Killing the Monkey in Your Mind aka Clearing Your Thoughts
Monkey Mind is when your thoughts are so consuming, it feels like the thought Monkeys are running the show. A lot of people with chronic illness have a hard time meditating and therefore can think they’ll never be able to quiet their mind. As a person with narcolepsy, falling asleep while meditating is a very real thing, so I had to find a workaround. This post is about how I did it, and maybe you can hear my story and find your own way to mass monkeycide and get a bit more headspace for puppy videos and coping.
This post coincides with the YouTube video series, Coping Through Introspection: A Journey into You. This page contains the link to the first video, links to the downloadables and the original script of the video. I did deviate from the script so there’s a bit of extra content here and it’s delivered a bit more cohesively.
Click for: Stuff I think about PDF
Click for: Killing the Monkey in your Mind PDF, to read the text. This is the original script. It is not exact to the video and some of the content here was not included in the video. I tried to put it here and it crashed the site lol, so you can download it to read instead of watch.
I’m going to make a playlist for the Ted Talks because it’s too much to put here. I’ll get back to you on that.
The article on positivity and anger in relation to narcolepsy, also discusses food and eating: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3595130/
Here are a couple reviews that people sent to me:
“I absolutely loved your video. So many amazing tips and ideas, and I agree with every single one of them. I can tell you put a ton of thought and preparation into the making of this video. It was all worthwhile to take the time to listen to! Thank you so much for sharing it with me! Narcolepsy impedes my ability to meditate, as well. However, I have noticed that I can get in a sort of a meditative zone, be present in the moment, lose myself, and eradicate my mind monkeys while spinning. I think it’s something about the combination of the loud music, the repetitive motion of pushing the peddles, and the endorphins, that gets me into the zone.
Some things I grabbed from your video that really stood out for me: “why” is irrelevant – instead ask “what can I do about it?” “What’s going to happen if I don’t think about this issue?” “Narrate your actions to stay present in the moment..” “What would make me feel adequate?” Thank you so much for sharing your awesomeness with me and the world. I really appreciate it!!”
Meredith
And one more….
“Lots of great stuff in here. Love how you address at the very beginning how self help is geared towards healthy people. That was such a frustrating reality for me at the beginning and I just thought it was inaccessible to me. I didn’t think about the possibility of doing it differently to accommodate my narcolepsy. Love when you talk about the sunset. I think a lot of people will relate to wanting to just be able to take in a damn sunset without the monkeys. Love the emphasis on the WHAT and not the WHY that you go over. Brain fog and scheduling tips are great and glad you included how music can help with monkey mind AND conditioning.”
Sydney
