The swinging thoughts

"...like most humanoids, I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the "monkey mind"- the thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit and howl.
From the distant past to the unknowable future, my mind swings wildly through time, touching on dozens of ideas a minute, unharnessed and undisciplined.
This in itself is not necessarily a problem; the problem is the emotional attachment that goes along with the thinking . Happy thuoghts make me happy, but-whoop!- how quickly I swing into obesessive worry, blowing the mood; and pissed off all over again; and then my mind decides it might be a good time to start feeling sorry for itself, and loneliness follows promptly. You are, after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts , and you are the slave to your emotions..."

Elizabeth Gilbert