It was early in the morning,
The sun had yet to rise.
I rolled over in my tangled sheets,
And rubbed my blurry eyes.
As I lay there in the stillness,
Safe and snug in bed,
I began to hear a tiny voice
Yammering in my head.
It was compiling to-do lists —
Painstaking, precise and long.
And building plans and prospects
Listing all that could go wrong.
It reflected on mistakes I’ve made
In an exaggerated way.
It was not at all the sort of thoughts
With which you’d want to start your day.
I made an effort to ignore it
As it cataloged my fears.
I tried to drown it out with humming,
And put my fingers in my ears.
But there’s nothing you can do,
And nowhere you can hide
From an insistent little voice
That’s coming from inside.
“Who is that?” I finally asked,
Frustrated as could be.
It got quiet, then the voice replied,
“Oh dear, do you mean me?”
He said, “How do I explain this?”
In a tone both meek and kind.
“I live and work inside you —
A sort of roommate in your mind.”
Then he went back to his work,
Now plotting cause for doubt.
“There’s a monster in my head,” I thought,
I was starting to freak out!
I pictured him with bulging eyes,
Like he drank too much caffeine,
With scratchy clothes, and pointy ears,
And a body hunched and green.
I felt prickly and self-conscious.
I needed peace and quiet.
I didn’t know how to hush the voice,
But it was clear I had to try it.
“Pardon me,” I said to him,
“I wonder if we could chat.
What do you do there in my head?
Why don’t we start with that?”
“You have too much to think,” he said.
“I believe you would attest.
You focus on important stuff,
I think of all the rest.”
“I think of errors and details,
The things you must avert
To dodge failure or embarrassment.
I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I see,” I said, “That’s really kind.”
–I sensed that it was true.
“But your thoughts would be alarming
If you shared my point-of-view.”
“Oh no!” he said. He was contrite.
“I don’t mean it to unnerve you.
Like everything here in this world
I’m really here to serve you.”
That came as a surprise to me,
But the solution became clear.
“What if I tend to the scary stuff,
And you cultivate good cheer?”
He responded sounding relieved,
“I’d like that so much better.”
I pictured him with a beaming smile,
Now in a festive sweater.
I felt a heaviness lift inside.
“I’ll get started right away!”
Now I wake to joy and gratitude
Each and every day.
If you have a pesky voice inside
And you want the troubling thoughts to end,
Chat with that monster in your mind.
You can convert him to a friend.
Fabletime 