On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 5 Techniques To Cope With Anxiety & Feel More Centered Throughout Your Day
Episode Date: October 23, 2020Does anxiety loom around every corner of your day? Are you ready to take back the time and energy it steals from you? In this ON Purpose episode, Jay Shetty explains the difference between existential... and situational anxiety and how they affect you. Tune in to learn five techniques to help you better cope with anxiety and feel more centered throughout your day. Train your mind for peace and purpose everyday. Grab a copy of Think Like A Monk, or listen to the audiobook now! Book: https://books.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?id=1532264534&mt=11&ls=1&itscg=80048&itsct=js_httlam_book Audiobook: https://books.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?id=1532264062&mt=3&ls=1&itscg=80048&itsct=js_httlam_audiobook Text Jay Shetty: 310-997-417 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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I'm Munga Shatekler and it turns out astrology is way more widespread than any of us want
to believe.
You can find it in major league baseball, international banks, kpop groups, even the White House.
But just when I thought I had a handle on this subject, something completely unbelievable
happened to me and my whole view on astrology changed.
Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, give me a few minutes because I think your ideas
are about to change too.
Listen to Skyline Drive on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcasts.
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.
I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of or wherever you listen. 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 iHeart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Join the journey soon.
Hey everyone, welcome back to on purpose the number one health podcast in the world thanks
to each and every single one of you.
I am so glad that you've been training your mind for peace and purpose every day, every week with me.
And today I'm going to share with you a behind-the-scenes conversation that I had with Glenin
Doyle, a good friend of mine.
And she and me got into this incredible conversation on Instagram live.
But I really wanted to share it with you because, you know, when you go live, not everyone's
on and people miss it.
And if you're a fan of Glenin and her incredible work, then you're going to love this conversation
because it's totally different from any conversation I've had about the book.
We dive into what's happening in society, we dive into activism, and we dive in a purpose,
and I can't wait for you to hear it. Thank you so much, and make sure you leave your review.
I really feel that everything that I'm sharing this book is not to make people more passive.
No.
You know, being being peaceful is not being passive.
Being purposeful is not being passive.
Being compassionate is not being passive.
None of this is to make people more passive.
It's to make people more active with a deeper intention.
I want to tell everybody a couple things. First of all, the reason that I'm thrilled to introduce anyone who doesn't know you to
my audience, I'm sure they already do, but as you well know, Jay, there are a lot of people
in our lane that are wonderful. And some of them, you meet them and they talk about peace
and love and acceptance.
And then you meet them and you're like,
but I don't know if it's working for you.
Right?
You are, you teach so beautifully,
but in real life, you have just such generosity of spirit and a real joy, just a commitment
to service that feels nothing like martyrdom.
It feels like it's joy to you.
And whenever I meet someone like that, I just feel determined to, you know, it's like
being like, okay, I'll have what he's having.
Okay.
So that's the other first reason. But the other reason
this book, first of all, here are all my notes for our talk today. And I'm going to be aware I decided
last night because I feel like it's been a weird time to launch a book, I know. But the reason why I think
this book is doing ridiculously well and is all over the place. I think I saw it in Times Square yesterday, right?
It's because I think the universe knows
when we need certain messages.
And I think that we as a nation
are in such a state of trauma and fear and anxiety,
a fight or flight constantly.
There's something that is helpful, peaceful,
healing about what you've written.
That is helping people in this moment.
So thank you.
And can you just talk to, first of all,
would you mind telling everybody this story
about how the hell you became a monk?
Well first of all, Glennon, I'm going to thank you from the bottom of my heart because as you
were saying that, I was trying to just receive it because it was so beautifully and genuinely
shared and it truly just really touched my heart. And you have this incredible energy every time we're together,
the first time I interviewed you for your incredible work on
Tamed.
And I was so excited to meet you because I followed your work
for so many, many years.
And the conversation we had wasn't a conversation.
It was like this deep connection.
And I really felt that.
I really felt it.
And I just really appreciate those words from
you about what I'm trying to do in the world because it means a lot coming from someone that I'm
inspired by and in awe of. So thank you, that genuinely means the world to me. But going on to
becoming a monk, so now I wish I got to be a monk at the monastery, that would have been called.
That would have been an epic place to be a monk
or a monk, I don't know if that's how you'd say it.
But yeah, so I was born and raised in London.
I never in the world imagined being on any sort of wellbeing
path or spiritual path or anything of that sort.
I was surrounded by people who wanted to do well
and just perform and succeed. And that never
really sat with me either, but I didn't have a better alternative. And I think a lot of us
are in that place sometimes where we don't know the alternative, so we follow the most common path.
And then when I was 18, I met a monk. And so I was really fascinated when I met him, but before I met him, I had this slight arrogance
and cynicism around what I could learn from a monk. I thought, well, what am I going to learn
from a monk? I was fascinated by people who went from sacrifice and pain and broke through and
did something with their life. And in my opinion, I was like, well, what is a monk done? A monk
gone from nothing to nothing. I want to meet people who've gone from nothing to something.
And so I had this cynicism, but my friends promised me that we would go to a bar afterwards if I went to this event.
So that was the state of my consciousness, just to put it out there. And so I went there with arrogance, I went there with cynicism,
and I went there with just not expecting anything really. And it's one of those humbling,
ironic moments in your life where you walk in,
expecting nothing and you walk out feeling like,
you've gained everything you were looking for
and that moment just completely changed
the trajectory of my life.
And it was because I realized now in hindsight,
I didn't know this then.
But when I was 18, I'd met people who are rich,
I'd met people who are famous, I'd met people who are beautiful and attractive, and I'd met people that were knowledgeable and
intellectual, but I don't think I'd ever met anyone who was truly joyful. And that's what he had.
The monk had this aura of purpose in his life and meaning and fulfillment, And it wasn't like this sparkly, halo-like energy.
It was just, he had it in himself and his presence.
And so it's almost as if the question I ask people today
is who's your monk, like who is it in your life
that you haven't met yet,
that could change the trajectory of your life.
And for me, it was a monk.
And for you, it may be someone else.
But that's how I met a monk,
God inspired and then when I graduated a few years later I decided to turn down my office in the
city and go and live as a monk for three years. And so that's why my role model then idols became
monks from 18 years old and I started interning with them in my summer's almost. So I would spend half of my summer vacations
interning at a finance company in London
and I'd spend the other half living with the monks
in India and then when I cried, I decided
that was the path that I wanted to go on.
So that's the quickest version of that episode.
So you guys, this isn't a dude,
but just just like, ooh, I'll choose monk is my brand.
It's like an actual freaking month. Okay, Jay just just like, ooh, all she's monk is my brand.
And an actual freaking month.
Okay, Jay, real quick, I need to know what did your parents say when you told them that you were gonna just go ahead and be a monk?
Yeah, Glennon, it's funny.
You say that about the brand thing.
You know, it's really funny.
I hear that sometimes it's just like, RJ, like, you know, this, this monk brand
thinks cool.
And I'm just like, I'm just like, I just want to let you know that becoming a
monk at 22
was potentially the most uncool thing I could be doing.
Just to put it out there, like my friends thought
that the craziest thing was a lot of my friends,
so a lot of my guy friends at university,
they were like, Jay, what are we going to talk about anymore
because you won't talk about women.
And I was like, is that all we talk about?
I was like, literally, is that all we talk about
that you feel we don't have a relationship anymore? And then I had other family members saying to me,
you've wasted your life, you've wasted all your parents' support, your education was a waste of time.
And so I was hearing all this noise and people saying, like, you know, you never get a job again,
you know, you'll never make money again, you know that you've just been brainwashed and you know, you've just lost it. And that's literally
99.9% of the people in my life were saying that. And thankfully my parents were not pro my decision,
but they were not against it. My parents have kind of, since I was about 1415 when I started
rebelling, my parents just started giving me freedom to make my own decisions.
And so my parents kind of just let go from the age of 14, 15 up until then they really
tried to direct me and guide me. And then from 14, 15, it was just like, well, whatever
you want. And so they gave me that freedom. And then my younger sister's always been like
my biggest cheerleader. So she supported me and she was happy for me. But if I'm completely honest,
all I was hearing was just,
Jay, you've ruined your life.
Yeah, it's not cool to go and be a monk at 22
or any age.
I mean, I just wanna take a minute and think
and just highlight what you just said
because so many people in this community are parents.
When you said my parents were not super pro
but not super against, that feels like a really important place for a parent of a teenager to be.
Because sometimes I try, my kids are a little older and I'm trying to let them, we always say, but sometimes when they have an idea
that is right up my alley, I get really pro that thing,
which is just as controlling.
So that is a monk like parenting news that's like,
even when you're really excited about it,
just like a little bit of neutrality and an attachment that lets them control themselves. Okay. Yeah, I love that. Let's look at the
munch like parent mentality. I love it. You can extract all these
principles. We have talked about before is people who just started following me don't know that
I started my entire writing journey with a while called monastery And the reason why is because I was obsessed with monks.
I was, the time I was obsessed with the Benedictine
and just this idea of people who didn't reject it
a little bit of the way that the real world works.
And we're like, there's gotta be a better way
with more peace and more connection
and more joy and more contemplativeness and more,
so they remove themselves. But this is what I like for you to talk to us a little bit about Jay because it's not about what you when you said you liked people who struggled and you know made a difference and showed up I think there's this idea that this sort of living is escapism. And so you're talking right now to a community of rapid activists.
Okay.
So help us understand because what I know is what you proven this book,
which is that the more months like we can be in our minds and bodies,
the more effective we are in the world.
So can you talk about that?
How it's not an either or.
Hey, it's Debbie Brown.
And my podcast, Deeply Well, is a soft place to land on your wellness journey.
I hold conscious conversations with leaders and radical healers and wellness and mental
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My work is rooted in advanced meditation, metaphysics, spiritual psychology,
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ourselves, the more we are able to bring our creativity to life and live our purpose,
which leads to community impact and higher consciousness for all beings. Deeply well with
Debbie Brown is your soft place to land,
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Deeply well is available now on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Big love, namaste.
A good way to learn about a place
is to talk to the people that live there.
There's just this sexy vibe and Montreal, this pulse, this energy.
What has been seen is a very snotty city.
People call it Bosedangeless.
New Orleans is a town that never forgets its pay.
A great way to get to know a place is to get invited to a dinner party.
Hi, I'm Brendan Francis Newdum and not lost as my new travel podcast where a friend and I go places, see the sights, and try to finagle our way into a dinner party.
We're kind of trying to get invited to a dinner party. It doesn't always work out.
I would love that, but I have like a Cholala who is aggressive towards strangers.
I love the dogs.
We learn about the places we're visiting, yes, but we also learn about ourselves.
I don't spend as much time thinking about how I'm going to die alone when I'm traveling,
but I get to travel with someone I love.
Oh, see, I love you too.
And also, we get to eat as much...
I've never been here since I've been here.
I love you too.
My life's a lot of therapy goes behind that.
You're so white, I love it.
Listen to not lost on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
I am Miomla and on my podcast, the R-Spot, we're having inspirational, educational, and sometimes
difficult and challenging conversations about relationships.
They may not have the capacity to give you what you need.
And insisting means that you are abusing yourself now.
You human! That means that you're crazy as hell, just like the rest of us.
When a relationship breaks down, I take copious notes and I want to share them with you.
Anybody with two eyes and a brain knows that too much Alfredo sauce is
just no good for you. But if you're going to eat it, they're not going to stop you.
So he's going to continue to give you the Alfredo sauce and put it even on your grits if you don't
stop him. Listen to the art spot on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
And I love that I actually wanted to quote,
because you said Benedicta Monks,
so I quote some Benedicta Monks in the book.
It's a chapter 205, Benedicta Monks,
brother David Stando Ross, defines gratitude
as the feeling of appreciation that comes
when you recognize that something is valuable to you,
which is nothing to do with its monetary work.
So it's a beautiful definition. But anyway, you reminded me of that. So I wanted to pull it out.
But this principle is really important. And I chose the path that I did of becoming a monk, because half the day was self and the other half was service. So our morning was dedicated to self, self-realization, self-actualization,
self-mastery, and the rest of the day was served, served, served, don't make a difference.
And we were doing everything from feeding kids to homeless people to building sustainable villages,
like our whole rest of the day was sharing and serving, but we were trained in understanding that the quality of
our service is the quality of our sardana and sardana means daily practices and your daily
purification. So what we were made to understand is that if you run around trying to give water
to everyone in the world, but the well that you're getting water from is muddy.
Then you're actually spreading more disease
and more pain in the world.
But if you purify your well,
and if you're trying every day, by the way,
no one's perfect, so we're always purifying and cleansing.
But if you're daily purifying and cleansing
and giving that pure and cleanse water from that day,
then the whole world can be healed.
So what we live in this way,
we get an opportunity to truly feel the benefit
of also living the life that we want others to live.
And I think often we try and live it through them
rather than recognizing that first,
if we experience the joy of clean and pure water,
then we'll be even more incredible ambassadors First, if we experience the joy of clean and pure water,
then we'll be even more incredible ambassadors
and advocates for that.
And so for me being an activist
is probably one of the most beautiful roles
we can all play in our lives.
And I would want to consider myself,
you know, active in that space too.
But I do feel that we can be even more powerful, as you said, even more effective
when we ourselves practicing and cleansing and preparing ourselves. And that is a daily commitment.
It isn't a, I've done that now, when now I'm clean. It's not a destination. It is very much a daily
practice. I hope that answers your question. Yes, it does. And the daily part, I also, I think that so many people think that like we get
the stuff thing right, we just nail this personal life.
And then we can show up for other people.
That's not my experience at all, right?
Because I feel like at a daily basis, never feel like I'm nailed, like I'm ready.
I'm done, like I'm ready, undock and fix.
I know.
Exactly.
We had the first day when we had our first monk class,
the senior monk said to us, he said,
this is a hospital, it's not heaven.
And he said that some of you are doctors
and some of you are patients.
And he said, sometimes you'll see that the doctors are also patients. And he said, sometimes you'll see that the doctors are also patients.
And he said, sometimes you'll notice that the patients can also become doctors. And he said,
you're a patient and a doctor every single day all at the same time, just like we all are in life.
We're all patients. And we're all doctors in some way, with students and teachers. And so
the more we've realized that, yes, I fully agree with you
that there is no point where you say, now I have solved myself,
now I can serve.
It's actually in the service, you go deeper in your own self-practice.
And as you go deeper in your self-practice,
you go deeper in the service, it's a symbiotic relationship.
And we shouldn't wait to feel complete before we give, because then we'll never give. And at the same time, we shouldn't wait to feel complete before we give because then we'll never give.
And at the same time, we shouldn't give without trying to cleanse because then we're not giving anything of value.
And so it's always both. It's always both.
And you said we can give ourselves the benefit of living the lives we are trying to get for others.
Like, did anyone who's listening want to cry at that?
When I think about how much we're fighting for people to have freedom and rest and like how
I very enjoy and then all day I'm bitching about, you know, I just, I think that's a beautiful goal
to give yourself a little slice of what you are trying to provide for the world,
your children, your partners, your friends. It's so beautiful. And I love people like you because
I can't stand people who think that they're doctors all the time. I need people to understand
that they are doctors and patients. Oh for sure.'s really interesting you raised that Glenan because I
also find that it comes in our own human psychology where we like to project
perfection onto others in our desire for this divine in our desire for this
complete projection and actually it's so important to listen to what people say
I often talk about me and my wife often talk about the arguments we have or the difficult conversations we have to have or the challenges and the differences
that we have in our relationships. And it's really interesting to me because often people will just
be like, oh, were you both so cute together? And I'm like, yeah, but that's not what we're talking about.
And it's not what we just said. And so I feel that even with me, I had to start listening to what you were actually saying,
to what the other people that I'm inspired by are actually saying,
because it's almost like we've also created a culture
where people have become perfect in their imperfection.
But the person's trying to say,
I'm not perfect either way.
You know, if that makes sense, you know, it's kind of way.
Oh my god.
Glennon, you're such a mess.
It's just perfect.
Yes.
That's what I mean.
Like nothing's perfect.
Like, you know, it's just so beautiful to live in our, and I'm very aware of all the
flaws I have to work on, the long, long way I have to go.
It's one of the reasons why I go back to the monastery every single year.
I mean, my wife go there for about two to three weeks and we live with the monks again because every time I go back they remind me of how far I have to go internally
and that to me is in a beautiful, encouraging way, not in like a judgmental or a condescending way
but in an inspirational way of making me realize an aspirational way that there is so much work
for me to still do. And I think
that there's a beautiful story that Robert Downey Jr. tells in an interview that he was having a
Cambridge University. I think he talks, they're like, how does it feel to be Iron Man? And he goes,
you know what, when I come home, my kids and my wife, I'm not like, oh my god, it's Iron Man,
they're like, do you want to take the cat litter out? Like, do you want to take the trash out? You
know, and it's like, we all need people around us who are human with us.
And that reminds us of our normality in a good way.
You know, and we can embrace that.
So I love being reminded of how far I have to go because it makes you constantly want
to learn and it makes you constantly want to grow.
And it just makes you not bored.
I mean, it would be boring if you kind of not had anything to work on.
Absolutely. And I love that you said that what inspires you is just people being inspired.
It's people with more joy. It's never people who are like you suck and you need to do that. Like,
that's never inspired anyone to be. No. It's just people being amazing. Yeah.
Being joyful. And then you're like, I want what he's having. Yeah.
I think there's a great saying. Francis quote, I believe it is. And he said,
I think it's him. And I have to check. But he said, you know, you should preach
all day. You should preach all day. And then if necessary, you can open your mouth.
He's with. Yeah, he says, yeah. and it's so good. It's so good.
And I'm just like, you know, that's the hardest part.
And that's really what I think is,
is the genuine aspiration that I think we all have,
is that your presence and your demeanor
and your behavior naturally inspires.
I think today, obviously, we do need to use words.
I think there are plenty of causes and reasons
for us to shout and be loud.
And here's the interesting part that I believe you're trying to like get out today and bring out,
and I really appreciate you for it, is that you can shout with compassion. You can be loud with affection.
You can be direct and assertive with depth that you can.
You can do all of those things.
But when it's not done from that place, it can often sound like ego.
And it can often come across from, you know, something else.
And of course, in the beginning, a lot of it can be from pain.
And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
But I think that there's that line, which we all have to grow in cross,
where our work will have more. And you see that the biggest changemakers on the planet.
They were powered and fueled by love and compassion. You see there even the people who brought the biggest changes in our society.
Their heart was full of joy and compassion and love. I was reading a quote the other day because I was preparing for something by Maya Angelou
and she said,
hate has solved not one problem yet.
And just realizing that we've got a fight with love
and we can be compassionate and courageous
and we can be direct and assertive and dynamic
and we have to be.
We need to be.
I'm Mungesh Chatequeur 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 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 what I thought I had to 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.
This is what it sounds like inside the box car. I'm journalist and I'm Morton in my podcast City of the Rails. I plunged into the dark world of America's railroads searching for my daughter Ruby
who ran off to hop train. I'm just like stuck on this train now that's where I'm gonna end up and I jump.
I'm just like stuck on the train, not where I'm gonna end up, and I jump. Following my daughter, I found a secret city of unforgettable characters living outside
society, off the grid, and on the edge.
I was in love with a lifestyle and the freedom, this community.
No one understands who we truly are.
The rails made me question everything I knew about motherhood, history, and the thing we call the American dream.
It's the last vestige of American freedom. Everything about it is extreme.
You're either going to die, or you can have this incredible rebirth, and really understand who you are.
Come with me to find out what waits for us in the city of the rails. Listen to city of the rails on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts or cityoftherails.com. The therapy for Black Girls podcast is the destination
for all things mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make
to become the best possible versions of ourselves.
Here, we have the conversations that help black women dig a little deeper into the most
impactful relationships in our lives, those with our parents, our partners, our children,
our friends, and most importantly ourselves. We chat about things like what to do when a friendship ends,
how to know when it's time to break up with your therapist,
and how to end the cycle of perfectionism.
I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford,
a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia,
and I can't wait for you to join the conversation
every Wednesday.
Listen to the Therap therapy for Black Girls podcast
on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast,
or wherever you get your podcast.
Take good care.
In this moment, it's like,
I just think it's also important to know that
this outpouring of pain,
which often is anger and rage is because of love.
Yes, right?
Yes, that's beautiful.
It is love, like the reaction to Brianna's.
Oh, yeah.
It's love that demands different.
It's love that says that is not justice.
It's love.
So sometimes love can look like pain and can look like,
but we still have to see it as rooted in crying out for justice,
which comes from love. That is so beautiful. That is amazing. I hope everyone is listening is
taking that. That is so beautiful. I mean, that's what it means to be a love warrior. So, it's so
true. It's so true that I absolutely love that. I couldn't agree with you more. That that's
our feeling of injustice comes from love. When others
start to notice that and when we notice that in ourselves, oh wow that becomes so powerful.
Are saying things in a way or protesting or outwardly showing us pain when we can look at it and instead of reject it, see it as love.
Yes, when others try to see it as love and when we also see it as love in ourselves,
we also feel that we have so much more power inside of us because even if you see it as anger
and mistake it for anger and pain within yourself, that can be different. So not only we need people externally to view others
as this is their love they're fighting for,
otherwise, why fight?
And at the same time, we ourselves need to see the love
within ourselves that's making us fight
because that will keep us, love is more sustainable
than any other emotion.
Like, anger will run out of steam.
All of these emotions, pain will push us a little bit, but love will just, you know,
love has that cascading ever flowing effect that we all have felt in our lives.
It's almost like a mother and I'm not a mother, but I can know my mother's love for me and
you can know as a mother.
Like, a mother's love, even if the mother gets angry at the child or feel
some pain for the child the love just comes in like flows all over it and so
I felt that for my mom many times and I genuinely feel that all the good
qualities I have are because of my mom's love believe if we feel that love it
will last the fight will last longer the positive fight the you know that's so good that refraining is actually gonna help me today because we get to
the point my team just gets to the point sometimes where we're just like okay
it works out at the fighting the week and we use that word like I'm tired of
fighting the fighting the fighting yeah and maybe just the reframe of we're doing
the same things but it does make it feel forever sustainable.
Yeah, it does.
It's really livable.
It does.
It does battle is tiring.
Battle is tiring.
The love can keep you going in battle or in that.
And that's why I love Laphoria.
It's the perfect name for it.
It's brilliant.
Because that's really what it is.
Is that we can all keep, you know,
we can keep figuring it out and keep changing path and
there's a group called take on more stress and pressure
than we ever had had in our lives.
And I think we will notice that
that when we're fighting for something bigger than ourselves,
you keep going, you keep moving.
It's when the fight was for yourself
that you sometimes let go.
And I think that there's something in that
love and purpose and meaning are so much more intertwined.
Anyway, I think what your team's doing is phenomenal
and I'm totally with you.
I really feel that everything that I'm sharing
this book is not to make people more passive.
You know, being peaceful is not being passive.
Being purposeful is not being passive.
Being compassionate is not being passive.
None of this is to make people more passive.
It's to make people more active with a deeper intention.
Yeah.
That's the goal.
Can you just, I know that we don't have too much time left, but.
I've got time, but I don't have time.
OK, OK.
I know that none of this is selfish and it's service-related.
But one of the things I loved about this book
is that I don't know how to, we all, I use different words
for it all the time, but I have spent most of my life dealing with anxiety disorder.
Okay, so one of the things I loved about this book was, selfish thing, but I actually do feel like your approach
is helpful in community, but it's also helpful for me
when I'm by myself in my own home trying to get through the day.
So because I talk a lot about mental health,
there is a lot of people in this call right now,
who I call them my anxious bunnies.
And you just give us something to help us come down from our anxiety,
manager anxiety that is simple and will help us as we go through this next 40 days and then
the rest of our life. Yeah, yeah. Are you thinking more practical, like more like active stuff that
people can do or is it mind-set shifts? Where do you feel? What was the parts that, where is it now? I'm happy with you there. Whatever you want. I'm thinking things that we ways
we can change our thinking. What do you do when you have people you work with? Because you guys know
that Jay, you know, was a monk and then he came here and so all of his friends were like,
dude, can you help me with my life? So then he began working with people one on one.
So when you deal with someone who has anxiety,
what do you tell them?
What do you think is present?
I think the first thing is to realize
that there's two types of anxiety.
One is existential and one is situational.
So situational anxiety is like the moment to moment triggers
something happens in the day. And existential anxiety is is far more deep rooted in
You know whether it's our relationship with our parents or our upbringing or you know things that we need to kind of heal and go through and
So I think situational anxiety is a good place to start because that's what most of us feel throughout the day and so I'll start there
that's what most of us feel throughout the day. And so I'll start there. One of the biggest things, and these three things are as monks, our lives were sight-designed, sent-designed, and sound-designed.
And what I mean by that is we underestimate how powerful our senses are to change how we feel.
And so the number one thing I mention is when you wake up in the morning,
studies show that 80% of us look at our phone first thing in the morning and the last thing
at night.
Now, here's what's happening when you wake up and look at your phone first thing in the
morning.
You're allowing news, notifications, and negativity to create noise in your day.
So let's say you slept well.
Let's say you slept well first of all.
You're starting your day to zero neutral and when you wake up and look at news and
Notifications and negativity. You're now starting your day to minus five
And so now the whole day you're trying so hard to just get back to zero and I'm sure anyone can relate to that
That struggle of just like I'm just trying to get back to zero
Whereas if you wake up in the morning
and the first thing you saw was a prayer that you love,
a quote that you love, a picture of your family
or someone important to you that moved you,
it could be a picture or a work of art
that brings joy to your life.
And imagine you just sat there for 30 seconds,
read that prayer, repeated that mantra, that affirmation
and just allowed
yourself to start your day in plus five. Now even in negativity hits you
throughout the day, you end up at plus two. And you still win. And so the biggest
focus for anxiety is don't start your day with anxiety. And for me, my favorite
affirmation that I've learned over the years that I've repeated myself in the
morning is, I'm exactly where I need to be.
Because I find repeating that to myself reminds me that I'm not ahead of behind, I'm not
late, I'm not in a rush of, this is where I'm meant to be.
A second practical technique that I really love, and this is for people that feel anxiety
throughout the day, and we were trained in as monks as a grounding technique and centering
technique, but it's used a lot by psychologists and therapists today, and it's known as the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 technique.
So five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two
things you can smell, and one thing that you can taste.
If you're feeling anxious, what's happening is that your energy is all in your mind.
It's all in your head.
And so when you get back into your physical space,
they're actually touching, okay, I'm touching this,
I'm touching my shorts, I'm touching this desk,
I'm touching this phone, I'm looking at the sky,
I'm looking at the tree.
When you do that and you come back in your physical space,
you're getting out of your head.
That's what it means to actually get out of your head.
And the third and final technique that I really,
really love is this idea of re-aligning
your body and your breath.
So anxiety is experienced as we were trained as monks is that when your body is ahead of
your mind, so you wake up in the morning and your body is rushing around and your mind
is like, oh, I just want to be in bed.
Or you do the opposite.
You wake up and your mind's racing around
and your body is like, ugh, I just wanna stand there.
So all of our friction in life, intention and anxiety
comes from our body and our mind being out of alignment.
So the way you bring your body and mind back into alignment
is by being here and saying, I am here, I am present.
And then when you breathe in for a count of four,
an out for four, and you count in your mind
with your breath, and you breathe out,
count again, you're aligning your mind and your body.
And so when you bring your body and your breath back,
and I do that throughout the day, I do it
before I'm going on stage, if I'm doing that,
or if I'm going into interviews,
or if I just walked out of a really stressful meeting,
or if I'm rushing, I do that in the back of cars, I do that just when I'm at my desk typing and I just think,
oh, this email gave me a lot of anxiety and I'll just stop there and I'll be like,
just whatever I need to do there and you just start to see that it just,
you just need to re-center throughout the day. That's all it is. You just re-centering and that's a
great technique. And the sound and scent design, my wife got me into scent design. She has diffusers
and essential oils in every room that is different for the feeling of that room. And so when I walk
into that room and I can be having a really busy day on the phone, I walk back into our home
and all of a sudden, I'm just like, oh that's my, it's beautiful, what is that?
And it's lavender, it's sandalwood, it's eucalyptus,
whatever she wants.
And I notice just straight away,
all of my senses just calm down.
And so scent design is underestimated, light a candle,
and don't just light a candle when you feel like it,
keep it on in that room so that you know
when you walk into that room it counts you.
And then finally sound design.
Again, when you wake up in the morning, what's the first song you listen to?
Does it set you up for the day?
At the end of the evening, are you listening to music that calms you down?
We can use all of these things to design our life in a way
where we're getting the feeling we need from something external,
rather than having to always have to create it.
And so when people are like, create peace, create peace, and it create peace, how do I create peace? You can actually use your senses
around you. You know when you walk into a spa and you just smell the beautiful oils and you just
go, I know I need to make your house a spa. We're all stuck indoors at the moment. So it's worth
creating environments in your home. Location has energy.
How can you create energy in your home
through sights, sense, and sounds?
It's so good.
I mean, what I'm taking away from this right now,
and this is so weird.
I've heard you say this before.
I've read this in your book.
It doesn't matter.
Every time it's new to me.
It's like anxiety does that, right?
So we're human every day. So every time I hear it again, I'm like, oh me. It's like anxiety does that, right? So we're human every day.
So every time I hear it again, I'm like, oh yeah.
That's right.
But what I am gonna do as a result of this last five minutes
is I am ashamed to tell you
that even though I know how terrible it is for me,
I still look at my own first thing in the morning.
And Jay, listen to, I was just telling Abby this yesterday I sleep with my dog she sleeps right on my head and when she sees me
pick up my phone in the morning she takes her paw and pushes it out of my hand
that's amazing I love that and I think like well Abby thinks it's because she wants
me to cut her but I think it's because she's a spiritual guru. I love it
I love it. That's so beautiful. That's amazing. I wish everyone had that in the morning
My phone now and I'm gonna be beautiful on my nightstand that will be the first thing that I see
Even if it's 60 seconds just 60, just sit with something for 60 seconds because you're literally trying
to get your brain to go from zero to a hundred miles per hour
in two seconds. That's literally what we're doing. When we pick up
the phone, it's like you're trying to get your brain to just act
imagine someone said to you that when you wake up Glennon,
a hundred people are going to walk into your bedroom and ask you
questions just as soon as you wake up, Glennon, a hundred people are going to walk into your bedroom and ask you questions
Just as soon as you wake up
You would never let anyone do that, but that's what we do
We let the people walk into the bedroom of our mind every morning a hundred people or more
Walk into the bedroom of our mind and we start our day that way.
So no wonder we're always catching up.
We always feel like we're catching up.
And so we have to start starting in the positive.
And yes, the day will exhaust you.
I'm, that's life, that's normality.
But at least you end up in the positives.
And that's how I feel.
Sometimes I'm editing the morning,
and I feel like a 10,
and by the end of the day,
I feel like a one, because I'm exhausted, and I'm about to morning and I feel like a 10. By the end of the day, I feel like a one because I'm exhausted and I've had to do
with so much negativity inside me, but at least I'm still out of one.
Exactly.
That's a win.
That's a win.
These days, we will take it to.
That's really well.
Exactly.
And that's what I'm saying.
I don't always feel at a 10.
I feel at a one sometimes or two, but I want to make sure that I'm in the positives.
I don't want to get into that space of starting. I don't want to feel like I'm climbing the day. I want to feel like I'm won sometimes or two, but I wanna make sure that I'm in the positives. I don't wanna get into that space of starting.
I don't wanna feel like I'm climbing the day.
I wanna feel like I'm going down a ladder through the day.
Yeah.
That's good, that's good.
Okay, tell me, I just wanna know as a friend,
I'm just curious about this.
Are you surprised, did you know that this was gonna be
as helpful and big as it has been,
or are you surprised or do you
you're not a very
Edelst seemed to me to be too much into the
I was your the less results oriented than then input oriented but tell us the trick
How does it feel?
Yeah, it's the most exciting part of the things.
I have to be honest Glennon and say that my whole career has been a surprise to me.
And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I miss Ike.
And my friends who I'm still really good friends with in London, we talk about it often,
like the walks we'd go on or the conversations we'd had.
And they know the stuff I used to say.
And I used to say stuff like, I just want to try and help.
And I had no idea if anyone cares.
And I don't know if anyone ever will care.
And, you know, for me, it's really no idea if anyone cares and I don't know if anyone ever will care.
And for me, it's really hard to explain that to anyone
who didn't know me for the last 15 years
but my friends that are back in London that I talk to often,
we often say that.
For me, it was just, all of this has been far beyond anything
I could have ever imagined.
And I just feel humbled and grateful by it.
And with the book especially, I mean,
it's really interesting because even when I talk
about social media, like people always like,
oh yeah, but you're on social media, et cetera.
But for me, the only reason I went to social media
is because no traditional media companies would give me
a chance of sharing this message.
So it wasn't that I took the social media thinking
it was gonna be this amazing platform or I would have this reach. I I took the social media thinking it was going to be this amazing platform
or I would have this reach.
I actually took the social media because I didn't have any other options and there was
no one else willing to give me a chance.
And so I had to start myself.
And so it's almost like self publishing.
That was the reason why I did it because no one was giving me a chance to be on a show
or create a show.
And so yeah, I just feel grateful.
I feel humbled.
It's been amazing that the books used for right now.
I finished writing the book last November.
So I wrote it well before everything,
but the feedback that I've had that,
this book has come at a perfect time for people.
That's really meaningful to me.
And the ironic thing is that to me, wisdom has always been urgent.
Like the messages in these books to me have been forever urgent and forever timeless.
Everything I wrote in this book, I believe we need every day.
I believed it 10 years ago.
But the fact that people are more ready to receive right now and digest right now,
that's the miracle of the universe that people have that opportunity. And so I'm really happy that I get to play that role and serve in this way.
I really hope it serves people and helps. That's the biggest highlight. And the best highlight,
I'm sure what you said is true. I really believe that everything's in the preparation and the process.
I think for me it was, I worked really hard. We had a great team of researchers for the book to find the science and I had friends who recommended the best PhDs that
we could get scans of monks, brains and all of this insight. And so there was just a lot
of work that went up front into the book and for it to be received as well is obviously
I'm, I love having a good result too. I'm not, you know, I'm human. I enjoy having a positive result.
And I love it.
I'm grateful.
I'm never gonna say no to it.
I'll take the love all day.
But my biggest hope is that it genuinely helps people
navigate what's happening in their life
and that I can continue to write more and share more.
And, but yeah, I always have this.
It's really interesting every time I try a new medium. I have a massive
nervousness and anxiety around it. And so when I went from videos to the podcast, I was super
nervous. And I went from the podcast to the book this time. I've been super nervous. And up
until the day before the book came out, I was like, is anyone going to read this? And so, but I love
that feeling now. I've just got used to it that that's part of the journey. And actually that nervousness makes me prepare better.
So I engage that nervousness and that anxiety into saying,
well, if I'm nervous, what can I do that's going to make me feel less nervous?
And that usually is more preparation.
It's not more trying to figure out the result.
It's more preparation.
So very humble.
And nervous is also your life, right?
Yeah.
Something that means something.
You're totally.
In our family, we call it so it's like that feeling of butterflies.
It's half scared, half excited.
So we call it skided.
I have that.
To kind of rename it as something that means you're allowed.
You're where you're supposed to be.
You're taking a risk. You're reinventing, right? That's so beautiful. Well, I can't think of, first of all,
I'm glad it didn't come out in the very beginning of the pandemic. I think we needed a little bit of
time where we could actually sit and read. Yeah, I agree, I agree. I'm so glad that was a call from
the publishers and the team and I, they're amazing for making that decision and also books were non-essential right at the beginning
Yeah, I know you know
Your books phenomenal though, and I also think your book came at a perfect time
It's incredible. She's just see the impact that your work has had over the over the years and just you know to have you in my life
And I'm grateful and people won't know of our offline
conversations, but for me, my relationship with you
that we're developing is just the most precious gift,
because even this conversation again,
like just so that everyone knows everything we talked
about today was what we wanted to talk about today.
It was just what came up.
We didn't talk about any of it. We didn't talk about any of it.
We didn't talk about any of it.
And that's what I love about us.
That's genuinely so rare.
I'm not saying this because it sounds good.
I'm saying it because it's so rare to be able to just talk
to someone as if you already know them
and you know each other's hearts.
And I think that's what I find with you
is that when I talk with you,
I feel like you already understand my heart,
and so I don't have to explain my mind
if that made sense.
And that's like a very like,
it's a very special weird thing that I get
when I talk to you.
Even today, the whole conversation is just like,
oh, I love it, I just know filters, no, you know,
I just, it's amazing.
You have a very special power to do that,
and I love you for it.
Oh my God. I think about very special power to do that. And I love you for it. Oh my God.
You know, I think about the message of peace and purpose.
And really, peace and purpose,
and that's what you say in this subtitle,
but peace and purpose is really what you're saying
with the self in the morning and the service in the afternoon,
right?
Absolutely.
Peace is here because we cannot be out there
preaching for peace. You know, marching for, we cannot
want peace or make peace until we have it to give.
Absolutely.
So the peace.
Because I have to understand things later.
The peace is the morning.
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
The purpose is the afternoon.
That's where we should have been served with the clear water that we have for ourselves in the morning. Correct. And there may be times in your life
where you're doing a lot more purpose. Yes. And then there may be a time in your life where you
do a lot more peace. So it's phases. It's like it's not always going to be perfectly balanced and
perfectly there. And it's not like every day runs like Hogwarts. There's going to be days where
you're sleepless nights fighting for purpose, right?
You're gonna be there showing up.
And then there has to be the opposite where there are times where you're just going deep.
That it's both and it doesn't have to be perfectly cyclical or rounded.
We're not trying to get to perfection here.
We're trying to get to a point where we understand what we're missing.
One of my monk teachers would always say to me, he said, if you want to move three steps forward, you have to go three steps
deep first. And it was just such a good reminder. He'd always say that to me, and it just stuck with
me. And so every time I think about doing more, I first have to realize, well, first I have to try
and become more, I have to try and feel more, you know, to do more. And so if I sometimes feel,
and you may feel like,
sometimes you may feel like you're really fighting
and pushing, but nothing's happening.
And that's the note that my monk teacher said,
that's the point where you realize, all right,
now I need to go inward.
And then you go inward and then you act again
and you just see things start to flow.
And the opposite is true also that sometimes
you can just keep going inward and nothing's happening
because you're just, that's all you're doing. And that's not the point of it either. And so either of the, we need
to embrace polarities, not, not divide them. When we talk about affection and assertiveness,
when you talk about compassion and courage, when you talk about inward and outward peace
and purpose, we've got to embrace these polarities, they're not separate, they're not opposites. We think they're opposites, but they're not, we have to
embrace both. Yeah, want to do more, become more. If you want to become more, do more. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Well said, yeah, that's beautiful. I love that. I love that. Do you see what I'm saying?
Okay, I mean, go pick up this book, keep it. This could be the thing you keep by your bedside. I think it's helpful in the piece part. It's helpful in the purpose part.
It's beautiful. Jay, you did such a beautiful job. Also, you all need to follow Jay on social and if no other reason, just because his wife is so freaking funny. My wife is made better than me and she's amazing.
I can't wait for us all to hang out, Glen.
That's why I'm excited about you know.
I know, I know.
Yeah, I can't wait to see.
Jay, go carry on, go spread.
Think like a monk everywhere today.
I know you're so busy.
I'm so grateful for the time you spent with us today.
And I'm just cheering you on in your corner.
So grateful. No, thank you, Glen. This is amazing. And honestly, like just hearing from your heart about the book
today, it's just, it's melted mind like it's just been amazing. And let's keep doing lots of good work
together. I want to do so much more together and find ways to support your work even more. And
I'm always been your fan from before I knew you. And so it's my honor to even have this time with you.
So thank you so much.
You must have recognized the monk in me, Jay.
Well, you definitely think like a monk.
You definitely, I mean, you were thinking like a monk
from the beginning, I mean, who starts their writing career
with monastery as their, like who does that?
Like that's like,
No, a lot of people say,
a lot of people pick a brand word
that no one can say for a deck pick.
I love it, I love it.
That's why we're connected.
That's why we're connected.
But no, this is beautiful, then.
And then, and yeah, I call my to see you soon.
And let's catch up again soon on a call.
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