Paulo Coelho

This is the essence of The Alchemist (and a theme that runs through ALL of Coelho’s work): If you have a deep-felt desire, something you TRULY want, it’s the universe begging to express itself through you.

To be clear, we’re not talking about something you want because you think it’ll impress people or you’ve been told you should have it, etc. We’re talking about something that MOVES you and stirs your soul! When you’ve got THAT flowin’ through you, relax, know that it’s something much (!) bigger than you that’s itchin’ for expression. AND, know that you wouldn’t have that desire in the first place if you also didn’t have the mojo to bring it to life. Emerson and Goethe say the same thing:

Emerson: “There’s nothing capricious in nature, and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it.” (Translation: Nature doesn’t play around!!! If you can dream it, you can achieve it! :)

Goethe: “Desire is the presentiment of our inner abilities, and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments.”

So… What do you *really* want?!? And… What are you waiting for?!? :)

Are you afraid of something? Tell your heart that “the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”

And KNOW that the FEAR of suffering is way worse than any potential challenges you may face! As Montaigne says, “My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.”

This also reminds me of Russell Simmons’ wisdom from his great book Do You! (see Notes). He says: “The pain that’s created by avoiding hard work is actually much worse than any pain created from the actual work itself. Because if you don’t begin to work on those ideas that God has blessed you with, they will become stagnant inside of you and eventually begin to eat away at you. You might seem OK on the outside, but inside you will be ill from not getting those ideas out of your heart and into the world. Stalling leads to sickness. But taking steps, even baby steps, always leads to success.”

That makes it pretty simple, eh? Are you afraid of failure? Know that it’s the only thing standing in your way. So…

*clears throat*
*ahem*

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?!?

It’s so easy to look at those people we admire and think it was *their* destiny to experience the extraordinary. Coelho’s constant reminder throughout his beautiful books is to look within and KNOW that we all have the extraordinary within us. The key to bringing it to life? Having the courage to follow the dreams of our heart.

This Idea also reminds me of one of my favorite thoughts from Walt Whitman: “In the faces of men and women I see God.”

What do YOU see when you look in the faces of others (starting with that beautiful face in the mirror?!? :) Try making it a game, seeing the amazing potential and genius and divinity within all those faces you see today!!!

Coelho’s book, Warrior of the Light: A Manual, serves as a companion guide to his enormously popular book, The Alchemist. And it definitely lives up to its advertisement that “Every short passage invites us to live out our dreams, to embrace the uncertainty of life, and to rise to our own unique destiny.”

Here’s to the Warrior of the Light within each of us!

Why be afraid of heights? If you’re going to fall, might as well be from a high place, eh? So… Climb! :)

Love that.

What do you do with your painful times? Do you bare your scars like they’re medals?!?

Gives me a big smile and makes me think of Joseph Campbell who says: “Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called ‘the love of your fate.’ Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, ‘This is what I need.’ It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there. Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

And, Tony Robbins says something along the lines of: “Five years from now you’re gonna laugh at whatever’s stressing you out now, so why wait?!?” :)

So: What’s stressing you out?

What scars do you try to hide?

Let’s change our perspective and bare our scars like medals!!! (Starting now!! :)

That’s part of the 12th Statute from Coelho’s 15 “Statutes for the New Millennium.” (From his collection of mini-essays in his GREAT (!!!) little book Like the Flowing River.)

How’re you doing with those?

I’m going to assume we’re all respecting another’s rights. What about the other grave faults?!?

• allowing oneself to be paralyzed by fear: Eek! Being paralyzed by fear is a grave fault?!? Yep. Love that. So, how’re you doing with your fears? How ‘bout this gem from Rollo May’s brilliant book. The Courage to Create (see Notes):“What is courage? This courage will not be the opposite of despair. We shall often be faced with despair, as indeed every sensitive person has been during the last several decades in this country. Hence Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Camus and Sartre have proclaimed that courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.”
  
  It’s NOT about never having fear/despair/etc. It’s about never being *paralyzed* by the fear!! So, what’re you afraid of right now? Whaddya think about just taking the next step forward? :)
• feeling guilty: Well isn’t that a fun one?!? One of the practices I have right now as part of my re-wiring routine, is to notice and remove all the little things I do like criticizing (myself and others), blaming, complaining, gossiping and feeling guilt/shame. Guilt is a big one. Start noticing when it crops up and politely thank it for its presence and then let it know that you’ve forgiven yourself and have moved on. :) And, you might want to try a mantra I got from Louise Hay: “I love and accept myself completely.” We’ve *all* done things that we’re not proud of. No need to exacerbate the problem by feeling BAD about it. Let’s just recognize the mis-step and aim to improve ourselves in the next moment and go back to the adventure of being fully alive!
• believing that one does not deserve the good or ill that happens in one’s life: This would qualify you as a victim/someone who puts control outside yourself. Don’t wanna do that. Paulo and psychologists will both tell us that we want to have “an internal locus of control” such that we don’t blame other people or circumstances for our successes or failures. So, if you find yourself complaining about a bad economy or bad childhood or bad boss or teacher or whatever, know you’re at risk of creating a “grave fault” and take your power back. :)
• being a coward: Closely tied to allowing ourselves to be paralyzed by fear, eh? :)

So, we’re pedaling away on the great bicycle race of following our bliss that is our life. Sweet.

(First: are you on that race? Or are you watching it on TV? Get on your bike and fulfil your personal legend, yo!)

And, as we pedal away, let’s remember to stop and ask ourselves, “What is beautiful about today?!” (A little Balinese lizard cruised by right as I typed that. Love it when the Universe provides immediate answers to our questions. :)

So, how about you?!?

What is beautiful about today? How about some journal time?!? :)

These things are beautiful today: ________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

Nice. :)

That’s part of a great essay on the power of getting out of our routines/ruts.

Reminds me of Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin (love that word) of small minds.

Ah, what the heck. Here’s the full passage from his brilliant essay Self-Reliance (which we have for free (PDF + MP3) in the members’ section):

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. – ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’—Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

That’s genius.

Know that if you can’t change your opinion you might as well just stare at your shadow on the wall. Speak what you think today with conviction and speak what you think tomorrow with conviction! Even if it contradicts everything you said today!

If peeps give you trouble just smile and refer them to Coelho and Emerson and Whitman who says: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am vast. I have multitudes!”)

Big smile.

You 90% to your destination?

Sweet.

To avoid falling into treacherous traps, consider yourself half-way there! :)

Why?

One reason is because when we think we’re almost “there” we tend to let up a little and get a little feistier than normal if something derails us because now we’re attached to arriving at a specific time. If we think we’re only half-way there we’re much more likely to address a little blip in the road as part of the process and go back to enjoying the whole thing as we blissfully take one step after another after another after another…

This idea also reminds me of George Leonard’s brilliant wisdom from his great book Mastery (see Notes). (Leonard, btw, is one of the world’s leading authorities on Aikido. An art he STARTED practicing at age 40-something.)

He talks about the practices of a master and says: “For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey. Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels.”

Imagine that! To love our journey so much that for every mile we travel we hope our destination is two miles FURTHER away. Too cool.)

Time to get out of philosophical speculation and take the first step, eh?

Let’s invite God to play with us and LIVE!!!! :)