In this video I'm going to share my honest review of Jay Shetty's
book "Think Like a Monk" and towards the end,
I'm going to also tell you how to read this book for getting the maximum
benefit. Hi this is Supreet, I upload new videos
every Sunday about personal growth, meditation and occasionally, parenting.
You can follow me at GrowWithSupreet on Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter. So.. Think Like a Monk... overall I liked it
but watch this video till the very end because I'm going to explain
exactly why I liked it and that should help you decide
if this book is for you or not. By the way, have you already purchased the book?
Tell me in the comments below! I have read a lot of books in this genre like
book of joy, joy on demand and lots of other books about
spirituality and buddhism by Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer and so on.
So it's not like I found some new earth-shattering concepts
in this book, which was to be expected. In fact,
to be completely honest, when I was deciding whether to purchase this book
or not, I had arrogant thoughts like "I'm pretty
sure I already know whatever is going to be in this book".
I was wrong. I have already had quite a few aha moments from this book which I
will be sharing later on in this video, and I'm only 20 minutes into the book! How a
person likes a book depends very much on what books they have read before and
what season of life they are currently in. If this book was the first book in
this genre that i had read, i would be shouting from the rooftops
urging everyone to read it! But i'm still learning a lot and growing
a lot and enjoying reading this book because of
the following six reasons: reason number one: even though some of
the concepts that jay talks about in the book like
getting clear about your values, dealing with negativity, dealing with fear,
forgiveness - even though these concepts are not new for me but even i need to be
reminded of them again and again. it's one thing to know
about concepts and another thing to actually implement them.
so this book gave me the push and the reminders that i needed.
reason number two: it feels good to know that some of the
things that i'm already doing are being recommended by jay shetty as
well. for example, forgiving someone when they haven't even
apologized to you. forgiving is a great thing to do for
your mental and your physical health. i highly highly recommend it!
when you forgive someone, you're not doing them a favor but you're doing
yourself a huge favor because when you hold a
grudge, it's very bad for you. so forgiving
someone.. when you forgive someone, you get such a sense of freedom and
relief. and forgiving someone doesn't mean that
you have to become best friends with them
you can forgive them and still want to keep a distance.
reason number three: i am enjoying reading jay's personal stories that he
shares in this book which i wouldn't have found in any other book!
stories of how and why he became a monk, what was life like in the mumbai ashram
that he stayed at when he was a monk, and so on. some of the stories i found
very interesting, for example, when waiting outside the communal shower in a
line with the other monks, if the monk that was showering took more
than four minutes which was the average time, jay would find it very hard
to resist the urge to criticize that monk
with the other monks that were standing in line with him.
and then there was the story of how the monks would laugh
if they saw a new monk fall asleep or snore during a meditation session.
these monks were also supposed to be meditating but instead they are laughing!
so it was nice to see that human side of monks. monks are actually quite fun
people. they laugh, they don't take life too
seriously. you've probably seen the Dalai Lama laughing a lot... and this is one of
the less talked about side effects of meditation - that it helps
you to take life not too seriously and to take
yourself not too seriously. by the way if you're
getting value from this video please hit like and subscribe to my
channel. the fourth reason why i like this book
is that jay shares a lot of practical wisdom
and exercises including meditations in this book.
so he's not just talking in abstract terms
and these exercises are highlighted in boxes so they are easy to find.
for example there is an exercise on how to practice
forgiveness - because it's not just a switch that you can turn on.
then there's an exercise to determine what are your values
and are the people that you spend your time with aligned with those values or
not. if you're reading this book i want to
encourage you to actually do these exercises. take out
your pen and paper and pause your reading
and actually spend some time to do these exercises if you really want to benefit
from this book. you don't have to do all of them. maybe
just pick one or two that you think you need
the most. because knowledge is not power. knowledge plus action equals power.
only reading the book is not going to change your life.
reason number five: there are lots of quotes by other people
in this book, usually at the beginning of each chapter.
for example, "Fear does not prevent death. it prevents life."
by Buddha. and then there is a quote by pema chodron which made me chuckle.
"I became a buddhist because i hated my husband."
and there's a little story about pema to go with that quote.
also there are lots of stories from the mahabharata and the bhagavad-gita.
i love stories. stories make any book more fun to read, don't they?
i love stories. i love quotes. in fact i'm collecting all the quotes in this book
right now which i'm going to compile in a video
and share with you after i finish reading this book.
so to make sure you don't miss that video make sure that you have subscribed
to my channel and clicked on the notification bell.
reason number six: there were some points in the book where i found myself
disagreeing with jay. for example, he says that even though you
feel better after venting or complaining about
someone or something, you should not do it. that's the monk's
way, right? i can see where he's coming from and i
don't entirely disagree with him. in fact i myself try to stay away from
chronic complainers and i try my best to not complain. i'm
sure my husband would disagree with me. and so would my kids. so while i agree
that we should try to be not complaining, however, once in a while i think it's
okay to vent to someone if something is
something or someone is bothering you. without the intention of gossip or
without the intention of bringing someone
down. because i think that's a good way of processing your emotions.
and i am all for processing your emotions, especially the negative ones
and taking the time to feel the pain and feel that emotion
instead of rushing towards replacing that negative emotion with
a positive one. because if you don't process your emotions,
unprocessed emotions, repressed emotions can cause
mental health problems. so as i'm reading that part of the book and shaking my
head in disagreement, what happens next? i continue reading and
then i read these words. that it's good to complain.. wait for it..
mindfully. wow, that was an aha moment for me!
I have never heard of the word "complain mindfully"
before. and how he suggests is a good way of complaining mindfully,
is through journaling. so when something is bothering you or someone is bothering
you, write down and reflect on why it's
bothering you and take some time to go deep and dig
deep on exactly why something or someone is
bothering you. and that i think is a great way of
self-reflection and improving your self-awareness and
actually dealing with the issue that's bothering
you. this book is divided into three parts
part one is let go, part two is grow and part three is give.
in the part that i'm yet to read, jay is going to talk about things like
purpose, relationships and ego among other things. so i believe i have
now given you enough information to help you decide
if you want to purchase this book or not. if you do, the amazon link is in the
description below. if you use my link, it helps me to earn a
small commission and you do not have to pay anything
extra. so i thank you in advance for doing that.
i am considering doing a summary video for this book as well,
so if you want that summary video, please let me know in the comments below.
and if you are reading this book or have read this book i would love to hear your
perspective so let me know that as well in the comments.
my advice to you if you're reading this book is to
take your time. take the time to reflect on what you have read
and take the time to do at least some of the exercises in the book.
after you read a certain portion of the book,
let yourself marinate in those ideas for a bit.
let them sink in before you rush to the next chapter.
in my opinion, that's how you will get the most benefit from this book.
not just only this book but any self-help book. if you have
any questions at all please write them in the comments i will be happy to
answer them. if you got value from this video please
give it a thumbs up. thank you for watching, keep growing!
in this video i'm going to share you my... reason number one: even though...
and another thing to actually implement it...
oh boy
getting clear about your values, forgiveness....
to criticize about that monk...
to not take life too seriously and not take...
..how to practice...
part two is.. grow... sorry... let those new ideas...