Ritual of Simplicity (Excerpts from the Book: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari)

This ritual requires you to live a simple life.One must never live in the thick of thin things. Focus only on your priorities,those activities which are truly meaningful.Your life will be uncluttered, rewarding and exceptionally peaceful.

Living simply means reducing your needs:stop wearing expensive clothes, you do not have to read six news papers a day,stop needing to be available to everyone all the time, eat less, maybe become a vegetarian.Stop picking up the phone every time it rings.Stop wasting time reading junk mail, spend more time with your kids, cut on the club membership,and reduce eating out every now and then, simple things that clutter our lives.

Lifelong happiness does come through striving to realize your dreams. You are at your best when you are moving forward.The key is not to make your happiness contingent on finding that elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow rather enjoying the journey while at it.

The Ritual of a Congruent Character(The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari)

This is a tough one. It is about your character and the values you want to live and be defined by. I have been very low on motivation,a lot of distractions and bad decisions along the way and I realized that reading keeps me on check, so am at it again and I got to learn all the wisdom from Robin S.Sharma on living a magnificent life before I embark on the next read:As this ritual illustrates we got to build a character that leads us to our destiny.See the excerpts below, take the challenge,the insights and be inspired,it can be done!

 This is a ritual requires you to take daily, incremental action to build your character. Strengthening your character affects the way you see yourself and the actions you take. The actions you take come together to form your habits and, this is important, your habits lead you to your destiny. Remember you sow a thought, you reap an action. Reap an action, you sow a habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap your destiny.'

You got to live by virtuous principles some of which include: industry, compassion, humility,patience,honesty and courage.When all your actions are congruent and aligned with these principles, you will feel a deep sense of inner harmony and peace.Living this way will inevitably lead you to spiritual success.This is because you will be doing what is right.You will be acting in a way that is in accordance with the laws of nature and the laws of the universe.This is when you will start to tap into the energy of another dimension, call it a higher power if you will. This is also when your life will move from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary and you begin to sense the sacredness of your being.It is the first step to life long enlightenment.When you do the right things, act in a way that is congruent with your character, act with integrity, be guided by your heart, then the rest will take care of itself.

To have a congruent character;you must do little things every day to build your character. "Character is higher than intellect.A great soul will be strong to live as well as think." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.Your character is built when you act in a way that corresponds with the virtuous principles which leads to true happiness

The Ritual of the Spoken Word(An excerpt from the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari)

This is a ritual about self affirming mantras. A mantra is nothing more than a collection of words strung together to create a positive effect. They could be said aloud or written. Repeating a mantra aloud has a wonderful effect on the spirit. When you need to feel motivated, repeat those self reassuring words. For example ‘I am inspired, disciplined and energized' out loud several times. To maintain the supreme sense of self-confidence you can cultivate, to repeat, 'I am strong, able and Calm.’ Whatever positive feeling you want to derive, create a mantra for it and say it aloud.

The ritual reminds us that we are what we think about all day long. We are also what we say to ourselves 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.

You see the words you say to yourself affect your self-image and your self-image determines what actions you take. For example, if your self-image is one of a person who lacks the confidence to do anything of value, you will only be able to take actions which are aligned with this trait. On the other hand, if your self-image is one of a radiant individual who is fearless, again, all your actions will correspond to this quality. Your self-image is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

 Hence create those positive mantras around your life to realize great transformation.

Rituals of Radiant Living:The Ritual of Music. (Excerpts from the book The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari)

This was a surprise for me, radiant living through music! Come to think of it I love my music. I happen to sit in an office alone and trust you me my radio is always on, I work listening to music. Music soothes my soul, keeps my concentration on and calms my nerves.

The ritual calls us to never forget the power of music. To spend a little time with it every day, even if it is listening to a soft piece on a cassette while you drive to work. When you feel down or weary, play some music. It is one of the finest motivators known. Music will give you spiritual boost; it will make you laugh, and dance, medicine for the soul and heart.

The Ritual of Early Awakening :( Excerpts from the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari)

This is another excellent teaching under Radiant Living as explained by Robin S. Sharma.It gives importance to rising at sunrise and starting ones day well. The teachings note that most of us sleep more than we need to while all we need is six good hour sleep to be healthy and alert.Sleep is a habit hence we have the ability to train ourselves to sleep less. While we might look at less sleep as a deprivation this ritual notes that pain is often the precursor to personal growth, thus we should not dread it rather embrace it.

 What is important is the quality of sleep not the quantity. It is better to have six hours of uninterrupted deep sleep than even ten hours of disturbed sleep. The whole idea is to provide your body with rest so that its natural processes can repair and restore your physical dimension to its natural state of health, a state that is diminished through the stresses and struggles of daily use.

 The teachings go father to explain that 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.Before going to bed avoid watching news or  getting into an argument or even going through the day that was,rather relax,drink a cup of herbal tea, if you like,listen to some soft classical music and prepare yourself to drift off into a rich, renewing slumber

When awaking, the fundamental principle to keep in mind is the importance of starting your day off well. Think positive thoughts.Give a prayer of thanks for all you have.Work on your gratitude list.Listen to some great music.Watch the sun come up, or perhaps go for a quick walk in natural surroundings if you feel up to it. A positive way to start a day .William James said, 'We don't laugh because we are happy.We are happy because we laugh.' So start your day on a delightful footing. Laugh, play and give thanks for all you have. Every day will be an exquisitely rewarding one Remember when you live every day as if it was your last, your life will take on a magical quality.

I love the way the Rituals of Radiant Living are encompassed on forming habits.Humans are creatures of habit and what meaningful living if the habits we form in our lives are about radiant living.

The Ritual of Personal Reflection(Excerpts from the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari)

This is a ritual that emphasizes the power of inner contemplation.It helps one connect to a dimension of their being that they never knew they had.Personal reflection is the habit of thinking, thinking enough to thrive.

It requires one to get into the regular habit of personal introspection.Ardent followers of this ritual list all that they do and think about in a column and assess each one of them in another column.By confronting your activities and thoughts in a written form,one can ask themselves if they were positive in nature and if so make a resolve to continue giving their precious energy to them as they would pay dividends in the long run.                                                                       If they are negative one should come up with a clear course of action to get rid of them.

 According to these teachings,it is a perfect world, with a perfect life. All of us have the power to control our days. We have the power to live our dreams.When we look at what we do, how we spend our days and analyze our thoughts, we give ourselves a benchmark to measure improvement.We can only improve tomorrow if we know what we did wrong today.

The book further says that,there is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Mistakes are part of life and essential for growth. It's like that saying, 'Happiness comes through good judgment, good judgment comes through experience, and experience comes through bad judgment. But there is something very wrong with making the same mistakes over and over again, day in and day out. This shows a complete lack of self-awareness, the very quality that separates humans from animals. Well it's true. Only a human being can step out of himself and analyze what he is doing right and what he is doing wrong. A dog cannot do this.A bird cannot do this.Even a monkey cannot do it. But you can. 

This is what the Ritual of Personal Reflection is all about. 

Figure out what is right and what is wrong in your days and in your life. 

Then set about making immediate improvements.