Meaning :
Meaning of the phrase "Do take a leaf out of someone’s book" is - To adopt an idea or practice of another person so that it brings one with the advantages.
This shows the importance one needs to give to the good ideas or practices of people whom we come across in our walk of life and look at putting these into practice for our betterment.
In this case we tend to focus on the leaf of the book – i.e.
select ideas of people that appeal to us. This is all fine but I feel we also
need to look at the other facets in people - whom we come across in our life
journey as these facets, qualities can also be equally good and worth picking
up.
This can be simply co-related with the flowers of a plant
or a tree that most of us appreciate and comment on - for the simple reason
that these flowers strike our gaze, enchant us by their looks, vibrant colours
and smells. But I feel credit should also be given to the tree – which has grown
in the first place and due to which the flowers have bloomed thereon. And then the life-cycle of seeds from the
flowers again making way for new trees to grow carries on.
Do look at the small and beautiful aspects of our lives and
treasure them – but do keep in mind that these treasures have become possible and
are an off-shoot, part of life in its entirety. And this understanding of life
will surely help us in enjoying the joyous moments, living the challenges –
that life offers and open up our minds wider to the entire diversity in our
lives. More-over this will also help us in interacting with different people - better
- during the course of our life journey and possibly make this journey more
enriching in the years to come.
So go ahead and surely do take a leaf out of someone’s
book, but don’t restrict yourself to the leaf in the book – take a hard look at
the book in its entirety.
