After Julian’s near death experience he realizes how truly unhappy he is despite his enormous outer success. He decides to sell everything he owns, including his Ferrari, and go on a mission to find happiness, peace, and purpose. On a visit to the Himalayas he comes onto contact with the “Sages Of Sivana”.

He finds a teacher who is willing to share with him all of their wisdom. The teacher uses a fable to illustrate the Seven Virtues to Julian, one that can be broken into seven distinct parts, each part representing another one of the Seven Virtues. The theory behind the book is that if someone lives according to these seven virtues they will have a happier and more fulfilling life. For each of the seven virtues there are a number of daily practices included in the book to help cultivate each virtue and improve your life.

The Seven Virtues are: master your mind, follow your purpose, practice kazien, live with discipline, respect your time, selflessly serve others, and embrace the present. This book discusses the importance of each of these virtues on the road to life mastery and outlines step by step how to reach these goals.

I definitely enjoyed this book. If you have read many books in the self-empowerment and improvement genre some parts of this book might feel like you have read them before. However, this book puts them all into a context that is very simple to understand. The fictional story format, as opposed to the non-fiction format of most books about improving your life, was a fresh way to look at ideas you may already be familiar with. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari packs a lot of positive, inspirational ideas into a book that is a relatively short and easy read. It would even be a good book to share with your spouse and children.

It is full of wisdom but the story is simple enough for fairly young children to grasp. I would absolutely recommend this book, especially to those people who are looking for a book to help them get more organized and accountable with their goal setting.

1. Get more sleep. Whether you’re a night owl or early bird, everyone needs at least six hours of sleep every day. If you have to rely on an alarm clock to wake up every morning, you probably aren’t getting enough. To get more, avoid bright lights late at night (such as those from the TV, computer, etc.) before bed, reduce caffeine consumption after noon, and work naps into your schedule when you can. If needed, make up any lost sleep time on the weekends.

2. Eat the rainbow. A healthy, balanced diet is easily achieved if you make sure to eat a rainbow of colors at every meal. It forces you to cook a variety of foods and use ample amounts of fruits and vegetables. It also ensures you get the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals that you need to keep your energy up and your health robust. For example: Red (tomatoes, apples), Orange (orange, pumpkin) Yellow (squash, lemon) Green (spinach, leeks) Purple (beets, kidney beans, eggplant).

3. Focus on now. Worrying about what’s already happened or what might happen later on taxes your brain and only leads to stress. Worse, all that worrying rarely changes a situation or helps you prepare for upcoming challenges. Instead, always try to focus on what you’re doing at the moment, and you’ll soon find yourself much calmer.

4. Get a pet. Having a companion animal is a fantastic stress reducer and (depending on species) can also help you work in more exercise into your day. And an animal’s unconditional love can make up for a lot when things are stressful in other parts of your life.

5. Watch less TV. TV viewing has been shown to lower metabolism, cause mild depression and it obviously can eat up a lot of valuable free time. Decide to watch less TV, and soon you’ll see both your attitude and your productivity improve.

6. Get outside every day. There’s no better mood improver than fresh air and sunshine. Always shoot to spend at least 15 minutes outside each day — even if the weather isn’t ideal, a quick walk around the block can lift your mind and spirit. Although improving your life can seem like an overwhelming project, the truth of the matter is that there are things you can do every day.

Rather than attempting big hurdles, progressive change comes into your life when you ease into it gradually. The more you embrace changes that make you feel better, the more you will build a solid foundation for reaching larger goals.

The first step to attaining gradual and reliable improvement in your life is to simply change one little thing. Not just any little thing, either, but something that you know you can easily do. Take a walk once a week, find a lower calorie and cholesterol margarine, fold the clothes you normally pile in your drawers, or put those scattered photos into an album. Little changes that make you gradually feel better are a wonderful way to reward yourself for embarking on the path of change, one step at a time.

Next, give up something little. It should be something that you don’t really like or need, but otherwise it can be anything. Give up that committee you really don’t want to be on, that junk in the back corner of your closet, the drive-through breakfast that empties your wallet, or the late hours you keep. If you find something you can do without, it will open up more space in your life. More space leads to more time, and supports your efforts to gradually move toward living your life in a way that brings you peach and happiness.

Finally, work on just one problem. Not a huge problem, but something that can be broken up into very tiny steps. If you need to do your taxes, gather just the needed forms that you received in the mail. If you need to paint the back-yard fence, paint just one panel. If you need to lose 30 pounds, resolve to lose just the first two. If you have never mustered the courage to get a massage, and your muscles are wracked in pain, do the research to find a reputable masseuse. It may not seem remarkable to take a single step toward one of your many larger goals, but one step always leads to another.

Eat less – exercise more.
The weight loss formula is simple; you need to burn more calories than the calories you consume. This difference when it accumulates to 3500 calories is equivalent with one pound. In simple terms when you manage to save 3500 calories you will start losing weight. If you need to lose 10 pounds then you will have to create a calorie deficit of 35000 calories. There are two major ways to create this difference. The first is by eating fewer calories through your food and drinks and the second is to increase your activity levels so as to burn more calories. Some tips to help you eat less are:

1. Order small size servings – when you eat out do not order large size meals. Go for the ordinary portions and always try to leave a bit in your dish

2. Eat in smaller plates – when you eat your food in smaller plates this makes you think that you eat big portions, while when you eat your food in large plates this makes you think that eat small portions. This can be tricky so you should aim at smaller dishes to give your self the perception that you eat a lot.

3. Accompany your meals with water. Try to drink water along with your food. This will help fill up your stomach quicker and thus safe on valuable calories.

4. Eat a rich breakfast and a poor dinner. People who eat a good breakfast have more changes to stay away from snacks until lunch time. Do not believe that by skipping breakfast you can achieve better weight loss results. It is proven that breakfast can accelerate weight loss. Also, make sure that you eat your dinner at least 3 hours before sleeping. This will give enough time for your body to digest and carry out the burning process.

Once you covered the first part for proper weight loss results you also need to increase your levels of exercise and physical activity. Exercise can not only improve your health but will also improve your quality of life. Some tips to help you out are:

1. Join your local gym or aerobics class. This is a formal way of exercising that can give you the best results. If you think that you are not the person that would go to the gym or to a class then you need to find other ways to increase your physical activity levels.

2. Start walking. Walking is the easiest form of exercise and can create some good results. You can either choose to take a walk around the block or buy a treadmill and start exercising at home.

3. Try to perform activities that keep your body moving. Sitting all the time at home watching TV will certainty not help you lose weight. Get up and do things at home, do your garden, wash your car, take your dog for a walk. There are so many things in your daily life that can help you lose calories and you should take advantage of them.

It will put a smile on their face and you will feel good about yourself. help an old lady or old man e.g. cant reach the shelf in supermarket, something too heavy, give directions, be aware of others in need, you will see how fortunate you are how great it feels to be a super hero. live in the moment, pretty soon those moments become hours, and you realise that anything is possible

The one thing I can’t understand about people in today’s society is their lack of charity. I would give the clothes off my back to help another brother or sister of the human race, but I often find myself alone in that ideal. Keeping in mind that there are so many suffering in the world far beyond our own problems can completely change people’s outlook on life.

I found myself in a similar situation. My life had been cruising last year and just the other day I feel like I hit one of the largest speed bumps EVER and I’m been moping ever since. It’s really hard to bounce back from something like this because it’s yet another time where you not only focus on what currently went wrong, but all the other things that have gone wrong in your life to date. I know it might seem so much easier said than done and I really am going to try to follow my own advice: remind yourself that things could be so much worse and it would suck if something really really bad were to happen to you in order for you to realize that maybe things aren’t so bad.

Every day is a chance to turn all that hate and misfortune around. I know it’s a pain in the ***, but if we want life to improve we gotta be willing to do the work. Take a little time to regroup, relax, and get yourself in a state where mentally and physically you are calm, and then get to working on a better life for yourself. It won’t happen overnight, but the baby steps will add up.

Healthy does not necessarily mean you have to turn into a body builder or aerobics instructor. There are many simple things you can do that make a big positive impact on your well-being, and what benefits your body usually benefits your mind. Start simply. If you aren’t getting any exercise at all, just jog around your living room for fifteen minutes a day. Do a few of those calisthenics we all remember so well from high school. Walk around your neighborhood, and if you can find some hilly terrain, be sure to take it on. Walk backwards up a hill to find all kinds of muscles you didn’t know you had. Yoga is very popular right now for stress relief as well as keeping your body in condition. If you don’t feel you’re ready to sign up for a class, you can follow along with TV shows or find videos on the Internet.

Don’t forget to breathe! Take some deep breaths several times a day and be aware of your breathing as you go about your daily activities. Keep your body hydrated by drinking lots of water. If you find plain water too dull, add a bit of juice. Soon you’ll find you don’t care for soda as much any more. Not only is that good for your body, it’s great for your pocketbook.

Keep your mind sharp. Learn to play a musical instrument. You can find electronic keyboards that teach for around $150. If you already know how to play the piano, take up guitar. While some video games are mindless, many are stimulating and require memory or puzzle solving. Start a journal to keep your thoughts organized. Write fiction to expand your imagination.

Declutter your life. Get rid of things you don’t use — and never will. There is a glorious feeling of victory that comes with winning the battle over junk. You may not be able to get rid of everything, but give it your best shot and be sure to properly organize what’s left so that you can help keep things in their place. Donate or recycle what you can, and get a good feeling from helping others and the environment.

These are just a few thoughts to get you thinking of other ways to improve your life. Keep your body, mind and home healthy. Often, the biggest improvements come from the simplest ideas.

What Is Unfair To One Is Fair To Another

Anytime you feel that life is treating you unfairly, realize that there is someone else who is viewing what is occurring as fair. You need to seek the mindset they have, to see why they feel that way, and to see whether you can either emulate their mindset or see how your thinking has been a bit unhelpful. Perspective is a key part of what you bring to any new event, and you can also work on adjusting your perspective toward things you see as unfair now.

Monthly Rent Example

Let’s say you are paying rent for an apartment monthly, and see a friend who pays very little(property taxes) per month for their house, that their parents paid off already, looking at this situation as unfair makes you weaker. You want to look at it with an attitude of strength, and also account for the thoughts of your friend. They don’t have the struggle you have, so they see something else as the new struggle, since we as humans tend to always have something that causes us worry or concern.

Maybe your friend doesn’t like the thought that his friends think of him as spoiled, or that he has to stick with the house and can’t leave to another state. There is much we don’t think of as a possible problem when we only look at what we think is unfair.

Ditch The “Unfair” Label

Give the world around you a good hard look, and toss out anything you have labeled as unfair, or look at it in a different light until that label disappears. Until you see everything as fair in a certain context, you will be resisting what is, and less able to produce similar results of your own.

Armen Shirvanian writes for Timeless Information on topics including mindset development, social interaction, communication, and competition. He has also created a compilation eBook that has thorough discussion about 11 valuable quotations. You can check out his articles and eBook at www.timelessinformation.com

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step one to improving your life is to love yourself.

My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”

When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life lit it has never done you any good, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.

I believe that life is about finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy or prone to depression

How to be genuinely happy in spite all these? I tell you… every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.

Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFLs. Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”, instead of looking at it all blank and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.

Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning the highest 13th month pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life doesn’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best. So, how do you become genuinely happy? Every one has his own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as much best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire. You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.

When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.

Again, throw me that same question “how to become genuinely happy?”. I’ll refer you to a friend of mine who strongly quoted- “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pain. But most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self. Coz then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”

Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals.

The basics of goal settings will involve deciding what you really want to do with your personal life and what short term and long term goals you need to achieve it. Then you have to break down goals into the smaller and manageable targets that you must complete in your way to achieving your lifetime targets. Once you have your list waste no time in tackling your goals.

A good way to have a manageable list is to have a daily and weekly set of goals. By doing this you will be always in the position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal giving you the feeling of accomplishment.

Here are some pointers that should be taken into consideration in setting goals and achieving them.

Attitude plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind holding you back towards completing your simplest goals? If there are any part of your behavior that is being a hindrance or puts your plans into disarray? If you do have problems in these areas then the immediate thing to do is to address this problem. Solutions may include a visit to a doctor or psychiatrist to control your emotions.

Careers are made by good time management practice. Failing in a career is often attributed to bad time management. Careers require a lot from an individual which often makes the career the life of the individual. Plan how far do you want to go into your career.

Education is key in achieving your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree or require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed, make plans in getting the appropriate education.

Your family should never be left out of your plans. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent or when you want to be a parent. You also have to know if you really would be a good parent and how well would you relate to extended family members

Personal financial situations also play a major role in achieving your goals. Have a realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.

Physically gifted individuals may be able to achieve sports related goals like being in the National Basketball association or National Football League. Determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities. Physical limitations could however be conquered with proper planning.

As the saying goes -’All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, or something to that effect, is by all means true down to the last the letter. Giving yourself a little pleasure: should be included into your plans.

To start achieving your lifetime goals, set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily.

Then create a things-to-do list for the day. Always review your plans and prepare for contingencies. The basics of goal settings should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.

There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self while improving your life.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week.

1. Know your purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction – hoping that you’ll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time.

This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there’s always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.

2. Know your values
What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2005 – check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn’t align with any of your top five values – you may want to reconsider it or revise it.

The number shouldn’t discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dreamed of.

3. Know your needs
Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it’s too late!

4. Know your passions
You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who has inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.

5. Live from the inside out
Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it’s hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. In my case I often just sit in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There’s sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.

6. Honor your strengths
What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three – if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.

7. Serve others
When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit – your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.

Self-improvement is indeed one type of work that is worth it.A personal life coach may be able to help you. It shouldn’t always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.