Reading is a habit which we should cultivate from a very young age. The best example and best lesson or rather the best gift you can give your child is the love for reading. Good books and music are our eternal and best friends. This is the precious gift my parents gave to me and I have given to my children.
Though my life is very busy managing and keeping a balance between work and home, I always try to take out some “My time” every day to connect with myself and to do what I love. Even if it is for fifteen minutes I try to read some good article or page of a book during bed time or just early morning while having my tea .Even sometimes it may be in the afternoon or any time but reading is a regular habit with me. I just cannot live without it. It helps me to recharge and energize and relax myself. Actually we can learn a lot of things from books of good writers. We come to know about their thought process, we are exposed to a larger picture of life or we may visit different places mentally being lost and engrossed in the book. We can imagine and identify ourselves with the characters of the book and for some time get lost into them feeling a sense of pleasure and fulfilment or adventure.
One book I always love to read again and again and I would like and recommend others to read is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. Its one book which is life changing for me. It made a huge paradigm shift of how I perceive life. Now let me elaborate it so that others can have a taste of the hidden nectar in the book. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired, but still I want to put my views and share as to what I learned from it and relearn whenever I read the book.
1. We need to recognize our Personal calling and have courage to follow our personal legend which is unique to each of us.
The Alchemist tells a story of a young shepherd boy who goes on a journey and quest for treasure to realize his ‘personal legend’. Along the way, he runs into many obstacles and the journey turns into an adventure. Though his father wanted him to be a priest he followed his passion to travel and became a shepherd. Thus he had the courage to follow his personal calling. As Paulo Coelho says:
“We each of us have our personal legend to fulfil, and that is all. It doesn’t matter if other people support us or criticize us, or ignore us, or put up with us- we are doing it because that is our destiny on this earth, and the fount of all joy.”
2. The language of the soul is to be understood which only we can understand.
“You came so that you could learn about your dreams,” said the old woman. “And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand” from The Alchemist.
Our soul speaks to us often. We need to learn to listen. The more we listen to our soul the more our life becomes aligned with the will of the universal soul that is the GOD’s will. And when you are in tune with your soul’s desire and goal the universe helps you to achieve it.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” The Alchemist.
3. In life we need to see and enjoy all the marvels of the world but never to forget our main purpose of life. As in the story of the wise man, he said to the boy,
“The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”
4. Each one us have a unique path to follow and we just have to read the omens as to which path to follow.
“God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you.”
5. We need to understand the language without words.
Communication between people and animals always don’t need a language of words which we can understand. The intention of people speaks secretly with us even without words.
“ The language of enthusiasm. Of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired.”—The Alchemist.
6.MAKTUB: Its all written
Everything happens for a reason. The people we meet ,the circumstances and events which occur in our life are not by chance but each person each event has a secret message for us. It brings us closer to our personal calling or destiny.
“The mysterious chain that links one thing to another…”
“we are afraid of losing what we have, whether its our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand”
7.Alchemy , philosopher stone.
Alchemy is transformation. “It is about penetrating to the Soul of the world, and discovering the treasure that has been reserved for you.”
“Everything on earth is being continuously transformed, because the earth is alive.. and it has a soul .we are part of that soul…”
The alchemist character says that “Everything has a soul”-like inanimate objects like rocks and water and crystals which collaborates with us.
Alchemy is the process of purification so that when we purify our self we are one with the Soul of the World.
“It was the language with which all things communicated.”
The philosophers stone can turn metals in to gold. Actually we all have this property of turning ordinary into extraordinary things in our daily life. Transforming poison into medicine. Gold is a symbol of evolution. Gold is the metal which evolved the furthest.
“…when something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well.”
“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
8. “Life is the moment we are living right now.” The Alchemist..
The most important time is the moment right now, the most important person is the one with whom we are right now and most important task at hand is to do good to the person with whom we are at the moment.
“The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.”
9. We should have the courage to follow our destiny and overcome our fear of failure.
“Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the language of the world.”
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times” The Alchemist
10. The journey is more important than the goal.
“Wherever your heart is ,there you will find your treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.”
“We seek the treasure of our destiny, without wanting actually to live out the destiny.”
11.True love does not come in our pursuit of destiny.
“If he abandons that, it’s because it wasn’t true love..”.
“it is we who nourish the soul of the world, and the world we live in will be better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse.”
True love makes a better person of us. “Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World.”
12.Last but not the least the most important lesson is
“Listen to your heart.It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the world,and it will one day return there.”
“Wherever our heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”
The Soul of the World is part of the Soul of God and the Soul of God is our own Soul. This is the treasure.
Thus I recommend everybody to read and reread this book which is a treasure in itself.