Remember this one? – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

“You are what you think about all day long. You are also what you say to yourself all day long. If you say that you are old and tired, this mantra will be manifested in your external reality. If you say you are weak and lack enthusiasm, this too will be the nature of your world. But if you say that you are healthy, dynamic and fully alive, your life will be transformed. Words have remarkable power.” ― Robin S. Sharma

I love the quote above because I love language. The way we speak says so much about us. Don’t you think? I find the words we say to ourselves are equally important as the words we say to others. Maybe more so.

Sharma is his name. Robin Sharma. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is (in my opinion) his most famous book. I read it years and years ago. I turned to the page that shows the publishing date: 1997… and I thought to myself, “That’s not so long ago!” There I go again, skipping a decade.

Sharma is a pretty cool guy. And I love his name! Sharma… it rolls off the tongue. It sounds like a mantra.

Oh, and who woulda thought that a trial lawyer could also be a deep thinking body/mind/spirit liberator? But there ya go! Oh, and he’s Canadian! Who knew? Not me, not until I really dug into his biography as I was getting ready to write about this book.

Just as an aside: I do that a lot. I’ve read all the books I share about but some of them were read years ago – and perhaps only once. I need links for an author’s website and links for the books themselves and links for other stuff… so I usually do a bit of research as I sit down to write.

Ahem. Anyway.

The book is a fable… much like The Little Prince. Except not. Hmmm. How to explain?

I never thought of this book as a work of fiction. I have always considered it a self-help book. Which is it? Who knows!? 😉

The fable is about a man – a lawyer – who lives a lifestyle that leads him to a crisis point… of health, first… and then the emotional and spiritual follow.

After the initial, foundational part of the story, the following chapters begin with a wisdom quote – from thinkers as diverse as Confucius to Churchill. At the end of each chapter is an “Action Summary” that bullet points the symbolism/ Virtue/ Wisdom/ Techniques and a “Quotable Quote” from that chapter.

Woven throughout the story are “The 7 Timeless Virtues of Enlightened Living”. I’m not going to tell you anything about those… because you need to read this book! I can’t give it all away! 🙂