I'm Inspired By: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

An email to a friend...

I think life is a bit like magic and we’re all magicians if we learn to harness our power. Some people see things and then they convince the world that it exists. In that sense nothing is really impossible, even though you’ll have to go through hell to prove it to the world. That’s the main reason why I liked the Alchemist. It wasn’t that he followed a dream job or career that’s already paved.

The Alchemist saw a vision (in a dream) and then he lived his life around that vision. And that’s the key…don’t live your life around how much money you’re going to make from your gig (although we all like money) or don’t think about the good looking girl you’ll get from balling out of control…live that dream because it moves your heart. And I truly believe all that other stuff will follow, but most important, you’ll feel alive for living your dream with passion. Of course what happened from day to day to the Alchemist didn’t obviously look like he was on the right path but he was moving towards his vision the whole time. This is where most of us, especially me, have been stuck, we can’t see how it’s going to unfold next so what do we do? We give up.

There’s this magic people can’t see behind a dream so they dismiss it as being luck driven, impossible or just not in the cards for them. They can’t see the random people who will join them on their mission to help them achieve their wildest dream. A person can’t see the waitress in the café that bumps his arm and spills coffee on his script only to have her reveal later that her father is a major movie director. But once you witness that magic, like once you look back and you see the blueprint for it in front of you, you can never go back to living the same-o-same-o (shak talk). I think when you see it; you learn how to turn rocks into gold like an Alchemist. But unlike the fictional story of the Alchemist, I wish I could tell folks how I know this to be true in real life, like prove it to them. It’s been my goal for ummmmm 8 years now.

Of course some folks think I’m crazy in light of what’s going on in the world and in the economy. How can I be this optimistic about the future when everything seems to be going to hell? But that actually proves my point. Poverty and the spread of disease in the world is created when people stop seeing, when they cease to live out their inner visions. Instead of relying on that inner vision, they rather live out someone else’s nightmare of sorts that doesn’t live up to their true potential, it’s fearful and mediocre at best which creates a world that looks bleak and desperate. In a way I guess it’s scary to know that we are all creators of our lives. Thinking about it can keep me up at night. But then I remember that I have another day to conqueror my fears, I eat some chocolate and realize that I need to RELAX!

Shak

100.

P.S. May you realize all of your dreams Eugene!!!