Think like a Monk by Jay Shetty Summary

Santwana Mohanty

4 years ago

To think like a monk, one does not need to attain wisdom by travelling farther into the mountains and allocate oneself in a secret shelter chanting and practicing the methods like a monk/yogi. One can even live calm and lead a happy life like a monk living in the modern world. For the above attainment, one needs to think like a monk.

What is the need to think like a monk?

The author Jay Shetty tells here, if one needs to learn about innovation in life, he/she has to follow the ideology of Elon Musk. If one needs to learn about business, he/she has to learn from Warren Buffet. Similarly, if one needs to train one’s mind to be calm and attain peace then monk is the best source of motivation for this. That’s why one needs to think like a monk to be peaceful and happy in one’s life.

Train your mind for peace and purpose every day

Strong characteristics of a monk

Calmness
Clarity
Happiness
Disciplined

How to develop the mind of a monk?

#1) Find your true identity

When someone stands in front of the dirty mirror, he/she is unable to see his/her face clearly. In the similar way, Jay Shetty pens that one cannot see the true identity of oneself because like the dirty mirror one is covered by the dirt of the influence of others. It is the “dust” of the influence.

One works according to others wealth and try to make more money, one gets envious by the outer appearance of others and try to copy them forgetting one’s own identity.

So the others want his readers to know his/her true identity and not copy others by getting influenced. To find the real identity one needs to know the values he/she has in them.

Taking inspiration from others is not bad but one must understand the internal values in him/her.

How many types of values?

Higher values:

Attainment of higher values results in HAPPINESS, FULFILMENT and MEANINFUL LIFE

Lower values:

Attainment of lower values results in ANXIETY, DEPRESSION and SUFFERING

Therefore, it is clearly observed that one has to consider the attainment of higher values just like a monk.

To find real value, one has to follow two steps

First Step

One has to audit oneself i.e. Self-Auditing: One has to note the things one does in his/her free time, the rate of usage of social media in a day, the amount of money spent.

Second Step

Self-Isolation: One has to isolate oneself in a place abstaining from any electronic device, outer noise. One has to ask oneself “What do I believe in?”

Analyze whether the things done are positive or negative, right or wrong, whether being with the people around helps to attain the real values needed for attaining a life like a monk.

The fact has to be considered whether one is getting closer in becoming a human being he/she wants to become or not, whether the person is right fit for ones getting towards to his goals by following the values. One should stay or hangout with the people who understands his/her values and supports to the end limit. This way clarity will come in choosing the people who can help one attaining ones values.

When you give yourself space and stillness, you can clear out the dust => the only way to build a meaningful life is; filter out the noise and look within.

#2) Remove Negativity

In the present situation, not only in cooperates, everywhere there are people who has a negative attitude towards everything. They being negative also pollute their surrounding by negative ideas, thoughts and negatively biased topics. This might make one negative and pollutes the mind.

Negative people:

*Compare

*Give orders

*Give pressure

*Criticize

*Blame

*Complain

It’s not possible to avoid everyone. So the author Jay in the novel Think like a Monk has sighted 3 methods to follow to deal with negative people around.

Methods

@ Allocate Time

One has a certain limit to the power of tolerance. If one allocates a particular time for particular people to which one can tolerate him/her then there will be two benefits to this. First, he won’t be hurt instead happy in spraying his negativity. Second, one won’t be affected from him because the limit of the power of tolerance has not crossed yet. This way one can deal with the negative people.

“Set time for specific people”

@ 75/25 rule

One should spend 75% of the time with the positive people who inspires, motivates, supports and understands his/her values and giving 25% of the time to the rest of the people. This way most of the time positivity stays intact in oneself.

@ Don’t get involved

There is no need to get involved in each and every discussion going on in the surrounding until and unless you are required to. This way mind does not get distracted and disturbed unnecessarily.

For the inner negativity

Everyone says to control the negative thoughts. The author says it is not possible to do this because negative thoughts are normal. It might come. To deal with it, one must spot the negative thought, think over it, stop it and replace it with the positive one.

Spot: Find your feelings

Stop: Find out the reason of feeling the emotion

Swap: Replace the emotion with gratitude or any positive thought

Example: When one mixes 1 tablespoon of salt with 1 glass of water, the water would taste salty but when the same amount of salt is mixed in a big container no difference will be felt. Likewise, the salt is the rejection and the glass and container are the perception towards the rejection. If the perception is huge then any kind of rejection won’t affect the person.

#3) knowing your intention

If one is unable to achieve a particular goal then his/her intention towards the goal is not right. Understanding intention towards a particular goal is important. One does the work either out of Fear or desire or duty or love. But the true nature is to know why one wants to do a certain work. It is really for attaining the money or something else, for getting the desires to be fulfilled or for love etc. Knowing the real desire is important not the surface intention.

Your right intention can give you right satisfaction

#4) Knowing your space and time

One must designate a particular place for a particular task. Each location has an energy which helps in doing the work more efficiently. For example, if a particular space is designated for meditation then doing it in that space helps the mind to understand the importance of using the space for the particular instance. This way focus increases.

Same works for the time criteria too. Time has memory. Our mind automatically pushes itself to do a particular task at a particular time. It gets automatic. For example if one gets up @6 every day for a week or month with the help of alarm, a timer is automatically set in one’s mind and furthermore the alarm is not required and the process becomes automatic.

Therefore the work done at a particular time and space enhances the efficiency of the work.

This a debut book of Jay Shetty. The novel Think like a monk is an inspiration to the youth to focus towards the attainment of peace and happiness through a process that monks follow.

To read the entire book, click the link below

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