monkeyinmymind.com

Unfortunately, when we peel back the self-obsessed layer of unreality that prevents us from seeing the world as it truly is (and this can only be done through thoughtful introspection, meditation, or consultation with friends and allies who have attained a certain level of peace and serenity in their own lives), we realize that in most cases, if we’ve experienced an argument or a negative encounter with a perceived “idiot,” there are usually two idiots involved in the altercation and one of them, sadly, is us.

Defensiveness, and its cohort, Unnecessary Struggle, reside in the core of the pain and undesired outcomes many of us face every day. Often we feel that defensiveness and struggle are necessary elements of self-preservation, particularly in the realm of personal relationships. The prevailing idea is: If we don’t defend ourselves against a perceived [...]

But I won the good fight this time. Quiet the Monkey, I repeated to myself, over and over again. Quiet the Monkey. Quiet the Monkey. Quiet the Monkey. In time, he found a little patch of gray matter in the outskirts of my mind, curled up into a ball, and fell fast asleep, resting up for the next big fight.