Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty

Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty

THINK LIKE 

A MONK

TRAIN YOUR MIND for PEACE 

and PURPOSE EVERY DAY

JAY SHETTY

Copyright

Thorsons

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SEI 9GF

First published in the US by Simon & Schuster 2020

This UK edition published by Thorsons 2020

@ Jay R. Shetty 2020

Cover design by Jackie Seow

Cover photograph @ Steve Erle

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

PART ONE

LET GO

1.IDENTITY

1 Am What 1 Think I Am

2.NEGATIVITY

The Evil King Goes Hungry

3.FEAR

Welcome to Hotel Earth

4.INTENTION

Blinded by the Gold

MEDITATION: Breathe

PART TWO

GROW

5.PURPOSE

The Nature of the Scorpion

6.ROUTINE

Location Has Energy; Time Has Memory

7.THE MIND

The Charioteer's Dilemma

8.EGO

Catch Me If You Can

MEDITATION: Visualize

PART THREE

GIVE

9.GRATITUDE

The World's Most Powerful Drug

10.RELATIONSHIPS

People Watching

11.SERVICE

Plant Trees Under whose Shade You Do Not Plan to Sit

MEDITATION: Chant

Conclusion

Appendix: The Vedic Personality Test

Acknowledgments

Author's Note

Notes

Next Steps

List of Searchable Terms

About the Publisher

Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty

"Thinking like a monk" posits another way of viewing and approaching life. A way of rebellion, detachment, rediscovery, purpose, focus, discipline—and service. The goal of monk thinking is a life free of ego, envy, lust, anxiety, anger, bitterness, baggage. To my mind, adopting the monk mindset isn't just possible—it's necessary. We have no other choice. We need to find calm, stillness, and peace.

I vividly remember my first day of monk school. I had just shaved my head but I wasn't wearing robes yet, and I still looked like I was from London. I noticed a child monk—he can't have been more than ten years old—teaching a group of five-year-olds. He had a great aura about him, the poise and confidence of an adult.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"We just taught their first class ever," he said, then asked me, "Why did you learn in your first day of school?"

"I started to learn the alphabet and numbers. 1%at did they learn?" "The first thing we teach them is how to breathe." "WHY?" I asked.

"Because the only thing that stays with you from the moment you're born until the moment you die is your breath. All your friends, your family, the country you live in, all of that can change. The one thing that stays with you is your breath."

This ten-year-old monk added, "M€men you get stressed—what changes? Your breath. 1%en you get angry—what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of the breath. 1%en you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life."

Already I was being taught the most important lesson: to focus on the root of things, not the leaf of the tree or symptoms of the problem. And I was learning, through direct observation, that anybody can be a monk, even if they're only five or ten years old.

When we're born, the first thing we must do is breathe. But just as life gets more complicated for that newborn baby, sitting still and breathing can be very challenging. What I hope to do in this book is to show you the monk way—we go to the root of things, go deep into self-examination. It is only through this curiosity, thought, effort, and revelation that we find our way to peace, calm, and purpose. Using the wisdom I was given by my teachers in the ashram, I hope to guide you there.

In the pages ahead, I will walk you through three stages of adapting to the monk mindset. First, we will let go, stripping ourselves from the external influences, internal obstacles, and fears that hold us back. You can think of this as a cleansing that will make space for growth. Second, we will grow. I will help you reshape your life so that you can make decisions with intention, purpose, and confidence. Finally, we will give, looking to the world beyond ourselves, expanding and sharing our sense of gratitude, and deepening our relationships. We will share our gifts and love with others and discover the true joy and surprising benefits of service.

Along the way, I will introduce you to three very different types of meditation that I recommend including in your practice: breathwork, visualization, and sound. All three have benefits, but the simplest way to differentiate them is to know that you do breathwork for the physical benefits—to find stillness and balance, to calm yourself; visualization for the psychological benefits—to heal the past and prepare for the future; and chanting for the psychic benefits—to connect with your deepest self and the universe, for real purification.

You don't have to meditate to benefit from this book, but if you do, the tools I give you will be sharper. I would go so far as to say that this entire book is a meditation—a reflection on our beliefs and values and intentions, how we see ourselves, how we make decisions, how to train our minds, and our ways of choosing and interacting with people. Achieving such deep self-awareness is the purpose and reward of meditation.

How would a monk think about this? That may not be a question you ask yourself right now— probably isn't close at all—but it will be by the end of the book.

Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty, Reviews Book by Jay Shetty

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4.8/5flipkart.com