Book Review: Think like a Monk by Jay Shetty
Review by Giorgio Reggiani (Founding Partner & CFO, Global Bio Fund)
2020 has been a year of huge changes for me. As luck would have it, 2020 was also a year that has offered a lot of time for self reflection and wondering how to become more involved in building back to a better world. It was timely then that Jay Shetty, a life coach, published his book to share the wisdoms he had gained by spending over 3 years living as a monk and the practical steps that you can take every day to live a more meaningful life in his book Think Like a Monk.
Combining ancient and modern wisdoms with his own experiences of living with Monks, this easy to read book includes lots of practical exercises to help us reflect on and overcome negative thoughts and habits, to access our calm and to being on the journey of finding a purposeful life.
Jay grew up in north London with family expectations of following a professional career but at university a friend dragged him along to a lecture by a monk and he became so inspired to follow that path that he skipped his graduation ceremony and headed to India to join an ashram. It was while meditating for hours every day that Jay learnt the core lessons he shares in this book. Lucky for us, after three years he had a discussion with one of his teachers that made him consider being able to make a bigger impact if he left the ashram and shared his experience and wisdom with others.
Arriving back in the UK, Jay met up with some old school friends, many of whom were experiencing stress, pressure and unhappiness in their careers and lives and they invited Jay to coach them on well-being and mindfulness. Jay ended up presenting mindfulness sessions to a big consultancy practice and has went on to become one of the world’s most popular life coaches, with over 38 million social media followers. Jay’s engaging and easy to follow writing style is peppered with memorable, real world examples of how to apply monk like thinking instead of using our “monkey brains” which keep us distracted from developing ourselves and block our path to finding our own unique purpose.
Developing our monk thinking techniques chapter by chapter, Jay helps us to reflect on the source of our anxieties, and limiting thoughts and teaches us to unwrap the layers of family, friend and societal complexities that we’ve been wrapped in.
Jay quotes Charles Colley in his book “I’m not what I think I am. I’m not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am”. This book can help you to stop living the life you think others expect of you and find the person that you can be.
I’ve recommend this book to my friends and I’d recommend it to you too.
