Just finished another good book, “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho.  This is a novel about an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian Pyramids in search of treasure.   What starts out as a quest to find earthly treasure ends up being a discovery of the treasure within.  He is driven to follow his dream and by following it, he discovers true joy and the purpose of life.  Some of the learning points:

“The secret of life is to fall seven times and get up eight times.”  “It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.”  “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should live their lives, but none about his or her own.”  “[the world's greatest lie] at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.”  “… one great truth on this planet:  whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.  It’s your mission on earth.”  “The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness.”  “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.”  “…when you really want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”  “… people are capable at any time in their lives of doing what they dream of”  “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day when the sun rises.”  “Learn to recognize omens and follow them.”  “… every blessing ignored, becomes a curse.”  “The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being.”  “… intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there.”  “If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.  Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.” 

“Forget about the future and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children.  Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”  “… wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.  You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.”  “There is only one way to learn.  It’s through action.”  “… this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise.  The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect.  God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of His wisdom.”  “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”  “… no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”  “… all people who are happy have God within them.”  “… anyone who interferes with the Personal Legend of another thing never will discover his own.”  “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:  the fear of failure.”  “When you are loved, you can do anything in creation.  When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening, because everything happens within you …”  “when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”  “… the Soul of God was his own soul … and he could perform miracles.”  “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world.  And normally he doesn’t know it.” 

 Such beautiful messages!  So many themes weave into what other great thinkers and authors have shared as well — God is within you … we are all connected … follow your dream and trust the universe to support you along the journey.  This is a powerful story that will get you thinking about your life and your dream.  Are you living joyously and with enthusiasm as you pursue your dream?  Or have you settled for something that is “known” or “safe” due to fear of the unknown?  How many settle for the safety of mediocrity, when there is such potential and such abundance?

It reminds me of a story about Garfield the cat.  He walks into a pet store and sees his animal friends locked up in cages.  This disturbs Garfield, but then he gets an idea.  He runs through the store, unlatching the cages and yelling, “Freedom!  Freedom!  Freedom!”  To his surprise, the animals did not leave their cages.  In fact, many backed into the far corners of the cage — frightened and upset.  Garfield was perplexed.  Then he thought for a moment.  Aha!  He ran through the pet store slamming the cage doors shut yelling, “Security!  Security!  Security!” 

Have you become comfortable in a cage?  Or are you running free enjoying the freedom of the journey?