Recharge Your Mind With This Evening Routine | A Monk's Perspective

[Music] good evening everyone welcome to thailand again and today i'm excited to talk about the evening routine the previous video we talked about a morning routine so if you have not seen this video make sure to check it out there should be a link in the description below but many people now are starting to understand the importance of a morning routine hopefully last week we clarified the real purpose of a morning routine and for us coming from the monastery it's not just because of productivity but it's about training one's mind how to be grounded and how to be present because the outside world is very difficult it has a lot of challenges so for us is bringing the mind back home bringing the mind to a stillness ground yourself develop mindfulness develop that presence and then as a result of a clear bright mind then you will be more motivated then you will be productive then you will be more happy and bright and clear so all these things are a result of a morning routine plus it helps you to develop that habit so if you do find value in that you think that a morning routine is important then automatically you should think that an evening routine is important because it doesn't make sense that we take this time to develop ourself in the morning to get ready for the day but yet then when we come home then we just let it all go you know so if you are invested in your own development in your own habit training in your own mindfulness practice then you already put in the work in the morning then now when you come home let's end it on that strong note and then that way we can repeat it again the next day what i'm sharing with you again is the wisdom from the monastery just some of the few things that may be useful for you and you can try it out again everyone's life is a bit different so do what you can if it works for you take it if you feel like there's no issues with your current schedule and there is no interest that's okay nothing is forced upon you but again this is just the wisdom and how we train ourselves this has been going on for a very long time in the monastery we've been doing this for two thousand five hundred two thousand six hundred years and all to train the mind so hopefully this wisdom is not just hidden in the background but for you is take it and apply and hopefully it can help you with your daily life in this video again with the evening routine i'm gonna give you five tips that you can start now integrate it into your life and again this is in no particular order but let's go time so when we talk about our evening routine i was trying to find tools and techniques that would be most appropriate for everyone out there and for me i want to make it where it's practical these are not just concepts and ideas that sounds good and feel good but actually it's available to you accessible and easy for you to use that you can apply to already make the shift this first one that i'm picking to share with you is really because i find that in the outside world many people are struggling with shutting off i mean i think many of you out there are doing an amazing job trying your best to make a living to improve your relationship with your families do a good job with school and work and everyone is out there again putting in the effort but one of the things that people struggle with commonly time and time again is then they're so invested in the outside world they're so invested in the doing and it takes up a lot of your time so when we do come back home it's hard for us to cut off when we're interacting with other people the interaction sometimes then still lingers around and when we're back at home we're still thinking of that interaction we're still thinking of our work we're still thinking of the people that we surrounded ourselves with and the projects that are coming up so it's ongoing and the thing that i hear time and time again is venerable nick how do i shut off and this first tool would be helpful for you because as you know that i shared before is we train a lot of new monks who come here from around the world and they struggle with this same issue as well and even in the monastery it's not just we're here and we do nothing that definitely is not the case but the new monks here are so busy they're training different aspects of themselves they're engaged in different chores and activities and meditation and studies all these different things and sometimes when they're engaged in different projects their mind are still there so for us as working with the new monks one of the tips that i always give them is again have a cut off time when you're out in your daily life do the best you can give it all you got but also then when you do come back you need to retreat you need to recharge and the way you do that is then pick kind of a time pick an activity that helps to remind you of okay now we're done now it's the cool off process and what i find is simple for our new monks and maybe for you is then shower time because shower time is something that we do in the evening before we wind down so then automatically train yourself teach yourself that okay now for us as the monks they shower around 5 5 30 then leave everything behind and as you are going to the shower and now getting ready then use that already to tell your mind that we're shutting off and when you're in that act of showering when you have the water on and it's cleaning your skin just take a breath just close your eyes and imagine okay now we're done for the day let go of everything that you experience from the day and wash it off wipe it out and release it and let it go this is the most important part because we need the rest of our time to recharge and recoup so if you can already go into this activity of saying i'm getting ready to wind down i'm getting ready to turn off and what are we turning off and for us is turning off the thinking part you've used this the brain part of yourself so much and it's on overload and it's very active which it's okay because you needed it but now when you are back home then turn it off and now come back to this present moment and then that way you can refresh yourself and many times with the new monks they wait until it's meditation or chanting and later on in the evening or even worse right before they're gonna go to sleep then they shut off but for me is this is already a few hours before so get into that mode because it's not that easy it's not okay now i'm 10 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes before i'm gonna go to sleep right there i'm just gonna shut off and it if you have that ability great but most people out there they do not have that because of what because of attachment so then to train ourselves and to use our system use your schedule as that part so give it a try make it an intention of whatever time in the evening that i'm going to shower i'm going to use this activity as a gentle reminder and an intention of now we're done for the day and let's cool down and let's rest and recharge evening chanting and meditation so in the morning routine this is part of it as well we do that to begin our day because our mind is already still but in the evening time for us it's so key because our evening chanting we all come together to do it formally but this is just the structure of the monastery and when the new monks are when monks and the laypeople come to join the evening chanting already like i said we're attached to everything that happened throughout the day so it's a bit difficult in the beginning and it's okay and that's what the chanting and meditation help us to do when people sit down they have their chanting books then already their mind is still wandering still attached we began the evening chanting and already now they're getting more focused and many times the mind will still wander it will still go back out to that activity and then the new monks train themselves get back into the rhythm follow the chanting book follow the sound follow and just go and slowly and slowly and slowly they just get more calm more still more focused without them even knowing it and then we keep doing this and for us that chanting can go on from about 17 minutes or chance all the way to half an hour sometimes one hour depending on what chance we're doing but each time it just allows the mind to settle then following that then when the mind is more still then we go into sitting meditation and the sitting meditation now then with the mind even more still we take it to the next level and drop into an even deeper stillness again we're trying to get rid of the logic part no no more thinking it's okay and in this space just observe whatever is happening if memories are coming up for you that's okay don't engage with it don't interact with it just notice it and it will fade away on its own and then new thoughts will come not a problem just don't engage take a deep breath and sink deeper into this stillness bring your mind back home but every day if you can then do this act of chanting if you have it available and if not then just go into the meditation and this is one technique for you to shut off and then bring your mind back to this present moment sharing loving kindness and dedicating merits to the deceased so now your mind should be even more still and in this stillness for us after that chanting and after this meditation in this good space what we do is because the mind is more pure now we use this energy and we spread loving kindness first we spread that loving kindness to ourself because it's the easiest and just cover yourself with this good energy and just surround it to cover your body just like a bright light just like a bubble a sun the moon anything to cover and just feel this good energy and dedicate this good energy for yourself and in this moment you've been through a lot from the day just end the day with this dedication of this loving kindness to yourself what it does is by doing this act we're training the mind to get rid of that anger inside of us sometimes we still hold some hatred we still hold some resentment we still hold some negative emotions or thinking or feeling or experiences towards ourself and towards other and this daily practice helps us again to cultivate this getting rid of the anger parts so a lot of people will say well venerable nick how do i let go what does that mean i want to let go of these negative well here it is you know here is a tool that you can use and sometimes it doesn't make sense and for now it's okay but just start with spreading kindness to cover yourself close your eyes and actually feel this cleansing loving energy around you when you can do that the next step is to spread it if you're sitting in a meditation room if you're at your own home then spread this brightness this loving kindness this pure energy to cover just the people around you in your room in your meditation hall in your home start there then expand it to cover your city your town your country the whole world and just keep going and again this is one way that we train ourselves to be in that positive space to get rid and let go of these negative energy that no longer serves us in this present moment and it's not helpful and it's not healthy then the second part for us also besides spreading love and kindness is all the good things that we did from today all of the good feeling that we cultivated from the activities from the meditation practice from training ourselves from the dedication of or the act of generosity now for us and this is just a buddhist lens and this is not to convince anyone but i'm just sharing a perspective and a belief system for buddhists and for us is with this pure energy that you have now dedicate this to your loved ones who passed away and for me still daily practice of the relatives who passed away for my grandparents my grandma grandpa aunts uncles siblings the ones who were part of our lives who transitioned to a different space but for us is with all the good deeds that we did we want to share in this good feeling good energy with them so we dedicate so they can experience this as well but this is just a part of the buddhist culture so again for this phase if you can every day just spread the love and kindness to yourself and others and then use this pure energy that you cultivated and spread that to the people who have passed away and especially now with the covet times many people are dealing with so much grief and death and loss and our loved ones unfortunately for those who were affected by this if they passed away dedicate this goodness that you cultivated and please if you can share it with them so they can rejoice in this act of kindness with you reflection so i will go into more details because in the monastery as monks and also as laypeople we do 10 daily reminders and it's a bit more intricate but that will be a separate video but for now what will help you is not right before you go to sleep but earlier in that evening just take a moment to reflect on how your day was what good did you do today you know just in this last 24 hours um what good habits did you do how was your meditation how did you give to other people all the positive things that took effect as of today also then reflect on the things that did not go so well maybe there are specific patterns for you that keep struggling with it and today it was challenging and today you were not that successful and it's okay but just reflect on that and understand that okay now that i know this i want to make a vow and intention that i will not repeat this and keep doing this every day so these mistakes that we've made throughout the day that i'm talking about can be regarding your behavior your action towards yourself towards other people it can be your speech how was your speech today did we cross the line did we say something that was not appropriate and in the proper context were we too aggressive today um what mistakes for you took place today and then another part of this reflection is then to consider well how can i do better the next day and just keep studying yourself one thing with reflection for me that i would like to point out is try to make sure where you're still neutral just go through your last 12 hours 20 hours and see these patterns neutrally what happened these were positive these are mistakes these are things i want to improve but don't add a story you don't need to beat yourself up there doesn't have to be a drama and theater in your mind it doesn't need all of that but just objectively to study to know yourself more clearly and as of today by being conscious of it then tomorrow we can already do the new action but it's important for us to instead of going through this day making mistakes and then repeating it tomorrow and not assessing it it doesn't help you so just take the time to bring it to the consciousness and when you're conscious of what you do on a daily basis why that is important because the following day then when you're conscious you can make new choices so this practice will help you further your development and a key thing to keep in mind is having a balance where don't overthink this is not a thinking exercise and we go on an expedition and then now we're more stressed out than before but again just gently easily be kind with yourself and just observe very neutrally acknowledge what happened and what needs to take place moving forward sleep in a sea of merit this one for me i talked about in the sleep video but i wanna review it again because it's very important and it can shift your whole world it's powerful but the premise of this is every evening before you go to bed take the time to recollect all the good things that you've done all the generosity all the act of kindness and then reconnect with that proud feeling no this is not about pride but again a proud feeling so to understand why this is important i have to share the context and i'll start with a personal story but for me is when i came to thailand before i ordained one of the things that was so difficult for me was sleeping it just came to the point where for many years for five years where i would have to take a sleep aid it was part because of my lifestyle because as a dancer we would have rehearsal all the way till midnight one o'clock two o'clock so that lifestyle was a bit difficult and another thing too is also with my nature where i'm just more active and alert in the evening so going to sleep was difficult but what so many people struggle with was because they do want to change our life but the habit we engage in is right before we're going to go to sleep many people think about their problems they just lay in bed they just kind of wrestle with themself of this is what i'm struggling with this is my worry this is my stress how am i gonna fix this okay let me go through the details okay what steps do i need to do okay and then we just sit in this problem mode and then we just think and we ruminate about the same issue over and over and over again and what is the danger of this and the danger really is because the last thing you think about before you go to sleep automatically as a rule is the first thing you think about so many times people go to sleep thinking about their problems they wake up and already it started all over again as if there was no time that has lapsed that you didn't even sleep and already i started on this note again nothing even changed and here we are and it's a repeat and what i was taught at the monastery was oh no we don't go to bed just thinking about our problem ruminating about it that's not how that works but really is before we're going to go to sleep recollect the merit just thinking of the good deeds that you're done that you're proud of recall this is the most important part not so much the thinking part but recalling the feeling for example is with our new monks is then they would feel good that they went on alms offering they gave the lay people an opportunity to give they gave the lay people blessings they practiced their chanting and their meditation that cultivated goodness and pure energy from themselves they fixed a habit that day they helped with the daily chores they cleaned the bathrooms they folded their robes they listened to the dharma talk in the evening with the teaching monks and right there in this moment take all that that good proud feeling that you had from today and place it at the center of your body and let it cover you and if you can then make it stronger collect the goodness that you did from this week what good things did you do did you help your partner and your spouse did you donate your time and your resources what good did you do this month what good did you do this year what good did you do this lifetime and collect it and cover yourself like a blanket and i just say it's just a pure energy blanket that just covers yourself and for myself specifically i always recall the day that i took ordination to become a monk and now i'm wearing these robes it is such a big deal for me and i can recall like it was yesterday and i'm proud and i feel great and i feel that energy and just sleep in this field of energy the sea of merits let it cover you and let it heal you and clean you and purify you in your sleep so now the difference is you're not sleeping in your problems that it's just lingering over you but you're sleeping in the sea of merit that surrounds you in this bright feeling it feels great close your eyes take a breath let go and go to sleep is that easy cover yourself like a blanket a pure bright blanket and then what happens is that when you wake up again the last thing that you think about is the first thing that you think about and this change how i slept and when i wake up now wow i'm already in that good space i'm starting now at a neutral space and i'm ready for my day but prior to this for me was already starting on a negative foot and then keep adding more negativity throughout the day and nothing gets fixed but this is something that hopefully that can help you and since coming to the monastery for me i don't have to rely on the sleep aids any longer and it just kind of falls off so hopefully this helps to recharge you and improve your life as well so give it a try so there you have it these are the five tips that we do in the monastery that can be applied to your life as well why then am i sharing this and why is an evening routine even important and for me i think why it's so important is because when all of you myself included are back home you're ready to go to sleep you're winding down for the day your body's here like physical body is right here but what i find is your mind is not here so where is it it's still for many people still stuck at your job you're laying in your bed but your mind is with the activity at your work your mind is still with the argument that you had earlier in the day your mind is with a project your mind is still in your past how someone hurt you how someone deceived you the the things that happened to you before some people are in the future and we're worried of what are we gonna do next and our mind isn't here in this present moment and i find that having this structure then is a training where we bring our mind back home we're done for the day it's okay like i said you did your best and you need to recharge because going at this where you're heightened and you're thinking and you're alert 24 hours a day with no rest and no recharge that's not sustainable and that's why so many people have mental health problems or they struggle with mental health problems because of this and when we have this evening routine it's kind of a structure and a protection and a training for your mind to come back home leave the past leave the future and just come back here body like i said is already here but now we need the mind to be here as well put it all in this present moment be here now and what i find is that you can clean yourself you can recharge you can get balance and then the next day we start it all over again but the difference is you're starting on a full tank many people are starting the day on an empty tank and then they keep doing more activities and they wonder why like i'm burnt out i'm at my wit's end i don't have that energy yeah it's because of this so already we shared with you the morning routine we shared with you the evening routine and for us as buddhist monks it's not about productivity it's not about any of that stuff that's a result of having a pure mind but for us is all of this that we're doing is to help to support our meditation to cultivate our mind to bring it back to a stillness we want our mind strong we want our mind healthy and we want our mind bright so this is why this daily structure we do it every single day you know and in the beginning it was very challenging and you know out in the outside world we had all this freedom i can get in my car i can go i can sleep anytime i want to i can do what i want but here in the monastery it's morning routine has the morning routine that's set evening routine has an evening routine that it's set because again it's uh to insulate us and to really protect us in that it sets up the structure for us to train ourself to do self-development to change our habit and again to purify our minds one of the things that i get asked all the time is you know what this is great for you uh venerable nick you're a monk in thailand you don't have to work you don't have the responsibilities that we have we have families we have a job we have children but for you so easy to say but for me it's no take this as a shell and use wisdom very key and very important use your wisdom use your life and your situation apply what you can the tools that i'm teaching you do you need to be a monk to shower no hopefully not do you need to be a monk to meditate no do you need to be a monk to share loving kindness do you need to be a monk to sleep in a sea of merit do you need to be a monk to reflect on your day and the answer is no some of you may have more time than others some of you may have less time whatever your situation is it doesn't matter but try it out and apply the ones that are helpful for you so again if your life is going great continue on if then you're wanting to be more disciplined and needing that structure or new tools and techniques here it is and give it a try and you know your life better we're not here to impose anything on you but simply to share the wisdom our technique of how to train oneself and what i find is when the mind is trained the individual experiences inner peace they experience lightness they experience a stillness and everything just kind of falls off so life is not as heavy so hopefully these are helpful for you and give it a try and keep us updated on your progress and of course as always greetings to you from thailand and please be safe thank you for your [Music] time [Music] you

Channel: Nick Keomahavong

Views: 236,736

Rating: 4.9652486 out of 5

Keywords: a day in the life of a monk, monk, monks, buddhist monk, life of a monk, monk life, the life of a monk, the daily life of a monk, the monk daily life, buddhist monk evening routine, a buddhist monk evening routine, new evening routine for monks, buddhist monk night routine, evening routine for monk, buddhist monks evening routine, a monk's evening routine, a monk's daily routine, a monk's daily evening routine, evening routine for monks, monk evening routine, evening routine

Id: xDnuirggvig

Length: 34min 42sec (2082 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 12 2021