July 2025
- Jul 16, 2025 Book of the Month: Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day by Jay Shetty Jul 16, 2025
- Jul 9, 2025 Real Estate Market Updates: June 2025 Jul 9, 2025
- Jul 2, 2025 Taking Time Out to Re-Align Jul 2, 2025
June 2025
- Jun 25, 2025 Navigating Home Sale Contingencies Jun 25, 2025
- Jun 17, 2025 The Crossing Fawn Jun 17, 2025
- Jun 4, 2025 Book of the Month: Notes from a Deserter by C.W. Towarnicki Jun 4, 2025
May 2025
- May 29, 2025 We Are What We Eat May 29, 2025
- May 22, 2025 The Ins and Outs of Mortgage Contingencies May 22, 2025
- May 8, 2025 Coaching Fundamentals: Reflect and Repeat May 8, 2025
April 2025
- Apr 23, 2025 How Rory McIlroy Remained Present to Win the Masters Apr 23, 2025
- Apr 2, 2025 Coaching Fundamentals: Mastering the Demonstration for Player Understanding Apr 2, 2025
March 2025
- Mar 12, 2025 Book of the Month: Atomic Habits by James Clear Mar 12, 2025
February 2025
- Feb 27, 2025 5 Answers For Potential Homebuyers Entering the Spring Market Feb 27, 2025
- Feb 6, 2025 Investing Basics with Chris Strivieri, Founder and Senior Partner of Intuitive Planning Group in Alliance with Equitable Advisors Feb 6, 2025
January 2025
- Jan 30, 2025 Book of the Month: The MetaShred Diet Jan 30, 2025
- Jan 20, 2025 Residential Housing Trends in 2025 Jan 20, 2025
- Jan 9, 2025 Understanding the Use and Occupancy Certificate Jan 9, 2025
December 2024
- Dec 4, 2024 Book of the Month: How Champions Think by Dr. Bob Rotella Dec 4, 2024
November 2024
- Nov 19, 2024 Professional Spotlight: Fran Weiss, Owner of Weiss Landscaping Nov 19, 2024
October 2024
- Oct 29, 2024 Book of the Month: Hidden Potential by Adam Grant Oct 29, 2024
- Oct 21, 2024 Professional Spotlight: James George, President, Global Mortgage Oct 21, 2024
- Oct 15, 2024 Buyers Post-NAR Settlement Oct 15, 2024

“The game isn’t played on the field; it’s played between the ears.”

Most of us are familiar with this adage or some variation. When we speak of great athletes, we often point to their athleticism, skill, and creativity. Yet we often overlook perhaps the most important quality—the mind.

Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, and so many others have excelled because they’re able to control their thoughts and emotions. They weren’t born being able to hit a game-winning jumper as the clock expires, rally from being down a set to win Wimbledon, bend a free kick around a wall in stoppage time, or sink a putt on the eighteenth of the U.S. Open while playing on a torn ACL. Many of the greatest athletes share mental and emotional toughness, often referred to as grit, which leads to confidence, and poise.

Though we may not have the physical qualities of elite athletes, we can develop the mental and emotional skills to be elite in our own walks of life. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, which doesn’t have to refer to faith exclusively, the relationship you have with yourself and the people around you influences your success, however you define it.

In his book, Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty, popular podcast host, speaker, social media influencer, and author, writes about developing the tools that have been practiced by monks for centuries. You don’t need to disappear from your life, fly to Asia, shave your head, live in a robe, and meditate for several hours a day to achieve inner peace. For three years, Shetty did though, and what he learned he shares willingly with his guests, listeners, and readers, so they, too, can reach a feeling of living with intention and purpose.

Shetty’s book is separated into several sections, each with its own goal and accompanied by some of the anecdotal connections he made while living between ashrams in London and Mumbai.

The first section breaks down qualities that hold us back: identity, negativity, fear, and intention. He claims that for many of us, our identity comes not from what we think of ourselves but what we think others think of us, a fallacy that influences poor decisions and misguided paths. When we surround ourselves with negative people or live in fear, those feelings manifest in our everyday lives and determine our overall outlook on life. When we have a lack of intention or are following someone else’s intention, we live a life of purposeless or helplessness.

The second section focuses on what we can do to achieve fulfillment: finding our purpose, forming positive routines, and understanding the relationships with our mind and our ego. In a previous blog post on Ikigai and Dharma, I wrote about finding our purpose by answering several simple questions and connecting those relationships to find our true calling in life. Understanding ourselves at a deeper level through meditating, visualizing, experimenting, all while answering these questions can lead us toward fulfillment, not necessarily happiness, which can be altered by people and the environment around us and sometimes falls outside of our control.

The final section highlights what we can do to take our lives to more purposeful levels, by staying humble and living a life of gratitude, building quality relationships, and serving others. According to Shetty, when we plant trees under whose shade we do not expect to sit, we are closer to reaching our Dharma.

Shetty’s greatest strength is his ability to help others connect their purpose and intention, but it’s his constant appreciation for people and experiences that allow him to remain calm and present. In his chapter on gratitude, Shetty writes about how the various effects of gratitude impact our lives in a positive way.

When the monkey mind, which amplifies negativity, tries to convince us we’re useless and worthless, the more reasonable monk mind counters by pointing out that others have given us their time, energy, and love. They made efforts on our behalf. Gratitude for their kindness is entwined with self-esteem, because if we are worthless, then that would make their generosity toward us worthless too.

Gratitude also helps us overcome the bitterness and pain that we all carry with us. Try feeling jealous and grateful simultaneously. Hard to imagine, right? When you’re present in gratitude, you can’t be anywhere else. According to UCLA neuroscientist Alex Korb, we truly can’t focus on positive and genitive feelings at the same time. When we feel grateful, our brains release dopamine (the reward chemical), which makes us want to feel that way again., and we begin to make gratitude a habit.

How do you feel when you take the time to express gratitude?

Recently, I spoke at my mother’s celebration of life. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. I spent weeks preparing, and every time I went to read my words out loud I was caught up in the emotions and had to take a time-out before continuing.

Though I knew no one would judge me for breaking down, I wanted to be strong. When I began to remind myself of how grateful I was to have my Mom in my life for 46 years, I felt calm, relaxed, and more confident. When I stood at the podium and looked out at our guests, my words came from a center of gratitude. She was an inspiring person, full of kindness, and afterwards I broke down, but I succeeded in sharing how much she meant.

I’m not recommending this book because I want everyone to be a monk. I’m recommending this book because it contains enormous value in helping others find inner peace. Listen to Shetty’s podcast, and you’ll hear his tranquil voice, his compassion for others, his thoughts on living with intention and purpose, his gratitude, and you’ll understand why he’s considered one of the best health and wellness speakers in the world.