Book: The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace by Pedram Shojai. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

The author was a Monk for 4 years, is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and studied Kung Fu and Tai Chi for decades, this is what you will get from the book.

There are some chapters with a lot of meditation techniques and some tips about sustainability. The idea is to help you to live like a monk in the urban landscape.

There are not so much scientific studies shown as references here, it’s more like a religion, which is not so unexpected.

Besides that, I got some good info from the book. Each book resonates with you in a different way. Here are some notes worth mentioning:

  • Tai Chi is not a class, is a way of life
  • The exterior world reflects your inner feelings, be happy and the world will be better for you.
  • Companies pay for work and results, not dead time. Don’t just sell your time, do something you love.
  • TV and social media are shit. (nothing new here, right?)
  • Be grateful for food, remember that a life was taken for it. Why you deserve to live instead of the dead creature that became the food? We are not hunters anymore. Don’t think about it as meat only, it applies to vegetables as well, he’s talking about energy and stuff.
  • In our culture we feel aversion for pain. We don’t like feeling unconformable. Our whole culture makes us run away from pain.
  • Get uncomfortable. Try something that gets you out of your shell.
  • Nobody cares if you suck at doing something, all beginners do. Just do it for the joy of doing without the worry of judgment.
  • Be aware of the advertising industry. You don’t need most of the things they are trying to sell you. Think about it. An urban monk does not invest his money in shit he doesn’t need.

And the last one, to keep your life on track:

If time, money and place were not in consideration what would I love to do with my time? Question yourself: why? What can I do to go there? What stands in my way? Is this a real or perceived limitation? How can I transform these obstacles? How can I change my current lifestyle to accommodate this?