Monkey Mind is that crazy chattering that happens in your head when you try to settle down for the night, going deep into a meditation, or can even hit at work with a looming deadling. You need your mind to go one way but it says, "NOPE," and takes you on a different adventure. It takes control, jumps around, and starts making a mess of things. Try as you may to maintain a sense of normalcy, it pretty much becomes futile. 

Traditionally, it comes out of Buddhist meditations practices, but in today's modern world it has wandered into other disciplines. It's a pretty fitting metaphor. Even when you are trying to have a conversation, or having just met a person all of a sudden you are like, "Wait, what was your name?" It's a natural occurrence though, and sometimes we make it out to be more than it is. Our mind's like to wander and play, and when it happens we just need to corral it in and take control. 

The funny thing is, I originally intended for this painting to be a Green Man, a forest/nature God in Celtic and Pagan traditions. In fact you can still make out his face in the center of the mandala, and as I began to paint his large flowing beard, the monkeys came in and hijacked the painting, taking ownership of it. The best thing to do was just let them be and let the painting go where it wanted to go. The more I fought it, the more they screeched. It was a good practice in letting things be. 

When the  chattering begins, or you feel it getting the better of you, the easiest way to suppress it is to turn your focus on your breathing, turn your attention inward and let the chatter fade into the background. Ten breaths is usually all it takes, each one getting slower and deeper, and when you finally have that under control, if the noise is still there, grab it with your mind and put it into a mental compartment and close the  door. It may still chatter and bang, but at least it's out of the way and you can function. If going to sleep, keep the deep breathing going, and it will soon fall away. 

Noise in the world is a loud thing to deal with, and it's better to acknowledge its existence than pretend it isn't there. It just gets louder. Once you become aware of it, you can deal with it, and with practice and breathing it becomes bearable and easier to manage. It's all a part of the process of being, and though it can be a pain, we can either choose to suffer by it, or learn how to harness it and sometimes it can give us a sharper focus on our tasks.