On Purpose with Jay Shetty - #1 Way To Attract Calm, Stillness and Peace In Life & 3 Ways To Keep It

Episode Date: September 11, 2020

Do you seek purpose or peace from life but never fully achieved these things on your own? In his new book, Think Like A Monk, Jay Shetty explains the principle of thinking like a monk and how anyone can adopt the monk mindset. Today Shetty delves into the encounter that guided him to lead his life as a monk & the valuable teachings from studying the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita. You'll learn how you can apply those principles to your daily life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world of chocolate has been turned upside down. A very unusual situation. You saw the stacks of cash in our office. Chocolate comes from the cacountry, and recently, Variety's cacao, thought to have been lost centuries ago, were re-discovered in the Amazon. There is no chocolate on Earth like this. Now some chocolate makers are racing deep into the jungle.

To find the next game-changing chocolate, and I'm coming along. Okay, that was a very large crack it up. Listen to the obsessions while chocolate on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What do a flirtatious gambling double agent in World War II? An opera singer who burned down an honorary to kidnap her lover, and a pirate queen who walked free with all of her spoils, haven't comment. They're all real women who were left out of your history books.

You can hear these stories and more on the Womanica podcast. Check it out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Hi, I'm Brendan Francis Neum. I'm a journalist, a wanderer, and a bit of a bon vivant, but mostly a human just trying to figure out what it's all about.

And not lost is my new podcast about all those things. It's a travel show where each week I go with a friend to a new place and to really understand it, try to get invited to a local's house for dinner. We're kind of trying to get invited to a dinner party. It doesn't always work out. Ooh, I have to get back to you. Listen to Not Lost on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You are listening to a very special episode of On Purpose. Today you're getting exclusive access to the audiobook introduction of my brand new book Think Like A Monk. Now I am so excited to share this with you because the book because of you has been made a number one international bestseller in its first week. We've been top of the charts in India, the US, the UK, Australia, Canada thanks to each and every one of you that have already got a copy of the book. Now, if you're now feeling like you're missing out because you don't have it yet, you can go over to think like a monk book.com and order it right now. And if you've already been reading it or read the book,

please, please, please go and leave a review because I can't wait to see what you think about it, can't wait to see you and read your reviews and I'll be sharing a few of them on the podcast as well. So go ahead, listen to the introduction of the audiobook. I hope you enjoy this. If you want a new idea, read an old book attributed to Ivan Pavlov among others. When I was 18 years old, in my first year of college, a cast business school in London, one of my friends asked me to go with him to hear a monk give a talk. I resisted. Why would I want to go hear some monk? I often went to see CEOs, celebrities and other successful people lecture on campus, but I had zero interest

in a monk. I prefer to hear speakers who'd actually accomplish things in life. My friend persisted and I finally said, as long as we go to a bar afterwards, I'm in. Falling in love is an expression used almost exclusively to describe romantic relationships. But that night, as I listened to the monk talk about his experience, I fell in love. The figure on stage was a 30-something Indian man. His head was shaved, and he wore a saffron robe. something Indian man. His head was shaved and he wore a saffron robe. He was intelligent, eloquent and charismatic. He spoke about the principle of selfless sacrifice. When he said that we should plant trees under whose shade we do not plan to sit, I felt an unfamiliar thrill run through my body. I was especially impressed when I found out that he'd been a student at IIT Bombay, which is the MIT of India and like MIT nearly impossible to get into. He traded that

opportunity to become a monk, walking away from everything that my friends and I were chasing. Either he was crazy or he was on to something. My whole life I've been fascinated by people who'd gone from nothing to something, rags to rich stories. Now for the first time, I was in the presence of someone who deliberately done the opposite. He'd given up the life, the world had told me we should all want. But instead of being an ambitted failure, he appeared joyous, confident and at peace. In fact, he seemed happier than anyone I'd ever met. At the age of 18, I had encountered a lot of people who were rich. I'd listened to a lot of people who were famous, strong, good-looking, or all-free.

But I don't think I'd met anyone who was truly happy. Afterward, I pushed my way through the crowds to tell him how amazing he was and how much he'd inspired me. How can I spend more time with you? I heard myself asking. I felt the urge to be around people who had the values I wanted, not the things I wanted.

The monk told me that he was travelling and speaking in the UK all that week and I was welcome to come to the rest of his events. And so I did. My first impression of the monk whose name was Gorangadhas was that he was doing something right. And later I would discover that science backs that up. In 2002, a Tibetan monk named Yongge Mingyue Rinpoche traveled from an area just outside Kathmandu Nepal to the University of Wisconsin-Madison so that researchers could watch his brain activity while he meditated.

The scientist covered the monk's head with a shower-ca device, an EEG, that had more than 250 tiny wires sticking out of it, each with a sensor that a lab tech attached to his scalp. At the time of the study, the monk had accumulated 62,000 hours of lifetime meditation practice. As a team of scientists, some of them season meditators themselves watched from a control room, the monk began the meditation protocol the researchers had designed, alternating between one minute of meditating on compassion and a 30 second rest period. He quickly cycled through this pattern four times in a row, queued by a translator. The researchers watched in awe.

At almost the exact moment the monk began his meditation, the EEG registered a sudden and massive spike in activity. The scientists assumed that with such a large quick bump, the monk must have changed positions or otherwise moved, yet to the observing eye he remained perfectly still. What was remarkable was not just the consistency of the monk's brain activity, turning off and on repeatedly from activity to rest period, but also the fact that he needed no warm-up

period. If you're a meditator or have at least tried to calm your brain, you know that typically it takes some time to quiet the parade of distracting thoughts that marches through your mind. Rinpoche seemed to need no such transition period. Indeed, he seemed to be able to come in and out of a powerful meditative state as easily as flipping a switch. More than 10 years after these initial studies, scans of the 41-year-old monk's brain showed fewer signs of aging than his peers. The researchers said he had the brain of someone 10 years younger.

Researchers who scanned Buddhist monk Matthew Ricard's brain subsequently labeled him the world's happiest man after they found the highest level of gamma waves, those associated with attention, memory, learning, and happiness, ever recorded by science. One monk who's off the charts may seem like an anomaly, but Ricard isn't alone. 21 other monks who had their brain scanned during a variety of meditation practices also showed gamma wave levels that spiked higher and lasted longer, even during sleep than non-meditators. Why should we think like monks? 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 beyond say to learn how to perform. If you want to train your mind to find peace, calm and purpose, monks the experts. Brother David Stein Rast, a Benedictine monk who co-founded Greatfulness.org writes, a lay person who is consciously aiming to be continuously alive in the now is a monk. Monks can withstand temptations, refrain from criticizing, deal with pain and anxiety, quiet the ego, and build lives that brim with purpose and meaning. Why shouldn't we learn from the calmest, happiest, most purposeful people on earth? Maybe you're thinking it's easy for monks to be calm, serene and relaxed. They're

hidden away in tranquil settings where they don't have to deal with jobs and romantic partners and, well, rush our traffic. Maybe you're wondering, how could thinking like a monk help me here in the modern world? First of all, monks weren't born monks. Their people from all sorts of backgrounds who've chosen to transform themselves. Matthew Ricard, the world's happiest man, was a biologist in his former life. Andy Pudicom, co-founder of the Meditation App Headspace, trained to be in the circus. I know monks who are in finance and in rock bands.

They grew up in schools, towns and cities just like you. You don't need to light candles in your home, walk around barefoot or post photos of yourself doing tree pose on a mountain top. Becoming a monk is a mindset that anyone can adopt. Like most monks today, I didn't grow up in an ashram. I spent most of my childhood doing unmonk like things. Until the age of 14 I was an obedient kid. I grew up in North London with my parents and my younger sister. I'm from a middle class Indian family. Like a lot of parents, mine were committed to my education and to giving me a shot at

a good future. I stayed out of trouble, did well in school and tried my best to make everybody happy. But when I started secondary school, I took a left turn. I'd been heavy as a child and bullied for it, but now I lost that weight and began playing soccer and rugby. I turned to subjects that traditional Indian parents don't generally favor, like art, design and philosophy. All this would have been fine, but I also started mixing with the wrong crowd. I became involved in a bunch of bad stuff, experimenting with drugs, fighting, drinking too much. It did not go well. In high school, I was suspended three times.

Finally, the school asked me to leave. I'll change, I promised. If you let me stay, I'll change. The school let me stay, I'll change. The school let me stay and I cleaned up my act. Finally in college, I started to notice the value of hard work, sacrifice, discipline, persistence in pursuit of one's goals. The problem was that at the time, I didn't have any goals apart from getting a good job, getting married one day, maybe having a family, the usual. I suspected there was something deeper, but I didn't know what it was.

By the time Gorangadars came to speak in my school, I was primed to explore new ideas, a new model of living, a path that veered from the one everyone, including myself, assumed I would take. I wanted to grow as a person. I didn't want to know humility 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. In the 1680s, a feisty, opera singer burned down a nunnery and stole away with her secret lover. In 1810, a pirate queen negotiated her cruiseway to total freedom, with all their loot. During World War II, a flirtatious gambling double agent helped keep D-Day a secret from the Germans. What do these stories have in common? They're all about real women who were left out of your history books.

If you're tired of missing out, check out the Womanica podcast, a daily women's history podcast highlighting women you may not have heard of, but definitely should know about. I'm your host, Jenny Kaplan, and for me, diving into these stories is the best part of my day. I learned something new about women from around the world and leafyling amazed, inspired, and sometimes shocked. Listen on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Mungaisha Tikular, and to be honest, I don't believe in astrology, but from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life. In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention, because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league baseball teams, cancelled marriages, K-pop! But just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology, my whole world can crash down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk too far. And my whole view on astrology, it changed.

Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are gonna change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jay Shetty, and on my podcast on purpose I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. Oh, pro Everything that has happened to you can also be a strength builder for you if you allow it. Kobe Bryant The results don't really matter. It's the figuring out that matters. Kevin Hart is not about us as a generation at this point. It's about us trying our best to create change.

Louren's Hamilton, that's for me been taking that moment for yourself each day, being kind to yourself because I think for a long time I wasn't kind to myself. And many, many more. If you're attached to knowing, you don't have a capacity to learn. On this podcast, you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours. Listen to on-purpose with Jay Shetty on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever

you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. For the next four years, I juggled two worlds, growing from bars and steak houses to meditation and sleeping on the floor. In London, I studied management with an emphasis on behavioral science and intent at a large consulting firm

and spent time with my friends and family. And at an ashram in Mumbai, I read and studied ancient texts spending most of my Christmas and summer holidays living with monks. My values gradually shifted. I found myself wanting to be around monks. In fact, I wanted to immerse myself in the monk mindset. More and more, the work I was doing in the corporate world seemed to lack meaning.

What was the point if it had no positive impact on anyone? When I graduated from college, I traded my suits for robes and joined the ashram, where we slept on the floor and lived out of gym lockers. I lived and travelled across India, the UK and Europe. I meditated for hours every day and studied ancient scriptures. I had the opportunity to serve with my fellow monks, helping with the ongoing work of transforming an ashram in a village outside Mumbai into an eco-friendly spiritual retreat, the Govardhan Eco Village,

and volunteering with a food program that distributes over a million meals a day, an armurta. If I can learn to think like a monk, anyone can. The Hindu monks I studied with use the Vedas as their foundational texts. The title is from the Sanskrit word Vedha, meaning knowledge. Sanskrit is an ancient language that's the precursor of most of the languages spoken in South Asia today. You could argue that philosophy began with this ancient collection of scriptures which originated in the area that now covers parts of Pakistan and Northwest India at least 3,000 years ago. They formed the basis of Hinduism. Like Homer's epic poems, the Vedas were first transmitted orally, then eventually written down. But because of the fragility

of the materials, palm leaves and birch bark, most of the surviving documents we have are at most a few hundred years old. The Vedas include hymns, historical stories, poems, prayers, chance, ceremonial rituals, and advice for daily life. In my life and in this book, I frequently refer to the Bhagavad-gita, which means Song of God. This is loosely based on the Upanishads, writings from around 800 to 400 BCE. The Bhagavad-gita is considered a kind of universal and timeless life manual. The tale isn't told about a monk or meant for a spiritual context. It's spoken to a married man who happens to be a talented archer. It wasn't intended to apply only to one religion or region.

It's for all humanity. Eknaath Iswaran, spiritual author and professor who has translated many of India's sacred texts, including the Bhagavad-gita, called it India's most important gift to the world. In his 1845 journal, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, I owed, my friend and I owed, a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-gita. It was the first of books. It was as if an empire spoke to us. Nothing smaller unworthy, but large, serene, consistent.

The voice of an old intelligence, which in an other age and climate, had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us. It's said that there have been more commentaries written about the Geeta than any other scripture. In this book, one of my goals is to help you connect with its timeless wisdom, along other ancient teachings that were the basis of my education as a monk, and that have significant relevance to the challenges we all face today. What struck me most when I studied monk philosophy is that in the last 3,000 years,

humans haven't really changed. Sure, we're taller and on average we live longer, but I was surprised and impressed to find that the monk teachings talk about forgiveness, energy, intentions, living with purpose, and other topics in ways that are as resonant today as they must have been when they were written. Even more impressively, monk wisdom can largely be supported by science, as we'll see throughout this book. For millennia, monks have believed that meditation and mindfulness are beneficial,

that gratitude is good for you, that service makes you happier and more that you will learn in this book. They developed practices around these ideas long before modern science could show or validate them. Albert Einstein said, if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough. When I saw how relevant the lessons I was learning were to the modern world, I wanted to dive deeper into them so that I could share them with other people. Three years after I moved to Mumbai, my teacher Gorangadars told me he believed I would be of greater value and service if I left the

ashram and shared what I'd learned with the world. My three years as a monk were like a school of life. It was hard to become a monk and even harder to leave. But applying the wisdom to life outside the ashram, the hardest part felt like the final exam. Every day I'm finding that the monk mindset. Our 20s are seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, full in love, make mistakes,

and decide what we want from our life. But what can psychology really teach us about this decade? I'm Gemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s. Each week, we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money, friendships, and much more to explore the science and the psychology behind our experiences, incredible guests, fascinating topics, important science, and a bit of my own personal experience.

Audrey, I honestly have no idea what's going on with my life. Join me as we explore what our 20s are really all about. From the good, the bad, and the ugly, and listen along as we uncover how everything is psychology including our 20s. The psychology of your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Now streaming on the iHotRadio app, Apple podcasts or whatever you get your podcasts. I'm Danny Shapiro, host of Family Secrets. It's hard to believe we're entering our eighth season.

And yet, we're constantly discovering new secrets. The depths of them, the variety of them, continues to be astonishing. I can't wait to share ten incredible stories with you, stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets. When I realized this is not just happening to me, this is who and what I am.

I needed her to help me. Something was annoying at me that I couldn't put my finger on, that I just felt somehow that there was a piece missing. Why not restart? Look at all the things that were going wrong. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to season eight of Family Secrets

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman. I have a new podcast called Inner Cosmos on I Heart. I'm a neuroscientist and an author at Stanford University, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. On my new podcast, I'm going to explore the relationship

between our brains and our experiences by tackling unusual questions so we can better understand our lives and our realities. Like, does time really run in slow motion when you're in a car accident? Or can we create new senses for humans? Or what does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet? So join me weekly to uncover how your brain steers your behavior, your perception, and your reality. Listen to Intercosmos with David Eagleman, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

These days, I still consider myself a monk, though I usually refer to myself as a former monk since I'm married and monks aren't permitted to marry. I live in Los Angeles, which people tell me is one of the world's capitals of materialism, facade, fantasy and overall dodgyness. But why live in a place that's already enlightened? Now in the world and in this book, I share my takeaways from the life I've lived and what I've learned. This book is completely non-sectarian, it's not some sneaky conversion strategy I swear. I could also promise that if you engage

with and practice the material I present, you will find real meaning, passion and purpose in your life. Never before have so many people been so dissatisfied or so preoccupied with chasing happiness. Our culture and media feed us images and concepts about who and what we should be while holding up models of accomplishment and success, fame, money, glamour, sex. In the end, none of these things can satisfy us, who simply seek more and more, a circuit that leads to frustration, disillusion, dissatisfaction, unhappiness and exhaustion. I like to draw a contrast between the monk mindset and what is often referred to as the monkey mind.

Our minds can either elevate us or pull us down. Today, we all struggle with overthinking, procrastination and anxiety as a result of indulging the monkey mind. The monkey mind switches aimlessly from thought to thought, challenge to challenge, without really solving anything. But we can elevate to the monk mindset by digging down to the root of what we want and creating actionable steps for growth.

The monk mindset lifts us out of confusion and distraction and helps us find clarity, meaning and direction. The monkey mind is overwhelmed by multiple branches. The monk mind focused on the root of the issue. The monkey mind coasts in the passenger seat. the monk mind lives intentionally and consciously. The monkey mind complains, compares and criticizes, the monk mind is compassionate, caring, collaborative. The monkey mind over thinks and procrastinates, the monk mind analyzes and articulates. The monkey mind is distracted by small things. The monk mind is disciplined. The monkey mind is focused on short-term gratification. The monk mind is focused on long-term gain. The monkey mind is demanding and entitled. The monk mind enthusiastic, determined, patient.

The Monk Mind, enthusiastic, determined, patient. The Monkey Mind changes on a whim. The Monk Mind commits to a mission, vision, or goal. The Monk Mind amplifies negatives and fears. The Monk Mind works on breaking down negatives and fears. The Monk Mind is self-centered and obsessed. The monk mind focuses on self-care for service. The monkey mind likes to think it can multitask. The monk mind focuses on single-tasking. The monkey mind is controlled by anger,

worry and fear. The monk mind controls and engages energy wisely. The monkey mind does whatever feels good. The monk mind seeks self-control and mastery. The monkey mind looks for pleasure. The monk mind looks for meaning. The monkey mind looks for temporary fixes. The monk mind looks for temporary fixes. The monk mind looks for genuine solutions. Thinking like a monk posits another way of viewing

and approaching life. A way of rebellion, detachment, rediscovery, purpose, focus, discipline, and service. The goal of monk thinking is a life free of ego, envy, lust, anxiety, anger, bitterness, baggage. To my mind, adopting the monk mindset isn't just possible, it's necessary. We have no other choice.

We need to find calm, stillness, and peace. I vividly remember my first day of monk school. I just shaved my head, but I wasn't wearing robes yet, and I still looked like I was from London. I noticed a child monk. He can't have been more than 10 years old, teaching a group of five-year-olds. He had a great aura about him, the poise and confidence of an adult. What are you doing, I asked? We just taught their first class ever, he said. Then asked me, what did you learn in your first day of school?

I started to learn the alphabet and numbers. What did they learn? The first thing we teach them is how to breathe. Why, I asked? Because the only thing that stays with you, from the moment you're born, until the moment you die, is your breath. All your friends, your family, the country you live in, all of that can change. The one thing that stays with you is your breath.

This ten year old monk added, when you get stressed, what changes? Your breath. When you get angry, what changes? Your breath. We experience every emotion with the change of the breath. When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life. Already, I was being taught the most important lesson to focus on the root of things, not

the leaf of the tree or symptoms of the problem, and I was learning through direct observation that anybody can be a monk, even if they're only 5 or 10 years old. When we're born, the first thing we must do is breathe. But just as life gets more complicated for that newborn baby, sitting still and breathing can be very challenging. What I hope to do in this book is to show you the monk way. We go to the root of things, go deep into self-examination. It is only through this curiosity, thought, effort, and revelation that we find our way to peace, calm and purpose. Using the wisdom I was given

by my teachers in the ashram, I hope to guide you there. Throughout this audiobook, I will walk you through three stages of adapting to the monk mindset. First, we will let go, stripping ourselves from the external influences, internal obstacles and fears that hold us back. You can think of this as a cleansing that will make space for growth. Second, we will grow. I will help you reshape your life so that you can make decisions

with intention, purpose, and confidence. Finally, we will give. Looking to the world beyond ourselves, expanding and sharing our sense of gratitude and deepening our relationships, we will share our gifts and love with others and discover the true joy and surprising benefits of service. Along the way, I will introduce you to three very different types of meditation that I recommend including in your practice. Breathwork, visualization, and sound. All three have benefits, but the simplest way to differentiate them is to know that you do breathwork for the physical benefits, to find stillness and balance, to calm yourself.

Visualization for the psychological benefits, to heal the past and prepare for the future and chanting for the psychic benefits to connect with your deepest self and the universe for real purification. You don't have to meditate to benefit from this audiobook, but if you do, the tools I give you will refine your practice. I would go so far as to say that this entire book is a meditation, a reflection on our beliefs and values and intentions, how we see ourselves, how we make decisions, how to train our minds, and our ways of choosing and interacting with people.

Achieving such deep self-awareness is the purpose and reward of meditation. How would a monk think about this? That may not be a question you ask yourself right now. Probably isn't close at all, but it will be to the introduction of my first ever book, Think Like A Monk. Head over to ThinkLikeAMonkBook.com. If you'd like to grab a hardback kindle or the audible version of the book that's available right now. And thank you so much for being a part of the on-purpose community. If you haven't left a review for the book on the podcast, please go ahead and do it. Means the world to me.

Thank you so much. Our 20s are often seen as this golden decade. Our time to be carefree, make mistakes, and figure out our lives. But what can psychology teach us about this time? I'm Jemma Speg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s. Each week we take a deep dive into a unique aspect of our 20s, from career anxiety, mental health, heartbreak, money and much more to explore the science behind our experiences. The Psychology of Your 20s hosted by me, Gemma Speg. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I am Yomla Van Zant and I'll be your host for The R Spot. Each week listeners will call me

live to discuss their relationship issues. Nothing will tear a relationship down faster than two people with no vision. Does your all are just flopping around like fish out of water? Mommy, Daddy, your ex, I'll be talking about those things and so much more. Check out the R-Spot on the iHeartRad app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. The one you feed explores how to build a fulfilling life admits the challenges we face. We share manageable steps to living with more joy and less fear through guidance on emotional resilience, transformational habits, and personal growth. I'm your host, Eric Zimmer, and I speak with experts ranging from psychologists to spiritual

teachers offering powerful lessons to apply daily. Create the life you want now. Listen to the one you feed on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.