#Think like a monk how to#

“I will admit that I went mad, totally mad,” Day-Lewis said to the Independent years later, admitting the role was “not so good for my physical or mental health. This is an incredible skill and art, but often method actors become so absorbed in their character that the role takes on a life beyond the stage or screen.

Perhaps thanks to that clothing, he caught pneumonia.ĭay-Lewis was employing a technique called method acting, which requires the actor to live as much like his character as possible in order to become the role he’s playing. He wore only authentic nineteenth-century clothing and walked around Rome in character, starting arguments and fights with strangers.

#Think like a monk how to#

For the role of Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, he trained as a butcher, spoke with a thick Irish accent on and off the set, and hired circus performers to teach him how to throw knives.Īnd that’s only the beginning. “In Today’s World, the Well-Rested Lose Respect.” NPR, NPR, 17 Jan. In Think Like a Monk, Shetty dives deep into routines and how to take baby steps that take you from overwhelmed and stressed to living productively.ġ. If you cultivate compassion, joy and inner freedom, then you build up a kind of resilience, and you can face life with confidence. Exercise your mind to reach your monk mind. When we look at routines as the vehicle to have better days with less stress, we can begin taking small steps to change our routines and adapt to a more productive environment. Sometimes it motivates us toward what we want, but sometimes, if we aren’t careful, it limits us with what we think will keep us safe. This allowed the monks to create peace and calm even in the disquiet of the outside world.” Separating ourselves from who others think. “We trained ourselves to sustain that deliberateness and focus all day long. In Chapter 1 of Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty paraphrases sociologist Charles Cooley, making readers stop and ask, Am I who I think I am, or am I who others think I am We have a work identity, a home identity, and a friend identity but we generally fail to really explore who we think we are. “In the ashram, we started each morning in the spirit of the day we planned to have,” writes Jay Shetty. When we overload our brains with so much information – and most of it negative – how can we expect ourselves to have a good, productive day? As humans, we are not built for that kind of sudden transition. Jay Shetty brings you wisdom from his new book, Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind For Peace and Purpose Every Day.

“A majority of people go from out cold to processing mountains of information within minutes every morning,” writes Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty believes that adopting a monk’s mindset can lead you to the calm you desire. We reach for our phones as soon as we wake up. There’s one other thing many of us start our days with that is practically built into our lives. Not getting enough sleep isn’t the only part of our routine we’re getting wrong. Our society has taught us that getting as little sleep as possible and still functioning is somehow a badge of honor 1. Jay Shetty believes this is why many of us are addicted to hitting the snooze button. It can be easy to think, “I could never wake up that early!” Many times, we try to wake up before our bodies are ready, and the hormone that aids sleep, melatonin, is still at work in our bodies. Spending time in the ashram and adjusting to a new routine allowed him to wake feeling he had taken a mental shower. It was a welcome change that had a positive impact on more than just his physical health. As a monk, he woke up peacefully to the sounds of nature with a sense of peace and tranquility. In his early days as a teen and young adult, he had to be awakened either by his mother or an alarm clock.Įverything changed in the ashram, however. “I’d spent my life pushing the limits of each day, sacrificing tomorrow because I didn’t want to miss out on today,” Jay Shetty writes. He quickly discovered the secret to changing his morning routine – going to sleep earlier. It wasn’t an easy shift at first, but he knew it was important. In Chapter 6 of Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty explores how he had to develop and adapt his lifestyle to meet the routine and expectations in the ashram. How much thought do we give to how our routines are serving us now? That need follows us into adulthood, although we tend to lose sight of it somewhere along the way. From the time we’re children, we crave routines.

They can also have a massive impact on our day-to-day stress and anxiety levels. Routines are important to help us get through life’s ups and downs.