10 Ancient Rituals for Radiant Living [Excerpt]

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Excerpt: These rituals for radiant living provide you with a roadmap that should be followed daily to help you lead your best and most fulfilled life!

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The following rituals for radiant living are excerpted from Robin Sharma’s book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.

These rituals provide you with a checklist of life dimensions that can (and should) be practiced daily, to help you lead your best and most fulfilled life.

Take note though, the rituals are vague and don’t have specific actions that should be taken. Applying them to your life will require some personal contemplation and initiation.

Good luck and may this checklist lead you to a more beautiful and full life!

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#1 – The Ritual of Solitude – This involves nothing more than ensuring that your daily schedule includes a mandatory period of peace.  It can last as little as fifteen minutes or as much as fifty, wherein you explore the healing power of silence and come to know who you really are.  Solitude and quiet connects you to your creative source and releases the limitless intelligence of the Universe.

You see, the mind is like a lake.  In our chaotic world, most people’s minds are not still.  We are full of inner turbulence.  However, by simply taking the time to be still and quiet every day, the lake of the mind becomes as smooth as a plate of glass.  This inner quietness brings with it a wealth of benefits including a deep sense of well-being, inner peace and boundless energy.  You will even sleep better and enjoy a renewed feeling of balance in your day-to-day activities.

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#2 – The Ritual of Physicality – This is based on the principle that says as you care for the body so you care for the mind.  As you prepare your body, so you prepare your mind.  As you train your body, so you train your mind.  Take some time every single day to nourish the temple of your body through vigorous exercise.  Get your blood circulating and your body moving.

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#3 – The Ritual of Live Nourishment – A poor diet has a pronounced effect on your life.  It drains your mental and physical energy.  It affects your moods and it hampers the clarity of your mind.  Live foods are the answer.  Live foods are foods that are not dead – foods which are created through the natural interaction of the sun, air, soil, and water – a vegetarian diet.  Fill your plate with fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains and you might just live forever.

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#4 – The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge – This centers around the whole notion of lifelong learning and expanding your knowledge base for the good of yourself and all those around you.  Knowledge is only potential power, though.  For the power to be manifested, it must be applied.  most people know what they should do in any given situation, or in their lives for that matter.  The problem is that they don’t take daily, consistent action to apply the knowledge and realize their dreams.  The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge is all about becoming a student of life.  Even more importantly, it requires that you use what you have learned in the classroom of your existence.

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#5 – The Ritual of Personal Reflection –  By taking the time to get to know yourself, you will connect to a dimension of your being that you never knew you had.  You see, we all have many sleeping talents inside of us.  by taking the time to get to know them, we kindle them.  However, silent contemplation will deliver even more than this.  This practice will make you stronger, more at ease with yourself and wiser.  It is a very rewarding use of your mind.  Boiled down to its basic form, personal reflection is nothing more than the habit of thinking.  The problem is that most people think just enough to survive.  What I am speaking about with this ritual is thinking enough to thrive.

When you read Ben Franklin’s biography you will see what I mean.  Every evening, after a full day of productive work, he would retire to a silent corner of his home and reflect on his day.  He would consider all of his actions and whether they were positive and constructive or whether they were of the negative sort, in need of repair.  By clearly knowing what he was doing wrong in his days, he could take immediate steps to improve and advance along the path of self-mastery.

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#6 – The Ritual of Early Awakening – One of the best pieces of advice I learned was to rise with the sun and to start the day off well.  Most of us sleep far more than we need to.  The average person can get by on six hours – and remain perfectly healthy and alert.  Sleep is really nothing more than a habit and like any other habit, you can train yourself to achieve the result you want; sleeping less in this case.  For the first few days [of rising early], you will feel very tired.  You might even feel this way for the first week of getting up nice and early.  Please see this as a small measure of short-term pain for a large measure of long-term gain.  You will always feel a little discomfort when you are installing a new habit.  It’s sort of like breaking in a new pair of shoes – at first it’s a little hard to wear them but soon they fit like a glove.

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#7 – The Ritual of Music – Never forget the power of music.  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 I know of.

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#8 – The Ritual of the Spoken Work – Words affect the mind in a pronounced way.  Whether they are spoken or written, they are powerful influences.  While what you say to others is important, even more important is what you say to yourself.  Reciting mantras is a practice that is immensely effective in keeping you focused, strong, and happy.  A mantra is nothing more than a collection of words strung together to create a positive effect.  In Sanskrit, ‘man‘ means ‘mind‘ and ‘tra‘ means ‘freeing.’  So mantra is a phrase which is designed to free the mind.  When I need to feel motivated, I might repeat, ‘I am inspired, disciplined and energized‘ out loud two or three hundred times.  To maintain the supreme sense of self-confidence I have cultivated, I repeat, ‘I am strong, able, and calm.‘  I even use mantras to keep me youthful and vital.

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.  Your self-image is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

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#9 – The Ritual of a Congruent Character – Simply stated, this 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 your habits lead you to your destiny.  When all your actions are congruent and aligned with the principles of: industry, compassion, humility, patience, honesty, and courage – you will feel a deep sense of inner harmony and peace.  Living this way will inevitably lead you to spiritual success.

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#10 – The Ritual of Simplicity – This ritual requires you to live a simple life.  Focus only on your priorities, those activities which are truly meaningful.  Your life will be uncluttered, rewarding, and exceptionally peaceful.  I stopped wearing expensive clothes, I kicked my addiction to six newspapers a day, I stopped needing to be available to everyone all the time, I became a vegetarian and I ate less.  Unless you reduce your needs, you will never be fulfilled.  You will always be like that gambler in Las Vegas, staying at the roulette wheel for ‘just one more spin‘ in the hope that your lucky number will come up.  You will always want more than you have.  How can you ever be happy?

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If you enjoyed these rituals for radiant living, you should read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari in full. It comes highly recommended: