Vanshika 's Key Ideas from Think Like a Monk
by Jay Shetty

If you wanted to know how to dominate the basketball court, you might turn to Michael Jordan; if you wanted to innovate, you might investigate Elon musk; you might study Beyoncè to learn how to perform. If you want to train your mind to find peace and purpose? Monks are the experts

The only thing that stays with you from the moment you're born until the moment you die is your breath. When you get stressed-what changes? Your breath. When you get angry-what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of our breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life.

I wanted to grow as a person. I didn't want to know humanity or compassion and empathy only as abstract concepts, I wanted to live them. I didn't want discipline, character, and integrity to just be things I read about. I wanted to live them 💗

If you know your values, you have directions that point you towards people and actions and habits that are best for you

-fearlessness, purity of mind, gratitude, service and charity, acceptance, performing sacrifice, deep study, austerity, straightforwardness, nonviolence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, perspective, restraint from fault finding, compassion toward all living beings, satisfaction, gentleness, integrity, determination.

-greed, lust, anger, ego, illusion, envy

Leaves sprout, transform, drop. Reptiles, birds and mammals shed their skins, feathers, fur. Letting go is a big part of the rhythm of nature, as is rebirth.

We humans cling to materialistic stuff - letting those things go is a direct route to space (literally) and stillness. We separate ourselves - emotionally if not physically - from the people and ideas that surround us

Whenever we make a choice, whether it's big or small, we as driven by our values. If these choices work well for us, then our values are in alignment with our actions. But when things don't work out, it's worth revisiting what drove the decision you made.

Once you filter out the noise of (opinions, expectations, obligations) oeo's, you will see the world through different eyes. The next step is to bring the world back in. When I ask you to strip away external influences, I don't want you to tune out the whole world indefinitely :)

Every day we are assaulted by negativity; no wonder we can't help but dish it out as well as receive it. This negativity is not part of anyone's plan of the day. What can we do then?

Rather than focusing on the negative, we can focus on the small joys of the day instead :)

We have three core emotional needs; peace, love, understanding

From these emotions stems all other sorts of emotional feelings; distress, anxiety, overwhelming feeling and so on

How? When we have a loss of any one of the emotional needs, it generates fear and fear further creates all sorts of negative emotions

The monks think of their ashram as a hospital, where they all are patients. They were all there to heal. To get better and healthier.

Everyone has different sicknesses, everyone is still learning, and just as we would not judge anyone else's health problem, we shouldn't judge someone who sins differently

We can also apply the same attitude to our lives.

Observer: We step away and look at the situation as if we are not in the middle of it. Negativity is a trait, not someone's identity.

Back away: Once you are in a stage where you can understand the situation, back away from negativity.

The 25/75 principle: For every negative person in your life, have three uplifting people. Be sure that at least 75% of your time is spent with positive people.

Allocate time: Only you have control over what you do every day. Allocate time for people according to their energy.

Don't be a saviour: If all someone needs is an ear, you can do that.

Once we begin to neutralize the external tendencies, we become able to see our own negativity. Internal negativity Envy, complaint, anger.

The only competition you should do is to outstrip each other in showing love and respect

The more we define ourselves to the relation of others the more lost we are.

1) Anartha-nivritti: Letting go of unwanted emotions and thoughts

2) Spot, stop, swap: Become aware of the issue - SPOT, We address that issue - STOP, replace it with positivity -SWAP. Grass is greener where you water it. Complain mindfully. Choose words mindfully. Find joy in others.