Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable about Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny

Robin Sharma—1997.

• “Jillian, what are you doing? My cup is overflowing. The matter how hard you try, no more will go in!” I yelled impatiently. He looked at me for a long moment. “Please don’t take this the wrong way. I really respect you, John. I always have. However, just like this cup, you seem to be full of your own ideas. And how can any more go in… Until you first empty your cup?” Are struck by the truth of his words. He was right. My many years in the conservative legal world, doing the same things every day with the same people who thought the same thoughts every day had filled my cup to the brim.
• “It is only when you have mastered the art of loving yourself that you can truly love others. It’s only when you have opened your own heart that you can touch the hearts of others. When you feel centered and alive, you’re in a much better position to be a better person.”
• You are sitting in the middle of a magnificent, lush, green garden. This garden is filled with the most spectacular flowers you’ve ever seen. The environment is surprisingly tranquil and silent. Savor the sensual delights of this garden and feel as if you have all the time in the world to enjoy this natural oasis. As you look around you see that in the center of this magical garden stands a towering, red lighthouse, six stories high. Suddenly, the silence of the garden is disturbed by a loud creaking as the door at the base of the lighthouse opens. Out stumbles and 9 foot tall, 900 pound Japanese sumo wrestler who casually wanders into the center of the garden.
• The garden, the lighthouse, the sumo wrestler, the pink wire cable, the stopwatch, the roses and the winding path of diamonds are symbols of the seven timeless virtues for an enlightened life.
• In the fable, the garden is a symbol for your mind. If you care for your mind, if you nurture it and if you cultivate it just as a fertile, rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations.
• To live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and that only the very best information enter.
• Most of us have the same raw materials from the moment we take our first breath of air; what separates those people who achieve more than others or those that are happier than others is the way they use and refine these raw materials. When you dedicate yourself to transform your inner world your life quickly shifts from ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary.
• The matter what happens to you in your life, you alone have the capability and capacity to choose your response to it.
• Chinese character for “crisis” is comprised of two sub characters: one that spells danger and the other one that spells opportunity.
• Begin to live out the glory of your imagination, not your memory.
• 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. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.
• The answer is simple. With one eye fixed on the destination, there is only one left to guide you along the journey.
• The very fact that you have a desire or dream means that you have the corresponding capacity to realize it.
• The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and direct all your energy towards doing it.
• “Do you know why most people sleep so much? Because they really don’t have anything else to do. Those who rise of the sun all have one thing in common. They all have a purpose that fans the flames of its inner potential.”
• Saying that you don’t have time to improve your thoughts and your life is like saying you don’t have time to stop for gas because you’re too busy driving. Eventually it will catch up with you.
• All you need to perform this exercise is a fresh rose and a silent place. Natural surroundings are best but a quiet room will do nicely. Start to start the center of the rose, it’s heart. A rose is very much like life: you’ll meet thorns along the way but if you have faith and believe in your dreams you will eventually move beyond the thorns into the glory of the flower. Keep staring at the rose. Notice its color, texture and design. Savor its fragrance and think only about this wonderful object in front of you. At first, others thoughts will start entering your mind, distracting you from the heart of the rose. This is the mark of an untrained mind. But you need not worry, improvement will come quickly. Simply return your attention to the object of your focus. Soon your mind will grow strong and disciplined.
• Understand once and for all that 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 a lack in your thoughts. Hold wonderful pictures in your mind’s eye. Even one negative image is poisonous to your mindset. Once you start to experience the joy of this ancient technique brings, you’ll realize the infinite potential of your mind and begin to liberate the storehouse of ability and energy that currently sleeps within you.
• All I’m really getting at is that if you want to improve your life and live with all that you deserve you must run your own race. It doesn’t matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself. Do not be concerned with the judgment of others as long as you know what you are doing is right. You can do whatever you want to do as long as it is correct according to your conscious and your heart. Never be ashamed of doing what which is right; decide on what you think is good and then stick to it. And for God sake, never get into a petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people’s net worth. Every second you spend thinking about someone else’s dreams you take time away from your own.
• He who serves the most, reaped the most.
• I once read that people who study others are wise but those who study themselves are enlightened.
• This symbol will remind you of yet another ancient principle for enlightened living: the purpose of life is a life of purpose. Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually.
• People spend their whole lives streaming of becoming happier, living with more vitality and having an abundance of passion. Yet they do not see the importance of taking 10 minutes a month to write out their goals and to think deeply about the meaning of their lives, their dharma. Goalsetting will make your life magnificent. Your world will become richer, more delightful and more magical.
• Start to live with more zest. The human mind is the world’s largest filtering device. When used properly it filters out what you perceive as unimportant and gives you only the information you are looking for at that time. At this very moment, as we sit here in your living room, there are hundreds if not thousands of things going on that we are not paying attention to. There is the sound of lovers giggling as they stroll along the boardwalk, the goldfish in a tank behind you, the cool air being blown out from the air conditioner and even the beat of my own heart. The moment I decide to concentrate on my heartbeat, I start to notice its rhythm and its qualities. Similarly, when you decide to start concentrating your mind on your life’s main aims, your mind starts to filter out the unimportant and focus only on the important.
• A five step method to reach their objectives and fulfill the purposes of their lives. It was simple, practical and it worked.
  • The first step was to form a clear mental image of the outcome.
  • Step two was to get some positive pressure on myself.
    • The point is simply that when you train your mind to associate pleasure with good habits and punishment with bad ones, your weaknesses will quickly fall by the wayside.
  • The third step is a simple one: never set a goal without attaching a timeline to it.
  • The fourth step is to apply the magic rule of 21. Perform the new activity for 21 days in a row.
  • The final step is to enjoy the process.
• Kaizen: this Japanese word means constant and never-ending improvement.
• Zen tradition speaks of a beginner’s mind: those who keep their minds open to new concepts— those who cups are always empty— will always move to higher levels of achievement and fulfillment.
• He spoke of the importance of building strength of character, developing mental toughness and living with courage.
• People grow the most when they enter the zone of the unknown.
• The only limits on your life are those that you set for yourself. When you dare to get out of your circle of comfort and explore the unknown, you start to liberate your true human potential. This is the first step towards self-mastery and mastery over every other circumstance in your life. When you push beyond your limits, just as you did in this little demonstration, you unlock the mental and physical reserves that you never thought you had.
• The philosophy can be stated succinctly: what sets highly actualized people apart from those who never lived inspired lives is that they do things that less-developed people don’t like doing— even though they might not like doing them either.
• Happiness comes through the progressive realization of a worthy object.
• The first strategy was known to the sages of the ritual solitude. This involves nothing more than ensuring that your daily schedule includes a mandatory period of peace.
• The ritual of solitude works best when he practice it at the same time every day
• The most powerful animals on the planet, ranging from gorillas to elephants, wear the badge of proud vegetarians.
• When you read Ben Franklin’s biography you’ll see what I mean. Every evening, after full day of productive work, he would retire to silent corner of his home and reflect on his day. He would consider all of his actions and whether they were positive and constructive or whether they were of the negative sort, in need of repair.
• After all, how could I ever hope to improve myself and my life if I hadn’t even taken the time to figure out what I was supposed to improve?
• Take a guess how many times the average for your old laughs in a day. 300, how many times the average adult in our society laughs in the course of a day. 15.
• A mantra is nothing more than a collection of words strung together to create a positive effect. So a mantra is a phrase in which is designed to free the mind.
• When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
• Failure is not having the courage to try.
• The pink wire cable will serve to remind you of the power of self-control and discipline.
• Have a look at wire cable sometime. You’ll see that it consists of many thin, tiny wires placed one on top of another. Alone, each one is flimsy and weak. But, together, there’s some is much greater than their constituent parts and the cable becomes tougher than iron.
• Truly enlightened people never seek to be like others. Rather, they seek to be superior to their former selves.
• The Japanese call it Saton, meaning instant awakening.
• I am more than I appear to be, although world strengths and power rest inside of me.
• Go an entire day without speaking, except in response to a direct question.
• The most meaningful things in your life should never be sacrificed to those that are the least meaningful.
• One of the great rules I learned from that old wise sage is that 80% of the results you achieve in your life comes from only 20% of the activities that occupy your time.
• Enlightened people are priority driven.
• Act as if failure is impossible, and your success will be assured.
• The quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contributions.
• Winding path studded with millions of tiny diamonds.
• The seventh and final virtue is about living. A truly joyful and rewarding life comes only through the process they call living in the now.
• Being engaged in a pursuit that truly challenges you is the surest route to personal satisfaction. But the real key is to remember that happiness is a journey, not a destination. Live for today.
• 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.