This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin Sharma. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What are the key messages of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari? What are some The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari discussion questions?
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari discussion questions cover key concepts in Robin Sharma’s book. Use these exercises to help apply the principles of the book to your life.
Keep reading for 10 The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari discussion questions.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari Discussion Questions
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is a parable centered on Julian, a hotshot-lawyer-turned-monk, and his former colleague John. Julian shares what he’s learned from studying with the Sages of Sivana, a near-mythological group of monks in India who know the secrets to enlightenment.
Julian’s lessons range from gaining control of your thoughts, to finding a purpose in life, to properly managing your time so that you can achieve that purpose. All of this works toward the ultimate goal of living a simple, fulfilling, and happy life.
While the characters and events are all fictional, the lessons Julian teaches are based on real philosophical and religious traditions.
Take a Personal Inventory
One of the major skills Julian learned from the Sages was how to manage his time and his mind. Those same skills can help us in our lives, too.
- Think back on the past week. Name one thing that was a major source of stress for you.
- What’s one unhealthy habit you’ve indulged?
- Now think about the positives: What’s one thing that made you happy over the past week?
- What’s a healthy choice that you made this week?
Try the Heart of the Rose
All of the skills and lessons Julian learned begin with a clear mind. The Heart of the Rose is a simple mind-clearing exercise that anyone can do and these 3 The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari discussion questions help you do it.
- Find a nearby object—it doesn’t matter what—and pick it up. Take five minutes to sit quietly and concentrate on that object. Observe everything about it: shape, color, texture, even scent. Don’t try to fight against intruding thoughts. Instead, acknowledge and then dismiss them. At the end of the five minutes, write down how you feel.
- How often did you find your thoughts drifting from your chosen object?
- What sorts of thoughts commonly distracted you? Next time you practice the Heart of the Rose, what will you do when intruding thoughts break your focus?
Practice a Ritual
Choose one of the 10 Rituals of Radiant Living. Pick the one that speaks most to you at this moment.
- Which Ritual did you choose, and why?
- How could you practice this ritual today?
- Do you plan to continue performing this ritual? If so, how? If not, why?
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- Why your career success might actually be killing you
- How to live a simple and fulfilling life
- The 10 rituals you should practice for health and healing
I’ve completed the Audiobook twice as I find audiobooks on certain subjects resonate with me better than paper books and vie verse on others.
The reason for me starting it a 2nd time is because I lost my step dad in August due to covid not allowing him to have his regular check ups and his blood clotted cutting off the oxygen to his heart.
Last friday I received a call to say that my real dad has a week to live (3 weeks ago we was walking the dog in the park like nothing was wrong) He has liver cancer and due to Covid again the hospital wouldn’t take him in if not an emergency where this would have been picked up a long time ago and possibly saved his life.
This book does something to me when i listen/read it. This time around i have a different purpose for wanting to study the book more and become clear of the grey clouds that can form in the mind. For years i have studied book after a book with eckhart tolle and all the positive reinforced books like the secret and these are not the same as past self help books but instead these really do make you adopt a richer way of thinking.
So my application to the principles does change the thinking process i have and when these things happen in our lives we often say why does this have to happen to me or they/me don’t deserve this and its completely normal.
Right now and in an incredible state of emotional pain all i can think of is being grateful of this pain i have and i see it as a form of currency that i loved this person so much that i was able to have the feedback from the current situation in the form of emotional turmoil.
Im extremely sad right now but i know im grateful for this depth of sadness because it shows me how real the love for my dad is. It was would be a sadder day for me if i felt nothing.
All i can say to anyone reading this is progress comes from applying 1 thing at a time and not trying to do everything at once in the form of self development. To be the best form of yourself you have to make changes but remember its only 1 change at a time and don’t be swayed by the amount of principles and rituals in the book they will teach you everything you need to know each time you take on a new development of the higher self.
I hope the people who need this message receive it well because no matter how big or how small your problems are they relative to your inner ability to be healthy on how you think about them.
‘The present moment is all we have’
Eckhart Tolle
Gareth