Thinking

Now he faces the overactive mind. The hero meets his monkey brain and learns to laugh at it. Meditation becomes medication.

"The Day My Brain Wouldn’t Shut Up (A Thinking Adventure)"

Hi, I'm Max. I’m 10, I like grilled cheese sandwiches, and I have a very noisy brain. Like, really noisy. It talks a lot. Especially when I’m trying to focus, or sleep, or not embarrass myself in front of Emma from math class.

So one Thursday, when my brain was on its usual rampage during math (imagine a squirrel on espresso), I kinda snapped.

“Stop it!” I whispered at my own head, which made my teacher say, “Max, are you okay?”

Totally not okay.

See, it all started that morning. I was thinking about the math test, my lunch I forgot, if pterodactyls wore pants, and whether or not my teacher knew I hadn't done my homework because my dog maybe ate it. My thoughts were like bumper cars crashing in my skull.

So I decided to go on a quest. Like a real hero. I mean, if Frodo can toss a ring in lava and Moana can fight lava monsters, surely I could figure out how to handle my squirrel-brain.

Step One: Try fighting the thoughts. I yelled “Stop thinking!” in my head. But guess what? That made me think even more. Genius.

Step Two: Panic. I did that one very well.

Step Three: Remember something my grandma told me. She’s like 100 years old (actually 67) and wise as a wizard. She once said, “When your mind is loud, just name what’s happening.”

So I tried it.

Whenever a weird thought popped up, like “What if dinosaurs were just dragons with stage fright?” I said out loud, “Thinking.”

Just one word.

“Thinking.”

And boom. It kinda floated away, like a balloon I let go of. I wasn’t wrestling my brain anymore—I was just noticing it.

I tried it again: “Thinking.”

Another balloon floated off.

I kept doing it. “Thinking.” “Thinking.” It was like I had a remote control for my thoughts. I didn’t need to believe them, or argue with them—I just had to name them.

And suddenly, I wasn’t stuck. I was calm. I was the driver of the bus again.

And guess what? I passed that math test. Okay, I got a C+, but that’s basically an A in hero school.

That night, when my brain started to buzz like a fly in a soda can, I whispered: “Thinking.” And I fell asleep like a baby sloth in a hammock.

Big Lesson: You don’t have to fight your thoughts. Just call them what they are. Like naming a stray cat. “Thinking.”

Proverb: “Name it to tame it.”