1. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Robin Sharma (📖)
12 Dec 2016
rating 10/10
Reading Notes:
Self Mastery and the consistent care of one’s mind, body and soul are essential to finding one’s highest self and living the life of one’s dreams.
How can you do good if you don’t even feel good? I can’t love you if I cannot love myself.
When you dictate yourself to transforming your inner world your life quickly shifts from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary.
When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstance, your life will move into its highest dimensions. This is one of the greatest of all the natural laws.
The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.
Winston Churchill said, “the price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts.”
The mind truly is like any other muscle in your body. Use it or lose it.
The boundaries of your life are merely creations of the self.
Then less you focus on the end result, the quicker it will come.
With one eye fixed on the destination, there is only one left to guide you along the journey.
The secret of happiness is simple, “find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it.”
Worry causes your precious mental energy and potential to leak, just like air leaking out of an inner tube. Soon, you have no energy left. All of your creativity, optimism and motivation has been drained, leaving you exhausted.
Remember, either you control your mind or it controls you.
Self-knowledge is the stepping stone to self-mastery.
The quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life.
The mind works through pictures. Pictures affect your self-image and your self-image affects the way you feel, act and achieve. When you run inspiring, imaginative pictures through the movie screen of your mind, wonderful things start to happen in your life.
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
You must spend some time every day, even if it is just a few minutes, in the practice of self envisioning. See yourself as you want to be, whether this means serving as a great judge, a great father or a great citizen of your community. Use positive images to influence your mind.
Your mind has magnetic power to attract all that you desire into your life. If there is a lack in your life, it is because there is lack in your thoughts.
There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.
Every second you spend thinking about someone else’s dreams you take time away from your own.
People who study others are wise but those who study themselves are enlightened.
Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually.
Self-Knowledge is the DNA of self-enlightenment.
“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
Benjamin Disraeli said: ‘The secret of success is constancy of purpose’.
Set clearly defined objectives. You will never be able to get a target you cannot see.
We each think about 60,000 thoughts on an average day. By writing out your desires and goals on a piece of paper, you send a red flag to your subconscious mind that these thoughts are far more important than the remaining 59,999 other ones. Your mind will then start to seek out all opportunities to realize your destiny like a guided missile.
Fill your dream book with pictures of the things you desire and images of people who have cultivated the abilities, talents and qualities you hope to emulate. Then review this book daily.
Practice ‘Kaizen’. This Japanese word means constant and never-ending improvement.
Those who express their lack of knowledge and seek instructions find the path to enlightenment before anyone else.
Zen tradition speaks of a beginner’s mind: those who keep their minds open to new concepts – those whose cups are always empty – will always move to higher levels of achievement and fulfillment.
Epictetus said, ‘No man is free who is not a master of himself’.
The only limits on your life are those you set yourself.
Practice the art of effective breathing. In order to breathe effectively, your belly should move out slightly. This indicates that you are breathing from the abdomen, which is good.
Eat live foods. Live foods are those that are created through the natural interaction of the sun, air, soil and water.
Reading thirty minutes a day will make a delightful difference in your life because you will quickly start to see the vast reserves of knowledge available for your use. Every answer to every problem you have ever faced is in print. If you want to be a better lawyer, father, friend or lover, there are books out there that will rocket you to those goals. All the mistakes you will ever make in your life have already been made by those that have walked before you.
Books simply help you to see what is already within your self. That’s what enlightenment is all about.
By taking time to get to know yourself, you will connect to a dimension of your being that you never knew you had.
‘Happiness comes through good judgement, good judgement comes through experience, and experience comes through bad judgement.’
Pain is often the precursor to personal growth. Don’t dread it. Instead, embrace it.
The ten-minute period before you sleep and the ten-minute period after you wake up are profoundly influential on your subconscious mind. Only the most inspiring and serene thoughts should be programmed into your mind at those times.
William James said, ‘we don’t laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh.’
How to cultivate simplicity? I stopped needing to be available to everyone all the time. I became a vegetarian and I ate less. Basically, I reduced my needs.
True life change is spontaneous. It happens in the blink of an eye, the very moment you decide from the deepest core of your being that you will raise your life to its highest level. In that instant, you will be a changed person, one set on the course of his destiny.
Success of the outside begins within.
Enlightenment comes through the consistent cultivation of your mind, body and soul.
Self-discipline will provide you with the mental reserves required to persevere when the life throws you one of its little curves.
An abundance of will power and discipline is one of the chief attributes of all those with strong character and wonderful lives. Willpower allows you to do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it. It is willpower that allows you to get up at five in the morning to cultivate your mind through meditation.
Truly enlightened people never seek to be like others. Rather, they seek to be superior to their former selves. Don’t race against others. Race against yourself.
When you have self-control, you will have the resolve to do the things you always wanted to do.
When you master your mind you master your life. Mental mastery starts from being able to control every thought you think. When you have developed the ability to discard all weak thoughts and focus only on those that are positive and good, positive and good actions will follow.
If you don’t take the time to start controlling your thoughts, they will control you.
Words are great influencers. Words are the verbal embodiment of power. By filling your mind with words of hope, you become hopeful. By filling your mind with thoughts of courage, you become courageous. Words have power.
Small victories lead to large victories. You must build on the small to achieve the great. By following through on a resolution as simple as getting up earlier every day, you will feel the pleasure and gratification that achievements brings. You have set a goal and you have realized it. This feels good.
Respect your time. Don’t let others steal your time. Be wary of time thieves. You must be ruthless with your time. Learn to say no. Having the courage to say no to the little things in life will give you the power to say yes to the big things. Ironically, people will respect you more when they see that you are a person who values his time.
The best time to plant a tree was forty years ago. The second best time is today.
Develop a deathbed mentality. It is a new way of looking at your life, a more empowering paradigm if you will, one that reminds you that today could be your last, so savor it to the fullest. The deathbed question alone has the power to change your life. You will start focusing on all the meaningful things that you have been putting off, and stop squandering time on all those petty things that have dragged you down.
The only thing you can take with you at the end of your life is your conscience. Listen to your conscience. Let it guide you. It knows what is right. It will tell you that your calling in life is ultimately selfless service to others in some form or another.
The quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contribution.
When we are born, we are crying while the world rejoices. We should live our lives in such a way that when we die, the world cries while we are rejoicing.
Being engaged in a pursuit that truly challenges you is the surest route to personal satisfaction. But the real key to remember is that happiness is a journey, not a destination.
You can have the life you deserve the very moment you start to understand that the path you are currently walking on is one rich with diamonds and other priceless treasures.
Slow things down. Enjoy the beauty and the sacredness of all that is around you.
Hope for what will appear in your future is what gets you out of bed in the morning and what keeps you inspired through your days. Goals energize your life.
Few things are as meaningful as being a part of your children’s childhood. What is the point of climbing the steps of success if you have missed the first steps of your own kids? What good is owning the biggest house on your block if you have not taken the time to create a home?
There is a huge difference between making a lot of money and making a lot of life.
Make decisions to spend more time with those who make your life meaningful.
Savour the gift of achievement. Never sacrifice happiness for achievement.