Hi there. what’s cracking? 😃
Very recently I posted a review about the book Think Like a Monk. And today I want to talk about my takeaways from this book. 🥰
To live like a monk doesn’t mean to live isolated on an island, living a purposeful and meaningful life and finding happiness and pleasure along the way. Besides, learning from the monk’s mindset we’re prone to resist temptation, deal with pain and anxiety, refrain from criticism, and quiet the ego.
So, here are some takeaways from this life-changing book.
Time and Money tell your values
What are your values? Pause a bit and think. Family? Friends? Work? Health?
Do you really know your values? Or do you think you know your values? Where you spend your time (other than working and sleeping) and your money (other than necessaries) will tell you the real story.
You might say that you value your family however when you have dinner you grab your phone instead of engaging in conversation. You might say you value your friends, however when you have free time you don’t call them, instead you scroll on social media. You might say you value your health, however, you’re too busy to take a 30-minute workout.
By the same token, money tells a lot about your real values. You might say you value learning but you spend more money on outings rather than on courses; you might say you value eating healthy but you spend more money on fast food instead of vegetables; You might say you value traveling but your spend more money paying taxes for the loan on your new brand car.
The point is, how and with whom/what you spend your free time and money, is what you’ve been valuing in your life, even unconsciously. If what you find out doesn’t align with what you think, it means you’ll need to rethink your actions.
Stop daydreaming
Daydreaming seems harmless, right? Wrong!
When I first read that, something clicked “ Why hadn’t I thought of this before?” According to Jay Shetty, when you daydream you train your brain to be in the future, consequently you neglect the present, and you forget to enjoy the moment, here and now.
Put in another way, daydreaming might be a weed for those who want to develop the ability to be in the moment.
Single-tasking
Those who never switch among tabs or apps aimlessly throw the first stone. 😅
Modern-day society places so much pressure on us to do more and more. With that, we get impatient to wait a few seconds for a loading page and we end up grabbing our phone to check messages while we wait for the loading, turns out a friend texted you asking you for a favor, so now you’re about to reply to them and lose the track of time of the previous task you were doing.
In the end, you realized that you might even don’t remember why you end up answering that 10-minute message and took you away from your work. It might cause you frustration and anxiety because now you’re lagging behind in your duties, so you hush even more to catch up with your work.
I believe that single-tasking is key to reducing anxiety and living in the present.
Find your Dharma
Dharma is nothing more than putting together your passion and expertise in the service of others.
When you do something with passion you are naturally encouraged to keep doing it. Then, chances are you’ll become an expert at what you do, but your expertise just for the benefit of yourself isn’t impactful. In order to make your journey meaningful, you should help people along the way, as service increases gratitude, compassion, self-esteem, and connection.
To remember, to forget
Two things to remember and to forget to live fully, gratefully, and peacefully.
🌟REMEMBER
- The bad we did to others. This way our ego is forced to remember our imperfections and regrets;
- The good people did to us. With that in mind, we’ll feel humbled and grateful for the gifts we received
🌟 FORGET
- The good we did for others. It grows our ego. (I partially disagree with Jay. 🙂 When I first read it, I thought to myself “Come on! I should remember the good I did to others for the sake of praise for my good deeds rather than just beating myself up for mistakes I made or things that I haven’t done)
- The bad people did to us. It makes us focus on ourselves instead of having a broader perspective.
Detach from ego
Our ego might become an enemy if we don’t control it. So it’s important to detach from the ego. There are four occasions we can practice it:
- Receiving an insult. Don’t reply to one insult with another one. Stop, think, and let it go. We don’t know what’s in other’s people minds, or what they experience. Thus, the insult giver might have had a hard day, and you have nothing to do with their anger that spilled over you.
- Receiving a compliment. Be grateful for those who teach you, rather than rejecting the compliment or being smug.
- Arguing with a partner. Remember you can be right or you can move forward. The saying goes “do you want to be right or be happy?” 🙂
- Topping people. When someone is telling us a story we yearn to share our experience, for better or worse. So, lighten your ego and don’t say anything, just listen, and make questions (be curious.)
That’s it. These are my takeaways from Think Like a Monk. I hope you learned from them as much as I did. ✨
I’m eager to know which one of these takeaways you liked the most and why.
Please share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to read them. 😃
