“Think Like a Monk” - Jay Shetty

 

🗣️ Two sentence review: I made myself finish it, chasing deeper wisdom. I think his valuable points could have been made in a far more concise manner.

🗣️ For starters, it’s not that I dislike Shetty in any way. Even after finishing this book, I’m fairly ambivalent about him. Prior to reading TLAM I didn’t know much about him other than he seems to be very trendy in Hollywood and was a former monk for a few years. Any time I’d heard clips of him on social media, he did make good sense. So, I picked up his book hoping for a simplified and perhaps more accessible version of Thich Nhat Hanh?

🗣️ I’ll get to the core of the book in a moment, but first, I think I had a difficult time buying in to much of his messaging because of credibility issues. He came off as a regular guy who dabbled in the monk life for a period but has long since fully immersed himself in the materialistic world of Hollywood, which seems to be the antithesis of the ashram life as he describes it in this book. Not to minimize Shetty’s experiences in the ashram, but his reason given in TLAM for leaving, coupled with his silence on how he reconciles the aesthetic practices he touts with the hyper-materialistic world he has chosen to reenter, makes me curious if the ashram life was merely a passing fancy, which then undermines his credibility in my mind. This is just the feeling I get - I’m totally open to being wrong on this.

🗣️ As far as the writing goes, TLAM is full of platitudes (“freeing your mind is everything”), punchy little mnemonic devices, and zingy one-liners. It’s optimized to produce quotable social media nuggets. Great for the Gram, but not so much for impactful reading. Overall, I felt TLAM gave mostly pop philosophy vibes. I’m not saying Shetty doesn’t have something to offer, but this book felt like he was struggling to fill pages. He seems better suited to inspirational social media posts or perhaps inspirational speaking?

🗣️ All this is not to say that I got absolutely nothing out of this book; I just thought the wisdom was heavily interspersed with fluff. I took notes as I listened to his audiobook so I’m happy to share what stood out to me. One thing I for sure enjoyed was the diversity of sources he chose to illustrate his points. He emphasizes the Gita and Vedas for sure (I agree with his interpretations of these texts), but he also culled examples from Benedictine monks, rabbinical scholars, and scientific literature to name a few. I’ll laundry list my takeaways below.

🗣️ Shetty writes about Jeffrey Cambell’s interpretations of the concept of Sachitananda. This is the second book I’ve read in the last six months that refers to Campbell, so I’m pretty sure I need to add some of his work to my must-read list.

🗣️ While I thought Shetty’s take on the Hindu concept of varnas condensed to a “Vedic personality quiz” was clunky, his descriptions, interpretations, and most importantly his distinctions between varnas and the modern, oppressive caste system are accurate and well-written.

🗣️ His insights on breathing and breath in chapter 1 were impactful. He says breathing is the single constant we have through our lives - from the second we are born until we breathe our last. It’s so fundamental yet we take it for granted.  Emotions of anger or joy both change our breath. 

🗣️ When Shetty writes about quieting the ego (which is a core concept taught by Shri Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita), I liked that he connects it with the internal act of forgiveness. We think it is for the benefit of another person - usually the person that has a wronged us. However, once we forgive, we free ourselves of anger, so really, it is an act of letting go to benefit ourselves from the burden of carrying negative baggage. Of course, he goes on to describe the indirect benefits of forgiveness to the people around us.

🗣️ I also liked his description of daily gratitude practice as building gratitude like a muscle. Since childhood, I’ve often chanted Om namo bhagavate to myself during moments of stress. When my kids were babies, this chant was an effective soother for a crying baby. I learned from Shetty that this chant is also intended for insight and knowledge.

🗣️ In chapter 8, Shetty focuses on sleep routines. Here, at last, some actionable, practical advice! We want to establish sleeping and waking patterns that will maximize a peaceful transition through different parts of our day. The act of grabbing our phones first thing after waking up, is a negative habit. Of course it is. However, I never paused to consider why it is negative. Now, the thought of flooding my mind with a barrage of information (the good the bad the ugly) first thing after waking up sounds downright horrific. I feel motivated with this knowledge to put the phone down and not pick it up immediately. I see now that it’s a health issue because of Shetty’s description of us, bleary eyed and not yet awake, essentially inviting thousands of people into our rooms the moment we flick on our phones. 

🗣️ I like the quick reflection of “is it dust or is it me?”. What is the value behind the choices we make to spend money or time?

🗣️ Finally, he had one insight that’s particularly useful with kids (especially those wonderful teenagers). When a person is rude or disrespectful to you, their words/attitudes don’t actually diminish your worth in any way. How can we help kids emotionally self-regulate if we take their bait (which they don’t even know they’re offering)? Shetty echoes advice of psychologists to either “back away slowly” or view the interaction as a third party. This goes back to quieting our own egos.