Mind Monkeys Tale

‘Take the kettle off the stove!’
broke the cycle for me.
I hadn’t realised I fed the turmoil,
made it stronger by thought.
I stopped adding fuel, as easy as that,
the fire went out.

When my body was active,
my mind was diverted and calm.
As soon as the motion stopped,
my mind interfered once more.
Stillness was found in movement,
stillness in stillness was harder to find.
Whilst I was fully absorbed,
my mind cleared by itself.
Lost in what I was doing,
free from disrupting thoughts.

‘It’s not in a book!’
was something I found
really hard to accept.
Bagful on bagful
were brought to my door,
in order to make the point!
I couldn’t find the answers I craved,
through analysis or research.
By finally trusting in my practice,
I experienced the peace I sought.
I discovered the real outcome,
wasn’t something I could describe.

Wishing to find peace was desire,
trying, expectation of failure.
Neither desire nor expectation
could help find serenity.
To push or rush didn’t work,
I had to just let it happen.
Be forgiving when it didn’t,
tiring myself didn’t help.
I looked at how often I struggled,
acknowledged without reproach.
Recognised things just were,
neither good nor bad.

Striving to empty my mind,
only reinforced those thoughts.
I had to relinquish control,
allow my mind to settle.
Gentle into calm stillness,
patient and unconcerned.
Notice without response,
no exclusion or rejection.
Not attached by emotion or reason,
undisturbed by what’s past or what may be.
No dwelling or fixation,
let thoughts drift through like clouds.

‘Stop thinking!’ was another phrase
I should have engraved in stone,
to save my patient teacher,
my poor long-suffering friend!
Standing in stillness trained my mind,
to accept my body again.
However hard, whatever happened,
I looked with eyes that didn’t understand,
and really didn’t care.

I stopped worrying why images formed,
and fighting ‘Monkeys Chattering in Trees’.
Just gently acknowledged them,
resumed fishing, not focusing on thoughts.
Ceased searching for peace I’d already found,
without needing to know how it worked.
Simply accepted, things just are,
in passive, quiet awareness.

I now have a lovely image,
of standing beneath a large tree,
full of monkeys, high up out of earshot,
while fishing from a sunny river bank.
‘Did you just say you’ve pinched me tree,
me monkey and me fishing rod?
See yer in Tescos!’