The Imagery & Symbolization of Chinese Words--心猿意马 (xin yuan yi ma; non-concentrating)
中文的意象 & 象征意义——心猿意马
中国文字由最初的象形文字发展而来，一字一图画，画面组合在一起就是会动的video啦。
今天，坐在办公桌前，等待下一个session的开始，一般情况下我会抓紧时间把上个session的记录写完，但那天我手里拿着笔，心思却去想其它的事情了。我一动没动，静止在那里，等我回过神来，几个字浮现在我刚刚走神但脑海里：心猿意马。
我觉得心猿意马是一个很有画面感的表达。是不是都有过这样但时刻？坐在那里，不动声色，但你的心早就飞到某个地方，像一个猴子似的在树枝上跳上跳下，荡秋千似的从一棵树跳到另一棵树上，还忘不了东张西望，鬼脸连天。而大脑的思绪就好比乘上一匹野马在草原上奔跑，时而恣意狂奔，时而小步溜达，时而仰天长啸。是不是非常形象地表达出人的内心世界的丰富变化。
根据应用场合不同，心猿意马也可以指感情不专一，无法做决定等，但都是不能集中注意力的引申。
人的内心世界经常和外在的表现是不一致，有时候是极不一致的。这一点没有人比我们做精神分析的更有体会了。
于是又想起更多的表达内心世界的中文表达，比如：忐忑不安、忐忐忑忑、胆战心惊、提心吊胆、惴惴不安、心急火燎、 心照不宣、七上八下、一团乱麻、百爪挠心、愁肠百结、举棋不定......
Chinese words originated from hieroglyphs, each word developed from a picture, and the combination of the pictures is a moving video.
Today, when I was sitting at my desk and waiting for the next client to come, usually, I would use this time to finish the process note of the last client. But at that moment, my mind was wandering some unknown places while holding the pen in my hand. When I came back to my senses, a Chinese idiom appeared in my mind: 心猿意马 (xin yuan yi ma)--
means my mind wandered.
I think 心猿意马（xin yuan yi ma） is a very graphic expression. Did you ever experience this: Outside, you are sitting there stilly--quiet & unmoving, but your mind was actively process something else, out of your conscious, like in a trance state. If translated directly, 心猿意马（xin yuan yi ma）means your heart, like a monkey, is jumping up and down on the branches, swinging back and forth, looking right and left while grimacing. At the same time, your mind is riding a wild horse running across the grassland, running wildly and wandering in small steps in the next moment, and sometimes standing with his hind legs and neighing to the sky. Doesn't 心猿意马（xin yuan yi ma) vividly express the hiding inner world?
心猿意马（xin yuan yi ma）can also refer unfaithful in a relationship or indecisive according to the context. They are the extended meaning of non-concentration, in my opinion.
People's inner is often inconsistent with external performance/appearance, sometimes highly different, even opposite. Who would know it better than our psychoanalyst?
More Chinese idioms come into my mind: such as 忐忑不安 (uneasy)、忐忐忑忑 (uneasy), 胆战心惊 (frightened), 提心吊胆 (frightened), 惴惴不安 (uneasy), 心急火燎 (very worried)......
Francy Wang 王方
August 15, 2021, in Toronto
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