Lately, I have had a hard time simply being still and turning my mind off. At church on Sunday, one of the Associate Ministers gave a fantastic sermon about quieting the "Chattering Monkeys" in your brain. According to Buddhists, the untrained mind jumps around like chattering monkeys, which makes it hard to relax and meditate to hear what God has in store for you. I could relate to this concept, because that's an apt description of my mind lately. So, at PT yesterday, I set out to calm the monkeys in my brain.
One of the great things about doing physical therapy, besides improving the movement in my knee, is the chance to be still and listen. I started this round of PT at a Norman office. The soundtrack was acoustic/alternative, and I found myself humming along to some of my favorites from college. I then switched to the OKC office for convenience, and the vibe was a bit different. There is natural light - big windows with a view of the downtown street and trees outside, and the soundtrack is jazz/standards. With my diverse taste in music, I can hum along to this music, too, but not as often as I did in Norman. Music has always been important to me. Heck, I even wrote a college entrance essay about it, which earned me full books and tuition at TCU. (OU was completely free, however, so this Okie remained in the Sooner State.) Music enhances your environment and can put you at ease or stress you out.
So, at PT yesterday, I was relaxing and letting the music lull me into a sense of calm, but then I found myself zeroing in on a conversation between one of the therapists and his patient. They were behind a curtain, and I never actually saw them. Unfortunately, I did not hear their entire conversation. No, here are the snippets I heard ... West Texas ... snow angels ... polio ... UT ... divorce after obtaining a Ph. D...
My mind went into overdrive, and I started trying to make up a story for why these elements should weave into one story thread. My monkeys were in overdrive, and my imagination was running wild.
Thus, today I brought a book to PT, and the monkeys were appeased.
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