For the past few weeks now, what I’ve been noticing during my meditation practice in particular is that my mind has been getting frequently caught up in loops and loops of what in Buddhist psychology is called “discursive thought,” or “discursive thinking.”
In meditation parlance, this experience is commonly known as “busy mind,” and it’s generally characterized by a lot of anxious or repetitive mental chatter that tends to keep us locked in the realm of the past or the future, and therefore, mostly distracted from the reality of the present moment, or … the life that we’re actually living.
In the teachings, this type of thinking is also sometimes referred to as “monkey mind,” – or “kapicitta” in the Pali language – and it’s described as a mind that’s just sort of jumping or swinging from one thing to another, without a lot of pause in between.
Predictably, what’s usually lying right underneath these types of thoughts is a sense of anxiety, or worry – which I know so many of us have been feeling these days, about so many things.
It’s like, when something big happens, or there’s a lot of change or maybe just a sense of overwhelm in our lives or in our world, it can often feel like it’s just too much to process, and so the mind sometimes just doesn’t know how to relax in the present moment, as it is.
Instead, it tends to want to keep on swinging … grabbing onto one thought and then another.
The good news is that, recognizing and mindfully observing that we’re experiencing this difficult mind state is the first step towards helping us to work with it.
This month’s new talk, “Just Thinking, Sweetie: Working With Busy Mind,” explores how this particular mind state is created, and how we can use our mediation practice to mindfully observe it, eventually slow down the flow of thoughts, and in turn bring a sense of calm to both the mind and body.
It includes a meditation at the end. As always, I hope that it will serve.
Just a few heads up!
1) In-person registration for the daylong retreat, “Freedom From Fear & Worry” to be held on June 7 in The Plains, VA, is now almost half-full!
4) The weeklong retreat Sept. 18 – 24, 2025 “THIS IS IT: The 4 Foundations of Mindfulness,” in Romney, WV has been starting to fill!
We hope that you can join us.
With care and much metta (loving-kindness),
~ Shell 🙏🏽💕