You know you have a circus in your head, right? And it’s full of monkeys?

Gives a whole new meaning to “not my monkeys, not my circus” doesn’t it?

Seriously, some people have described all of those thoughts bouncing around in our head as being like having 429 tabs open on your computer, all at once.

Me? I think it’s more like the 4th of July with all of the fireworks popping up everywhere.

Oh! That’s a good idea! No wait! That one is even better!

You know how it goes. I don’t have to tell you.

Sometimes, though, that circus gets a little old, a little irritating. The monkeys need to take a long nap.

How can you have peace and quiet if you can’t shut up your own mind?

I have some ideas and suggestions for you:

• Do a dump list. Make a list of everything floating around in your head and make sure you put it somewhere that you can find it. Your planner is good.
• Use headphones instead of ear buds to listen to music. Classical music in particular keeps your right brain occupied while letting your left brain work. The right brain is where all the monkeys live.
• Learn to meditate.
• Exercise. A good walk can do wonders.
• Start getting stuff done. Maybe your mind keeps going back to the same thing because it needs to be handled.
• Get busy doing something.
• Finally, I know that the monkeys often like to come to life when you get into bed. There’s nothing left to distract them so they start to chatter. I’ve actually had success just telling those monkeys to shut up. It took a long time and persistence, but it worked. You can also try playing some soft music or white noise.