If you were hoping for a quick summary of Jay Shetty’s book 8 Rules of Love so you don’t have to read it yourself, I’m sorry to disappoint. (If it’s for book club and you just didn’t get around to it, this should help give you some talking points, at least.) Instead, here are some of the things that, at first glance, struck me as odd for a book on finding and keeping love–words of wisdom you won’t find embroidered on a pillow or printed on a fridge magnet anytime soon!
First off, you’re probably wondering what a former monk knows about romantic love. To be fair, Jay was a monk for only three years; he’s now been happily married for seven, and he has since made a name for himself as a behavioural science grad, best-selling author and life coach. And, in fact, it was during his stint at the ashram that he started studying the Vedas, ancient Hindu scriptures that are so old that they were first written on palm leaves. ‘I turned to the Vedas because these ancient scribes speak of love in ways I hadn’t heard before,’ he writes.
We are never taught how to navigate romantic relationships–most of the time, we are influenced by the relationships that were
