Think Like A Monk – A Book Review

Hey y’all!

I’ve stumbled upon this book because my therapist kept suggesting it to me and so I finally decided to check it out. I’ve seen his videos before in the past and I saw him on Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Red Table Talk on Facebook which helped me to learn about him even more. He isn’t without controversy, however. I’ve heard that he steals a lot of his material and that he never gives credit to people as well. I know a lot of celebs were excited for his book release.

I will say that if you order this book, be prepared to wait like around two weeks for it to come in the mail. My therapist warned me about that and I actually forgot that I ordered the book (or maybe I order too many books). When it came I was like hey my book just came in the mail and we both had a little laugh about it but she was really excited for me to read the book.

Synopsis

Jay Shetty, social media superstar and host of the #1 podcast On Purpose, distills the timeless wisdom he learned as a monk into practical steps anyone can take every day to live a less anxious, more meaningful life.

When you think like a monk, you’ll understand:

How to overcome negativity
How to stop overthinking
Why comparison kills love
How to use your fear
Why you can’t find happiness by looking for it
How to learn from everyone you meet
Why you are not your thoughts
How to find your purpose
Why kindness is crucial to success
And much more…

Shetty grew up in a family where you could become one of three things—a doctor, a lawyer, or a failure. His family was convinced he had chosen option three: instead of attending his college graduation ceremony, he headed to India to become a monk, to meditate every day for four to eight hours, and devote his life to helping others. After three years, one of his teachers told him that he would have more impact on the world if he left the monk’s path to share his experience and wisdom with others. Heavily in debt, and with no recognizable skills on his résumé, he moved back home in north London with his parents.

Shetty reconnected with old school friends—many working for some of the world’s largest corporations—who were experiencing tremendous stress, pressure, and unhappiness, and they invited Shetty to coach them on well-being, purpose, and mindfulness. Since then, Shetty has become one of the world’s most popular influencers. In 2017, he was named in the Forbes magazine 30-under-30 for being a game-changer in the world of media. In 2018, he had the #1 video on Facebook with over 360 million views. His social media following totals over 38 million, he has produced over 400 viral videos which have amassed more than 8 billion views, and his podcast, On Purpose, is consistently ranked the world’s #1 Health and Wellness podcast.

In this inspiring, empowering book, Shetty draws on his time as a monk to show us how we can clear the roadblocks to our potential and power. Combining ancient wisdom and his own rich experiences in the ashram, Think Like a Monk reveals how to overcome negative thoughts and habits and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us. He transforms abstract lessons into advice and exercises we can all apply to reduce stress, improve relationships, and give the gifts we find in ourselves to the world. Shetty proves that everyone can – and should – think like a monk.

Review

I won’t sit here and say that the book was awful. I usually read self-development books (I’m a self-help junkie) so this one was on par with the others. This was a long book lol. My therapist warned me and I thought she was exaggerating but no it’s long. Or maybe the length (282 pages) of it wasn’t the issue maybe it was that the book is dense. Like it’s heavy and requires you to do some really deep thinking so to me, that was a lot.

It was alright. It’s pretty good. A lot of the principles in the book were things I’ve read in my Bible just used a different name for it. It’s decent. There are a few meditation chants in it so if that’s not your thing, just skip it. Some of the takeaways that I got were that we need to be intentional about everything. How we start our day is very important and that we need to start our day earlier in order to get into a positive headspace whether its through journaling, meditating, or both. Writing down things that we’re grateful for is key so that we can be happier.

Meditaing (according to him) for like 5-10 minutes is not enough for us to fully use the benefit of meditation. He also talks about how our upbringing and our family can affect how we view ourselves. To be honest, a lot of it is the same as the information that I read in other books, just from his perspective. There were no mind blowing facts or information that he gave so to me, it wasn’t a life changing book. He did give a lot of strategies (some are posted below) for us to apply in our lives which I did enjoy and he threw in anecdotes from when he was a monk.

I gave this book a 4/5 stars. It’s an alright book for what it is. There was nothing mind blowing about it but it did have some awesome strategies for us to use and apply in our lives.