Top 25 Valuable Lesson from the book Think like a Monk

Top 10 Value of able Lessons from the book Think Like a Monk

By Jay Shetty

When you think like a monk, you’ll understand: 

• How to overcome negativity
• How to stop overthinking 
• Why comparison kills love 
• How to use your fear 
• Why you can’t find happiness by looking for it 
• How to learn from everyone you meet 
• Why you are not your thoughts 
• How to find your purpose 
• Why kindness is crucial to success 
• And much more

In this inspiring, empowering book, Shetty draws on his time as a monk to show us how we can clear the roadblocks to our potential and power. Combining ancient wisdom and his own rich experiences in the ashram, Think Like a Monk reveals how to overcome negative thoughts and habits and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us. 

Here are the Top 25 lessons from the Think Like a Monk 

1. If you want a new idea, read an old book.

2. “I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.”

3. Don’t judge someone with a different disease. Don’t expect anyone to be perfect. Don’t think you are perfect.

4. FORGIVENESS IS A TWO-WAY STREET

5. Fear“will get the worst of the best of us.”

6. “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

7. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

8. Passion + Expertise + Usefulness = Dharma.

9. It is better to live your destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.

10. When we tune out the opinions, expectations, and obligations of the world around us we begin to hear ourselves

11. Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything anger, anxiety, or possessions we cannot be free.”

12. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” Petty, negative thoughts and words are like mosquitos: Even the smallest ones can rob us of our peace.

13. Remember, saying whatever we want, whenever we want, however, we want, is not freedom. Real freedom is not feeling the need to say these things.

14. The less time you fixate on everyone else, the more time you have to focus on yourself.

15. Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life

16. Success doesn’t guarantee happiness, and happiness doesn’t require success.

17. When you protect your dharma, your dharma protects you.

18. Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps, and whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.’ 

19. “It is trust in the limits of the self that makes us open and it is trust in the gifts of others that makes us secure.

20. Instead of focusing on our weaknesses, we lean into our strengths and look for ways to make them central in our lives

 

21. Thoughts repeat in our minds reinforcing what we believe about ourselves

22. Treat yourself with the same love and respect you want to show to others.

23. Just as the past is unchangeable, the future is unknowable

24. If you cultivate compassion, joy, and inner freedom, then you build up a kind of resilience, and you can face life with confidence.

25. Our ego is often what holds us back from true knowledge, steering the mind toward impulse and impression