Releasing the Monkey Mind to Access Intuitive Answers

The mind does an excellent job of balancing our bank account and other logical tasks. But when it looks to translate our emotional experiences or the more mystical intuitive “knowing”, it gets stuck.  Over analyzing is the number one block to our intuition. We mentally stack the bits of and pieces of our experiences next to each other looking for an answer.

There’s no winning when the mind tries to figure out what we “sense” intuitively using evidence, logic and proof. Or if it tries to figure out what we can’t know, what hasn’t happened yet or is not ready to be revealed.

The monkey mind’s searching, busy; spinning in circles on the same unanswerable thought is merely a distraction from listening. Our inner guidance can only be accessed when we stop trying to figure it out and listen.

I’m never at peace when my mind is stuck thinking and rethinking on a topic, trying to figure out what it means and how that meaning applies to my life or what I need to do in response. The mental effort gets in the way of listening and trusting the inner-knowing.

Recently I’ve been practicing “living in the question” by asking my inner-guidance a question with a commitment to not “think” about the answer.  I simply set the intention that I’m listening for an answer and put it into the universal flow to percolate.

Using this practice, I find that answers to my deepest questions don’t jump into my mind like a thought. They come through experiences life offers me that I feel a “yes” to.  And as I say yes, I realize, “Hey, this is the answer to the question I sent out to the universe.”

The wonderful thing about the mind is that we get to both benefit from its skill and direct it. To turn off the monkey mind we need to remind ourselves when there is no answer we can “think up.” The answer exists but it’s not one the analytical mind is responsible for deriving.

Here’s an experiement to practice release of the monkey mind, write down whatever your mind is churning on and if you have any possible answers already milling in your head, tell yourself that there are possibilities you can’t even imagine.  Then ask your inner-guidance to show you and set the question aside while you go about your life. This is where the magic comes. By releasing the attachment to “figuring it out” with your mind you are allowing your intuition to inform you.

Please comment and let me know what happens!