Jay Shetty explains why he wrote Think Like a Monk, waiting four years after a viral video to get the timing right. The book draws on neuroscience research into monks' brains, including studies of Matthew Ricard's gamma-wave activity linked to happiness, and argues the monk mindset of compassion and non-judgment counters global greed and conflict.
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Why did you feel like you were ready to write your first book? I mean, you're still relatively early in the monk path. You know, you don't have 50 years of wisdom and wrinkles and you know, you haven't lived in a monastery for decades. Why now? To write, think like a monk.
So I remember being offered my first book deal when my first video went viral in 2016. And I remember going, this doesn't make any sense. Like I don't, you know, it's my first video. I was really excited and I was getting all this new influx of ideas and thoughts and I remember just feeling patient. That was four years ago, literally four years ago around this time. And I waited because I really believe that the monk mindset and the way I define it is the encapsulation of Eastern teachings and Eastern wisdom. And so the reason why I felt that this was the book that was needed right now is, is because I truly believe that the mindsets that are most prevalent in the world or that are predominant in the world are potentially of greed, of power, of quarrel, of judgment. And the monk mind is the complete antithesis of that. The monk mind is of compassion, love, non judgment, kindness. And I feel like that's what so many of the people we know are striving for and aspiring for. And I felt this is the right time to help us reset our mindset. By the way, I'm not, you know, it's important what you just said. I'm not sharing my own monk experience alone. The book is full of studies and research and science behind monks brains that have meditated for far longer than I have. And for me, it was my fascination with almost monk culture that made me want to write this book less than my own experience of three years. And so for me, I'm more excited and inspirational, inspired by the human behavior of monks and the minds of monks. And you know, I talk about Matthew Rickard in the book who is known as the world's happiest man for having the highest form of gamma waves in his brain linked to happiness, attention and joy. We talk about Mingyu Rinpoche who shows attention in ways that no one else on the planet has shown. So for me it was more that fascination even more than my own experience.
Sam.
