monkey mind

that's what the Buddhists call it............thoughts jumping around from here to there, thinking about this and that.  That's what Day 3 of my 28 day meditation was like:  thinking about work and what I needed to do there, my family, those that are hurting, those that are undergoing major changes, my diet, an upcoming vacation.............yeah, yeah.  Sounds like all the stuff I think about on a regular basis - and is, as so often happens, intruding on my peacefulness.  What is that Ram Dass and all those that have struggled with these intrusions recommend?  Ahhh, yes........Let those thoughts float out as clouds.  Let them float by on leaves in a stream.  So that's what I do.  I put them on clouds.  The clouds become a mist and the thoughts persist.  I lay them out on leaves and let them float until they clog up the drain of somewhere -- still stuck in my mind.  I remember to breathe.  In.  Out.  In. Out.  I begin to think of myself as a lotus blossom floating in a pond, a lake, somewhere.  My lotus self pulled in breath - air - chi - qi.  I envisioned it filling my abdomen, my lower body, my legs.  I see the chi - the energy - filling me from the bottom to the top of myself and then I release it.  I pull it in again.  And I let go again.  I continue again.............and again.......and without realizing it I am in the 'zone'.  And then the timer I have set for 20 minutes alarms.  My time for meditation is over.  I find that I have come to a place of peacefulness. Peaceful stillness.   It is a good place.

I arise.  I go to work.  It is hectic.  I am okay.  Monkey mind happens all day but I accept it.............