The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin Sharma

Self Help Books are "preachy" and don’t generally resonate with me, except a few like the ones written by Stephen Covey. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari has been a "must-read" book recommended by many; I had it lying in my book shelf since a while but never got to read it. However the phase that I am going through possibly prompted me to read this one. And I must say that I am not in the least disappointed! In fact, I am now planning to explore some of the highly recommended self help books.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is an easy to understand guide for leading a simple and spiritual life. It talks about the key 7 virtues of life via a dialogue between Julian and John. Julian is a high profile lawyer; with everything going good his way until he collapses in the middle of the courtroom due to a massive cardiac arrest. Julian decides to leave the luxuries of his life in pursuit of true happiness and the real meaning of life. He returns after several years as a transformed and a healthier being. Julian narrates to John the learnings and the journey of his new life; and he also encourages John to follow the same. Some of them are bizarre (IMO!) but none of them are really new, all of us are aware of the basic fundamentals of life. Its just that we get sucked into the "rat race" and never get time to lead a proper life. The disillusion of a happy life misleads all of us into being someone we are not or into doing something we are not happy doing.

Julian teaches John the 7 virtues of enlightened living via simple stories. The 7 virtues are:

1. Master Your Mind

2. Follow Your Purpose

3. Practice Kaizen

4. Live With Discipline

5. Respect Your Time

6. Selflessly Serve Others

7. Embrace The Present

It’s a well written and quick read book. Recommended for those who are on the path of self discovery!

Most of the thoughts / quotes in this book are inspirational and deep. Here are some which I loved:

"An average person runs about 60,000 thoughts through his mind everyday and 95% of these are the same as the previous day! This is the tyranny of impoverished thinking"

"Even the best conditioned minds are using only 1/100th percent of their mental reserves!"

"These is no such thing as objective reality or real world. There are no absolutes. The face of your greatest enemy might be the face of my best friend."

"There are no mistakes in life, only lessons"

"Things are always created twice, first in the workshop of the mind, and only then in reality"

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great  and wonderful world."

"Find out what you truly love to do and then direct all your energy towards doing it"

"Every second you spend thinking about someone else's dreams you take time away from your own"

"The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts"

"The purpose of life is a life of purpose"

"Lasting happiness comes from steadily working to accomplish your goals and advancing confidently in the direction of your life's purpose"

"Luck is nothing but a marriage of preparation with opportunity"

"You can never hit a target you cannot see"

"Stay focused on your purpose. The Universe will take care of everything else"

"Busy productive people are highly efficient with their time"

"Never be a prisoners of the past, become the architect of your future"

"Happiness is a journey, not a destination"