The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is a self-help classic telling the story of fictional lawyer Julian Mantle, who sold his mansion and Ferrari to study the seven virtues of the Sages of Sivana in the Himalayan mountains.

The fable Yogi Raman, Julian’s teacher, tells, takes place in a garden. It’s full of beautiful flowers that smell great. Think of it as a calm, serene place where you can refuel your energy whenever you need to.

Imagine if your mind was a garden like that. What a powerful brain! But for most of us, our mind looks like a dumpster, much more than a garden. It’s littered with mental clutter, unnecessary information, ungrounded worries and anxious thoughts.

Therefore, the first of the seven virtues of the Sivana system is to control your mind. What you’re trying to do here is to control what even comes into your garden in the first place. Think of yourself like a guardian, standing at the gate of your brain, choosing who and what gets in.

One exercise Julian learned to achieve this is The Heart of the Rose. To practice it you need an actual rose and a quiet space to yourself. Then, you simply stare at the center of the rose and try to fill your mind with thoughts about how beautiful it is.

Think of it as a form of basic meditation. At first, you’ll have lots of distracting thoughts, but you’ll get better at keeping those out of your head over time. That’s the goal.

The more disciplined you become in which thoughts you accept into your mind, the easier it’ll be to turn it into the beautiful, energizing garden you need.

In the story the Yogi tells, a sumo wrestler also appears. Sumo wrestlers subscribe to an ancient, Japanese idea called kaizen. It means never-ending improvement. This idea, to always be learning and getting better, is another virtue of the Sivana system. The sages suggest a 10-step morning routine they call the Ten Rituals of Radiant Living to help you live this virtue. The Ritual of Early Awakening. Six hours of sleep and seeing the sunrise. Of course, you have to figure out how much you need yourself, but this is what they suggest. The Ritual of Solitude. Always make a few minutes to practice silence after waking up. The Ritual of Physicality. Move, get up, do some exercise. Whatever gets the blood flowing. The Ritual of Live Nourishment. A vegetarian diet based on fresh food is what the sages follow. The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge. Keep your mind stimulated with a bit of reading or studying. The Ritual of Personal Reflection. Did you do your best today? What could…