Family Wisdom : A walk through.

Those who have read and love the books of Robin Sharma won’t miss this one for anything. In “Family Wisdom” he shares with us the most commonly and well known facts through Catherine, a woman who has set her goals in life very high, giving importance for a professionally excellent one to her own small family of a loving husband and two energetic kids. The story is being said in first person, as the protagonist narrating it to us. The language is simple with not much complicated words and the narration as always is interesting.
Catherine is so engrossed in achieving her dream life through her profession till she is involved in a plane crash. The crash which claimed many lives including her business partners and best friends forces her to rethink about the goals set by her. Julian Mantle –‘The Monk who sold his Ferrari’ is her brother and drops by to pay her a visit after learning about the tragedy. Due to the tremendous change he had and also because of the shade he was standing in she didn’t recognize him at first. Finally Julian shares with her the wisdom of how to prioritize things in life through five principles. He moves in with her family and takes her to her office which she dreads of going now a day after shifting office to home. On the way a security officer also reminds “us” the importance of living our life actively with our family.
After reaching her office, both of them settle down in a conference room. Where he lets her know the first principle, which is we have to lead by example not only in our professional life but also in our personal/family life. There should be a leader in every family and as we plan our professional or career we have to plan our family life too. Normally we plan our strategies to reach an aim from how/where to start. But he asks us to differ and to write or see the ending first as we want it to end and then we have to weave the scenes from end to present, while imagining like this we will come to know what all we do won’t make us reach the goal we have set-the goal be whatever personal/professional- and then we can avoid doing those things. There are many quotes quoted by both Julian and Catherine which are to be read and practiced. He also asks us to enjoy the child within by letting him/her out at times. Keeping fresh flowers in house, letting in bright sunlight and fresh air are other tips he share with us for improving the atmosphere at home.
The second mastery of family leader mentioned is about trust building and opening the door of humanity. Humanity as stated by author is how to bring about more human touch in life and he also states we have to work on getting others trust built on us ; by giving promises or words which can surely be fulfilled by us that is to live cent percent to our words. By inculcating these qualities and also by being an aggressive listener to your family make you wonderful people to whom other members look up to for anything and they won’t think twice to take you word.
He also says us that the goals set in life should be continuously revised and should try our best to achieve them. The third principle is to “Walk with giants”. These in simple words mean that we should spend our time understanding how great people like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi etc understood life and how they utilized it for the benefit of self and others. It’s not only important that we read them but we should also develop an interest in achiever’s biography/stories in our children.

The fourth mastery of life is ‘To be the person you are meant to be’ says RS. To guide someone to be an excellent person you yourself have to set an example. To guide your kids to have a better future by asking them to excel in anything they attempt we have to set an example with our own life in front of them and this can be achieved by realizing the full potential of our mind, body and spirit and then becoming out best self. Thus he asks us to be an excellent person to be an excellent parent.
Last & final mastery/principle of life that RS shares with us through Julian is to ‘Give your child immortality through the gift of legacy.’ This legacy is nothing to do with the material possessions; this legacy is what we leave behind ourselves in the mind of other people after we walk the earth. By listening to the inner self and the whispers of our mind we can live for something more important that ourselves. Live for us and for others too and thus leave behind us a legacy for our children. Thus following the five principles of a family leader we can:

· Unlock the best talents and highest abilities of your child.
· Deepen the relation between you and those you love.
· Inspire your child to be strong of character and wise of mind.
· Teach your kids how to dream big and find true success.
· Bring balance back into your life and live with greater simplicity, joy and peace.
· Get back to what is more important in life and enjoy its gifts.

 

Dear Jaya,Sheeba,Bindu: Thanks for the comments Most of them are the same but conveys the message in different ways.
A friend of mine had said me once we should never get inspired or motivated by others because
mostly it lasts only for a maximum of few hours, where as if the same comes from within it wont die out.
We have to inspire ourself by reading great books and yeah it is not reading what matters but putting this to
application which is required.One can read n number of self development books and yet remain to be the same
person who he was, to be a better person we have to put the knowledge we got in practice.

 

Sridharjhi, it is an honour receiving fbs from you Your fb have given me the enthu to write briefs and
reviews of more books.Thank you.

 

Sridharjhi, it is an honour receiving fbs from you Your fb have given me the enthu to write briefs and
reviews of more books.Thank you.

 

Chitra dear thanks for the fb Yeah it always will benefit us in one or the other when we read these books, for me when in times of difficutlies I remember the lines of great people and try to smile through it.