It's quite normal, when we start to meditate,
for the mind to jump around all over the place.
We might find intent to chase after all the little things,
to be constantly moving about,
from the present to the past to the future.
In fact, to rarely be still at all.
Fortunately, the mind can be tamed.
Not by forcing it to stop but trying to make it sit still.
We don't want to trap it - that'll just stir it up and create even more movement.
But by training the mind,
having an awareness of when our attention has wandered off,
and gently bringing it back with a kind and friendly hand.
In this way, the mind slowly becomes a little less restless.
It also becomes more comfortable with this idea of sitting still.
In fact, it might even come to enjoy it.
This analogy for the mind has been around for thousands of years.
Thankfully, so is the knowledge that,
with time and practice, we can learn to train this monkey.