Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day

by Jay Shetty

one infallible trick to successfully getting up earlier: I had to go to sleep earlier.

I’d spent my entire life pushing the limits of each day, sacrificing tomorrow because I didn’...

Starting our days so simply was like a mental shower.

Looking at your phone first thing in the morning is like inviting one hundred chatty strangers into your bedroom before you’ve showered, brushed your teeth, fixed your hair.

You can’t do things with purpose and care if you have to speed through them.

the morning is defined by the evening.

Morning sets the tone of the day, but a well-planned evening prepares you for morning.

consider what your last thoughts are before going to sleep.

The emotion you fall asleep with at night is most likely the emotion you’ll wake up with in the morning.

want you to visualize yourself as your best self. Visualize yourself waking up in the morning healthy, well rested, and energized.

“I’m grateful for today. I will wake up tomorrow feeling healthy, energized, and rested. Thank you.”

Visualization doesn’t change your life, but it changes how you see it.

I’ve heard it said that we don’t have a retention problem, we have an attention problem.

Rules and routines ease our cognitive burden so we have bandwidth for creativity.

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

The outside may look the same, but inside you are transformed.

Just as the room where we monks slept was designed for nothing but sleep, so every place in the ashram was devoted to a single activity. We didn’t read or meditate where we slept.

eat in your bedroom is to confuse the energy of that space.

Every home should have a place to eat. A place to sleep. A sacred space that helps you feel calm and a space that feels comforting when you are angry.

The brain processes sound even when we don’t consciously hear it. At

Begin the day with a song that makes you happy.

Choose sounds that make you feel happier and healthier, the better to replicate the highly curated life in an ashram.

When we do something at the same time every day, that time keeps that memory for us.

When you want to incorporate a new habit into your routine, like meditating or reading, don’t make it more difficult by trying to do it whenever you have a free moment. Slot it into the same time every day. Even better, link the new practice to something that’s already a habit.

Location has energy; time has memory.

If you do something at the same time every day, it becomes easier and natural. If you do something in the same space every day, it becomes easier and natural.

Change happens with small steps and big priorities. Pick one thing to change, make it your number one priority, and see it through before you move on to the next.

If something is important, it deserves to be experienced deeply. And everything is important.

periods of deep focus are also good for your brain.

Imagine you were told you could spend five minutes a day for a whole month with someone you were attracted to. At the end of the month you’d still barely know them.

Routines are counterintuitive—instead of being boring and repetitive, doing the same tasks at the same time in the same place makes room for creativity.

The consistent energy of location and memory of time help us be present in the moment, engaging deeply in tasks instead of getting distracted or frustrated.

Once we quell our external distractions, we can address the most subtle and powerful distractions of all, the voices inside our heads.

When the five senses and the mind are stilled, when the reasoning intellect rests in silence, then begins the highest path.

our minds are only in present time for about three seconds at a time.

Which wolf wins?’ the grandson asks. ‘The one you feed,’ the elder replies.” “But how do we feed them?” I asked my teacher.

“By what we read and hear. By who we spend time with. By what we do with our time. By where we focus our energy and attention.”

Sometimes our own minds work against us. They convince us to do something, then make us feel guilty or bad about it, often because it’s gone against our values or morals.

I allowed myself to be angry at people I loved because I cared more about being right than being kind.

We don’t want to be controlled by automatic reactions in every case, nor do we want to eliminate the child mind altogether. The child mind enables us to be spontaneous, creative, and dynamic—all invaluable qualities—but when it rules us, it can be our downfall.

“You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.”

Change begins with the words inside your head.

All of us have a history of pain, heartbreak, and challenges, whatever they may be.

If you don’t deliberately rewire your mindset, you are destined to repeat and re-create the pain you’ve already endured.

It may sound silly, but the best way to overwrite the voices in your head is to start talking to them. Literally.

“You are working on it. You are improving.” This is a reminder to yourself that you are making progress.

Just sharing a new word in conversation can bring richness to the dinner table.

Problems of all sorts can feel like they deserve a ten rating, especially in the middle of the night.

Writing by itself doesn’t solve all of our problems, but it can help us gain critical perspective we can use to find solutions.

Remember, it’s about observing your feelings without judging them.