# Mother's mantel shelf and the wombat

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-mother-mantel-shelf
- Themes: overwhelm, one thing at a time, attachment to mementos
- Life situations: too many responsibilities, burnout, multitasking

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Each visit Ajahn Brahm brings his mother another stuffed Australian animal; when the big wombat arrives, everything falls off the crowded shelf, and he likens a cluttered mind to a mantel shelf having a nervous breakdown.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I told a story a long time ago about my mother's mantel shelf. She's an English woman, well she's in a home now, she's very old, but in her house like many English people's house they had a fireplace, and above the fireplace they have a mantel shelf and on that mantel shelf they keep the knick-knacks, the mementos, the photographs and all the things which which bring back happy memories. And so that one day I had just been in Australia for a few years and I went to visit my mother, and so I brought her a gift, and what sort of gift do you bring? Someone gave me a stuffed kangaroo, you know a little fluffy toy, really cute. So I brought that back and gave it to my mother, and she liked it very much, and she put it on her mantel shelf. Next time I went over there someone managed to get me a koala and so I took that back, and she said "Oh, it's so beautiful, everytime I see this I can remember you in Australia." So she put it on her mantel shelf next to the kangaroo. The next time I managed to get a kookaburra, the time afterwards a platypus, and the fifth time I went, I managed to get a wombat. The trouble was the wombat was so big, she tried to put it on the mantel shelf and all the other ones fell off. She spent about an hour trying to balance it on her shelf and everything else fell off. I said, "Why don't you throw those other things away?" She said, "Noooo, these are nice, they remind me of you." You had so much rubbish on that shelf and I said, "Mother, this is like the person, they get one more thing in their head, they have a nervous breakdown, your mantel shelf's having a nervous breakdown." That's what happens, we collect so many thoughts and so much stuff. So if that was my mantel shelf, everytime, if I got a kangaroo, I just put that on, everything else would be clear. The next time someone gave me something else, I'd throw that one away and get something new. So one thing at a time in your head. And then your mantel shelf inside your brain never, ever has a nervous breakdown.

## Teaching point

“So one thing at a time in your head. And then your mantel shelf inside your brain never, ever has a nervous breakdown.”

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

His mother's shelf collapsed not because the wombat was too big, but because nothing was ever taken off. A busy mind works the same way. Put one thing on the shelf at a time, this task, this person, this moment, and clear it away when you move on. Then there is always room.

## Source

- [Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USC5MJVZLy8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 19:02 to 21:24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USC5MJVZLy8&t=1142s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Success Without Stress | by Ajahn Brahm | 24 February 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvrIUmUbqw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:20 to 14:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvrIUmUbqw&t=740s
- [Detachment | Ajahn Brahm | 18th March 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xig9D9B8XHQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 28:56 to 31:49: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xig9D9B8XHQ&t=1736s
- [Entanglement | Ajahn Brahm | 17 March 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFCyORlZP4) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 3:28 to 3:50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfFCyORlZP4&t=208s
- [New Year's Eve with Ajahn Brahm | 31 December 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWPiQZMTtO0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 20:19 to 21:37: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWPiQZMTtO0&t=1219s
- [New Year's Eve Dhamma Talk | Ajahn Brahm | 31 Dec 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBgsESgFoI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:51 to 8:49: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBgsESgFoI&t=411s
- [Bốn Cách Buông Bỏ | Ajahn Brahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kUXlmXQl3w) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 19:04 to 19:51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kUXlmXQl3w&t=1144s
- [阿姜·布拉姆佛法讲座：放下的四种方式 - Four Ways Of Letting Go| Ajahn Brahm|](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfMlptftvI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 19:43 to 20:57: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfMlptftvI&t=1183s
- [Four Ways of Letting Go | Ajahn Brahm | 09-04-2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYS30UBW0gs) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 19:43 to 20:54: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYS30UBW0gs&t=1183s
- [Cztery sposoby na to, jak odpuścić - Ajahn Brahm [LEKTOR PL]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXR9emyoJlA) (Sasana.pl) — watch from 19:03 to 21:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXR9emyoJlA&t=1143s