2 things you can smell. Bring attention to scents that you usually filter out, either pleasant or unpleasant. Catch a whiff of the pine trees outside or food cooking in the kitchen.

·       Finally, notice 1 thing you can taste. Take a sip of a drink, chew gum, or notice the current taste in your mouth.

Ask yourself how you feel now in comparison to what you were feeling 5 minutes ago. Are you calmer? More relaxed?

An exercise adapted from Brad Walters, Career Coach Consultant. University of Michigan.

Gem x

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