I am an artist at living-my work of art is my life (Suzuki).

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens (Carl Jung).

I recently read “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin. S. Sharma.  What a great read! It is a tale about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny. It is about an approach to living a simple life with greater balance, courage, strength and abundance of joy.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma

Robin S. Sharma

It is the story of Julian Mantle, a high-flying lawyer who collapsed one day in the courtroom from a heart attack. Julian had toiled day and night for years without heeding his mental and physical health. That catapulted him into a very rich and successful lawyer. He was in fact the epitome of success. The heart attack was his wake-up call. He came face to face with a spiritual crisis and decided to sell all his property ( of course his Ferrari too) and embarked on a life-changing odyssey to India.  His journey totally transformed him into a healthy man with physical vitality and spiritual strength.

The  tale contains the seven virtues for enlightened living and a wealth of  spiritual gifts.  You will learn mind mastery techniques such as “the heart of the rose” , “opposition thinking” and “the secret of the lake”.  You will also learn self-leadership techniques like “do the things you fear” and “the 5 step method for attaining goals”. The value of self-discipline, willpower, time management and setting priorities are extolled  in techniques like “the ancient rule of 20″ and “the vow of silence”.

There are so many nuggets of wisdom throughout the book and some of these nuggets that strike a chord with me are:

• Mental mastery comes through conditioning.
• Dedicating yourself to transforming your inner world will quickly shift your life from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary.
• By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny. If you want to make improvements in your outer world, you must first start within and change the caliber of your thoughts.
• If you want to change your life for the better, you must run your own race.  Don’t worry about what other people say about you.
• The only limits on your life are those that you set yourself. Self-mastery is the DNA of life mastery.
• Set clearly defined personal, professional and spiritual goals and then have the courage to act on them.
• When you venture out of your comfort zone and explore the unknown, you start to liberate your true human potential.
• Fear is our own creation. When fear rears its ugly head, quickly beat it down. And the best way to achieve this is to do the thing you fear.
• Don’t race against others. Race against yourself.
• Do the things you know you should be doing instead of walking the path of least resistance.
• Develop a deathbed mentality. What would you do if today is your last day?
• When you do things to improve the lives of others, you indirectly elevate your own life in the process. Always remember the Chinese proverb “A little fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses“.
• Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Never put off happiness for the sake of achievement. A truly joyful and rewarding life comes only through a process called “living in the now”.
• There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. From struggle comes strength. Pain can be a wonderful teacher and is often the precursor to personal growth. To transcend pain, you must first experience it.

Go read the book in its entirety. Then re-read it over and over so that the principles will stick in your mind. Retaining the gist of the book in your mind is made so much easier because of the the way the tale is narrated. You will not forget the seven virtues of enlightened living if you just visualise the mystical fable mentioned in the book and remember the significance of the seven symbols: the magnificient garden ( your mind), the towering lighthouse (your life purpose), the sumo wrestler (kaizen), the pink wire cable (discipline), the gold stopwatch (time),the fragrant roses (serving others) and the diamond path (embracing the present).

May you discover the new  you and may you live a life that soars!

We don’t laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh (William James).