Who Moved My Cheese?| An amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life| by DR. Spencer Johnson

Who Moved My Cheese? | An amazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life| By DR. Spencer Johnson

Who moved my cheese? is a simple parable that revels profound truth. it is amusing and enlightening story of four characters-Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. who lives in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy.

Cheese in this story is a metaphor for what you want in life – a good job, a loving relationship, money, possessions, health or spiritual peace of mind. The maze is where you look for it – the organization you work for, the family or community you live in. And the problem is that no source of cheese lasts forever. Life changes, whether we like it or not.

The story involves four characters who live in a maze: the mice Scurry and Sniff, and two 'littlepeople', Hem and Haw. All is going well because they have found a huge source of their favourite food, cheese. Hem and Haw have even moved their houses to be near it and it has becomes the center of their lives. But they do not notice that it is getting smaller, and are devastated when they arrive at the site one morning and find the cheese is gone.

This is where the story splits in two. Scurry and Sniff quickly accept the loss of the cheese and go off into the maze in search of other sources. The littlepeople, because they have built their lives around the big cheese, feel they are the victim of some kind of fraud or theft. Yet this only makes things worse, as their clinging on ensures that they go hungry. Meanwhile, the mice move on and find new cheese.

Even though the cheese is no longer in Station C, Hem and Haw keep going back there, hoping that the cheese will reappear. Haw, eventually realizes that the cheese isn't going to reappear magically. So, he decides to venture out in pursuit of new cheese. Hem, is far less brave and refuses to leave Station C, but Haw sets out into the unknown, leaving a note for his friend saying, 'What would you do if you weren't afraid?'

Haw, begins his epic journey, and slowly starts to notice small changes within himself. The search for something new, actually feels quite exhilarating. This journey makes him self-reflective, and he begins to write maxims on the walls of the maze in the hope that one day, Hem might see them. Eventually, Haw discovers a new station with an abundance of cheese, and he reunites with Sniff and Scurry. They have been there for some time, enjoying the fruits of their labor

One of the book's central messages is that Haw's notes on the wall serve as encouragement for us all. Many of us are like Hem, and may struggle with the journey of change, taking risks, and venturing forward into the unknown.

The very core message of the book is this: Things constantly change, so we must adapt. The quicker we adapt a change, the more satisfied we will be.

Below are the stepwise lesson from the book-

 Lesson One: Change happens. They keep moving the cheese.

Change is unavoidable we should learn to accept it and be willing to change. Understand the purpose behind the change.

 Lesson Two: Anticipate change. Get ready for the cheese to move. 

if you expect things to remain the same, you may miss the signs that things are indeed changing. Hem and Haw were so thrilled with the cheese that they didn’t notice the stash dwindling nor even when the cheese started to mold!

Sometimes the things we believe about ourselves make it harder to accept change. If you feel you deserve success, good health or an endless supply of cheese, anything that takes these things away from you will feel unfair – so much so that you might even deny the fact that change is happening at all.

Lesson Three: Monitor changes. Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old. 

 You never want to find yourself in this position. Instead, keep your eyes peeled for signs of change in your life and adapt as soon as you can. The sooner you do, the sooner you’ll find your way again.

Lesson Four: Adapt to change quickly. The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese. 

Now that you have expected change, anticipated it and monitored it, it’s time to adapt to it. The sooner you adapt to it the sooner you can take action. For you to be able to make a decision and take action you need to adapt to it. Accept the change and let go the previous conditions or situations. Things constantly change, so we must adapt. The quicker we adapt a change, the more satisfied we will be. 

Lesson Five: Change. Move with the cheese. 

Now it’s time to take action and move with change. An individual need to be courageous and risk taker to take the actions that his/ her mind wants to resist. But if by chance you are late in executing the change you will regret it.

Being afraid can make you stick to your comfort zone and you might never change. But remember if you are late in accepting the change and acting upon it you will regret it later. When you are not afraid life is happier.

 Lesson Six: Enjoy change. Savor the adventure and enjoy the taste of new cheese. 

When change happens, the first thing to realize is that how you react is your choice. The biggest barrier to change is inside you.

The second thing to realize is that the best way to deal with change is to keep things simple, be flexible and move quickly. When change comes along simply change with it.

 

Four Character of story:

 

If there’s one thing we know about life, it’s that change is inevitable. So how do you handle change? To not only cope but thrive in a changing environment, you’ll need to develop the kind of attitude and mind-set that makes adapting to change less frightening and more rewarding.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari | A Fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny| 7 Greatest Principles of Life

 

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari | A Fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny| 7 Greatest Principles of Life

 

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(monk) in the Himalayan mountains.

 

Story Begin…

Julien was a very successful Lawyer who had earned a lot of fame and money in his life.

Julian, was tough, hard- driving and willing to work eighteen- hours days for the success he believed was his destiny.

He had a Big Mansion, Ferrari car and a private plane. But still after achieving everything in his life, wasn’t satisfied. Because of all these Reasons. His is personal life is not good, He got divorced with his wife.

One day when he was fighting a case in the Courtroom, suddenly he got a Heart attack and he fell down.

 After which he was taken to the hospital and doctors warned him. You have to choose either a Job or you life.

Listening to Doctors he was in a deep shock and started realising his Mistakes. And then he took a biggest decision of his life.

He sold everything, whatever he had earned so far, and went on a trip without informing anyone.

He wanted to go to the himalaya mountain because through a source, Julien came to know that he will get the answers of all his questions through some specific indian monks.

Who live more than 100 Years, with a Young man’s energy, and whose knowledge and understanding comes in the world’s highest level of wisdom.

After that he start living with those monks but none of the monks pay attention to Julian in the beginning. 

Then after watching julian desire of learning, one monk agrees to Teach him their special knowledge and wisdom, start with small story.

The Monk started narrating a story to Julian…

You are sitting in the middle of a magnificent, lush, green garden. This garden is filled with the most spectacular flowers you have ever seen. The environment is supremely tranquil and silent. Savour the sensual delights of this garden and feel as if you have all the time in the word to enjoy this natural oasis. As you look around you see that in the centre of this magical  garden stands a towering. Red lighthouse, six stories high. Suddenly, the silence of garden is distributed by a loud creaking as the door at the base of the lighthouse opens. Out stumbles a nine-foot-tall. Nine-hundred- pound Japanese sumo wrestler who casually wanders into the centre of the garden.

As this sumo wrestler starts to move around the garden he finds a shiny gold stopwatch which someone had left many  years earlier. He slips it on, and fails to the ground with an environment thud. The sumo wrestler is rendered unconscious and lies there , silent and still. Just when you think he has taken his last breath, the wrestler awakens, perhaps stirred by the fragrances of some fresh yellow swiftly to his feet and intuitively looks to his left. He is startled by what he sees. Through the bushes at the very edge of the garden he observes a long winding path covered by millions of sparkling diamonds. Something seems to instruct the wrestler to take the path, and to his credit, he does. This path leads him down the road of everlasting joy and eternal bliss

 Julian find this story very weird.

 He said to the monk, I am really very sorry but what does this weird story means, i haven’t understood, is this a joke.

Monk replied, No it’s not a joke. I was thinking, how i can teach you the wisdom which we had learned in years. In lesser time and easily and i thought of this method.

The monk Continue…

This isn’t a normal story. In this story 7 biggest principles of living life are hidden. That monk has explained those 7 principles to julian nicely and properly.

1.   THE GARDEN – CONTROL OF MIND

Story started with a Garden full of Greenery. This Garden Symbolises Our Brain.

Our brain is like a Garden, If you Sow good and Great seeds to it, You will find a lot of fruits and flowers growing up which will make you feel Good and Happy.

But if you leave i like that or keep garbage and poisonous things in it. Then that garden will become a disease house. which will affect you and do nothing good.

Similarly even if you fill your mind with good thoughts with positivity and with good stuffs like kindness, affection, respect, empathy, love for others.

This thing will Not only keep others happy but as well as you and will help you to move ahead in life.

But if you fill your mind with full of negativity and with negative thinking about others, like rudeness, anger, hatred for each other this thing will not affect others will make your life worst.

It will make you an unhappy person and will never make you move ahead in life.

So many problems can arise through negativity, so try to avoid it. Avoid sharing negative stuffs, don’t get involved in negative talks, and don’t think negative.

2.   THE LIGHT HOUSE – FOLLOW YOUR PURPOSE

Later in the story light house arises. Light house symbolises our life purpose, motive our goals. As light house helps the ships to reach their right destination on the right direction.

Similarly, Even humans to move forward in life in right direction will require goals passion and a motive.

No matter how good a person Is in playing ARCHERY. If he blind folded his eyes and ask to move the target.

And hence he doesn’t know where the target is and then try to hit the target. There will be very less possibility or a chance that he will hit the target.

Similarly, Even if we don’t know what exactly our target is our passion and goals are, hence will be very less chance of us getting success or achieving something huge in life. Nor we will be a happy person.

Hence, find out your life purpose, your goals and then put your entire focus on that target. The more focused you will be on that target.

The more the chance will be that you will hit that target. From which you will get the highest level of happiness and success.

3.   SUMO WRESTLER – PRACTISE KAIZEN

In the story the third Important part which arises was sumo wrestler. Sumo wrestler symbolises kaizen.

Kaizen Is a japanese philosophy, which means continues learning and improving yourself.

Meaning to always learn new things and always try to improve yourself.

The way Sumo Wrestler always maintain disciplined with a continuous efforts. Similarly even we have to remove some time from our entire day.

To perform activities which will Improve our brain and body. Now many people couldn’t remove time to improve themselves because they are very busy.

So for them the example would be a person who is not willing to go to the petrol pump which is nearby, because he is busy driving a car.

And have no time to fill the car tank. Even Though he knows that Gasoline Can end At any time.

Hence don’t take stupid decisions just for the short term Benefits. Remove Time from your busy schedule to improve yourself, improve mentally and physically.

So that can reach your destination happily without any halt (interruption). 

4.   CABLE WIRE – LIVE WITH SELF CONTROL AND DISCIPLINE

 

In the story 4th important element which arises is wire cable. Which is a small thing, But sumo self respect depends on it. Cable symbolises self control and discipline.

If you must have Noticed Many small Thin wires together Form a Cable. That thin vulnerable wires alone are quite weak, But together they make the cable stronger than Iron.

Similarly Our self control and discipline is also formed of small things.

replace your small bad decisions with the good ones, it will Increase your self control and improve your discipline, which is very necessary for a happy and a successful life.

5.   STOP WATCH – RESPECT YOUR TIME

5th thing which arises In the story was stop watch. Which symbolises a time.

Every human no matter how rich or poor he is, every individual gets the equal amount of time that is 24 hours a day. Not less or more than that.

But the thing which makes the difference between the rich and the poor is the time. The way a person makes use of his time.

A poor person doesn’t give value to time, do lot of not so useful things in a day, waste time, procrastinate.

Whereas a successful person gives value to time, and use it wisely, this doesn’t mean he work 24 hrs and doesn’t enjoy his life.

But he manages the time wisely, so that he can work as well as enjoy, can do both the things in same 24 hrs.

6.   FRAGRANT ROSES – SELFLESSLY SERVE OTHERS

6th thing which comes under the story is fragrance of a flower. There is a saying in chinese that little fragrance remains in the hand, which gives flowers to others.

Here flower and fragrance symbolises social cause. Helping others without thinking about our own benefits.

No matter how much rich a person becomes, how much crores and million he earns.

He will not be able to get as much satisfaction that a human being receives when helping another person.

Hence you will see, a person who earns a lot of money in his life and get tired of it, starts spending most of their money in helping others.

Because this thing gives them the real happiness and satisfaction.

Hence if you want to become a happy person then start helping others selflessly. this will give you a real satisfaction and happiness.

7.   THE PATH OF DIAMONDS – EMBRACE THE PRESENT

Last thing which appears in the story was the path of diamonds, which sumo wrestler follows and started walking towards it.

This path of diamonds or can say only diamonds represents our present.

The moment which we are living right now.

In real life people are so busy thinking about their Past and future, That they forget to live their Present.

This is a very easy to read book and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is an exciting book too, so do read it.

 

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