I don't read too many books. But the book's that I have read have always had an impact on my life. Some have helped me choose a path, while others have taught me something I see myself doing someday.I recently read a book called "Monk who sold his Ferrari" by Robin Sharma, an eye-opening book.
Synopsis
The book's protagonist is a top-class lawyer who has everything one would want, an amazing house, an amazing car, the ability to eat at expensive restaurants. But one day, while he's in the middle of a court session, he gets a heart attack and wants to change his life for good. To look for answers on improving his life, he travels to India, where he goes deep into the Himalayas to find the Monks of Sivanna's. For the monks to teach him how to live a happy life, they need him to preach their teaching. So he learns the methodologies and starts to share them with his friends.
Note: I will be providing a summary of each exercise. For more details, I would recommend reading the book.
The exercises
The exercises can be broken into seven categories: Training your mind, Following your purpose, Practicing Kaizen, Being disciplined, Respecting your time, Selflessly serving others, Embrace the present. Let's begin with the first one:
Training your mind
The main takeaway from this section is this: You are in control of your mind, learning to control & cultivate your mind. It will do you wonders. Heart of rose:The heart of the rose is a form of meditation. What it suggests is every day, take a rose and look at the center of the rose. When doing so for the first few times, your mind will wander, but the more you start doing this, the more you will be in control, and you will notice your mind doesn't stray much.Opposite Thinking:Continuing on the topics of you being in control of your thoughts. Whenever you get a negative idea in your head, don't keep thinking about it. Instead, immediately change it will a positive one. Here's an example of how I do it. Let's say I took an exam, and I know I have not done well, rather than having that trouble me the rest of the day. I change the perspective and look at it this way: Well, this one has gone by, I will prepare better for the next one. The secrete of the lake:Every morning, the sages from the book would walk to a nearby lake, look at their reflection, and envision what they wanted to be. Now, if your think I don't have a lake near me, well you can use a mirror. Envisioning where you want to be and seeing yourself achieving it is the best thing you can do.
Following your purpose
The main takeaway from this section is: One of your main goals in life is to find what your genuinely love doing and focus your energy towards it. This will lead to you having a happy and content life.Power of self-examination:This is you trying to find what your purpose is, what it is you love doing. Finding the answer might not be easy but take some time every day to try and find your purpose.5 Steps to attaining a goal:1. Clear vision for your outcome2. positively push yourself to achieve your goal3. Set goals with definite deadlines.4. Do it for 21 days5. Enjoy the process
Practice Kaizen
The main takeaway from this section is: take small steps to reach a better you. Do the things you fear: Trust me, it's easier said than done cause we all fear failure. But in the end, life is a learning process. You could one day become a role model to the next generations.The next is a set of 10 exercises, and it's called: The 10 Ancient Rituals for Radiant Living.The 10 Ancient Rituals for Radiant Living:1. Ritual of Solitude: Spend some time a day alone2. Ritual of Physicality: Spend at least 5 hours a week doing physical exercise3. Ritual of Live Nourishment: Eat a diet consisting of fruits and vegetables4. Ritual of Abundant Knowledge: Read for at least 30 mins a day5. Ritual of Personal Reflection: Spend some time daily reflecting on your day and how you could have better-approached situations6. The Ritual of Early Awakening: Getting up early and continuing it7. The Ritual of Music: Listing to music every day (Love this one)8. The Ritual of the Spoken Word: Create mantra's and repeat them to yourself daily9. The Ritual of Congruent Character: Build your character one step at a time.10. Ritual of Simplicity: Be as simple as you can
Being disciplined
The main takeaway: be disciplined to yourself.Mantras: This is similar to the ritual of spoken words. Try and speak to yourself daily.Vow of silence: Sounds like it's asking you not to talk, right? Well, yes, but no (I love saying that). It's saying don't be the one always to initiate a conversation. Try to allow someone else to start a conversation and carry it on.
Respecting your time
Time is your most precious commodity in life. Be respectful of it. 1. The ancient rule of 20: This is not a technique, but it comes down to this: out of everything we do, only 20% translates towards our end goal/purpose. So try and increase the things you do and focus on achieving your purpose.2. Courage to say No: This is something I struggle with. I love to help people. But it would help if you remembered you also have deadlines to meet and goals to achieve. So when you really can't take anymore, say no. (This was the hardest thing for me to write).3. Deathbed mentality: Ask yourself this question: "If today was the last day you were alive, what would you do?". After you have answered that question, live your day in that mentality.
Selflessly Serving others
Try and help those who you can. 1. Practice acts of kindness: This can be a simple as smiling at a stranger. Who knows that one smile can maybe brighten up their day.2. Give to those who ask: This is like a donation. If you see a homeless and have some cash, hand it to them.3. Cultivate richer relationships: Try and spend more time with the people you like being around.
Embrace the present
Learn to live now. Savor the current moment cause once it is gone, it's gone. There is no going back.1. Live your child's childhood: If you don't have kids, please skip for now (Am still in college) but still, cause I read the book am providing what it's telling. Enjoy your child's childhood and grow with them.2. Practice gratitude: Nothing is more important than your life's happiness. Always remember to live in the present and enjoy your day to the fullest extent possible.