I read this book months ago, and it took me quite a while to finish it. I think the reason was because I really want to dig deep into the book and feel everything. The book tells the story of Julian Mantle, a superstar lawyer who graduated from Harvard University. He had an out-of-balance lifestyle and it led him to a near-fatal heart attack in a courtroom where he was defending one of his clients. This accident brought him back down to earth person and reconnected with his mortality.
After the incident, he sold his private jet, mansion, private island even his ferrari and went to India to start his spiritual journey. He started his journey in the mystical land of India across the great Himalayan range, and it is a place where the great monks of India live. Julian heard, the monks who live there have the capability of changing someone’s life. And it took him days to finally find one of the monks. The monks then agreed to share his secret for life, but on one note, Julian will not keep the knowledge, he will share it to the world.
Long story short, there are seven virtues of enlightened living that the monk shared:
- Master Your Mind
The magnificent garden. We need to put our minds like a gardener puts their mind to make a magnificent garden. By sowing good seeds, it will produce beautiful flowers. It is not easy to let go of negative thoughts, but if we want to improve our life, we need to improve our quality of thoughts.
- Follow Your Purpose
Write your goals and think deeply about the meaning of our lives. Do this for ten minutes in a month, then you’ll see the difference in your life. And live in the moment.
- Practice Kaizen
In Japanese, “Kaizen” means “never-ending improvement”. Improving our inner world is very important. We might always think that we are too busy to spend time working on ourselves, in fact that’s the first thing we need to do if we want to improve our life.
- Live With Discipline
Most people feel that small things like eating healthy, working out or waking up early in the morning doesn’t have an impact on their life. But in reality, those things are the only thing that matters. When we are disciplined to do small things in our life starting from waking up early in the morning, it will eventually bring us closer to abundance.
- Respect Your Time
We have 24 hours a day, and we must enjoy and have some fun activities in our day life. The way we control and manage everything in 24 hours is what makes us happy or sad.
- Selflessly Serve Others
“The quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contribution”, serve others. Practicing random acts of kindness in your daily life will eventually change the quality of your life. Your life will be richer, more meaningful and content.
- Embrace The Present
We often heard people say “bring back my old life” or “Future is the only thing that I wait” but the most important moment is now. The way we feel grateful for our present time is gonna make us realize the beauty of life. Live in the present moment.
Those are the seven virtues that the monk taught to Julian that has completely changed his life. Don’t you think that the teaching represents what we should do to make our life more meaningful and content?
