This space is for you to share your ideas on anything that you consider relevant today.
You can publish here excerpts from your blogs or news and articles in general that you think make a difference to the world today. Try to make a bit of editing on what you post here – try to highlight passages with copy-paste, rather than simply giving links.
Please keep in mind that this blog is currently viewed by 230.000 unique visitors a month, and chances are that many of them are going to read your thoughts.
Thanks, Paul. I’ll spread the word.
Jessica – I have always loved this song. Thanks! :) Today, when I listen to it, I have a tear in my eye, of happiness! Thank You!
Love,
Liina L.
Paul from Austria
The story you quoted was by Charles Brulhart.It is called :”Can I buy an hour of your time?”.
Please visit his site on http://www.metafora.ch
It is also in French “Vends moi une heure de ton temps”.
Have a nice day.
“You Are Here to Be Happy”
If the title caught you by surprise, I’m going to assume that you thought otherwise … that you thought that you are not necessarily here to be happy … or at least, if that is part of the deal, it comes way down on the list, and not at the top.
We’ve all been told about the Puritan work ethic, many of us were raised within the confines of institutionalized religion, where we are generally taught to not think of ourselves, but of others (and therefore, by deduction, our happiness does not come very near the top of the list), most of us have been socialized over the course of our tender years into learning that being selfless is desirable.
But there is a huge difference between being selfish and loving the self enough in order to want to be in a good place inside, to be happy, to have a high energetic frequency, so that life is good, or better said, so that, even when things are not good, one is in a place where one can choose to deal with the stuff that is not so good, or even very bad (see Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search For Meaning”) in a way that allows one to maintain an inner equilibrium which, while it may not be happiness, is, nevertheless, a place where one can live in peace, despite those outer circumstances.
So this subject of selfishness and love of self is very important for us to understand because the better off you are inside yourself, which in a sense is tantamount to saying that the better – even the happier – you feel inside yourself, by choice, and not only because today happens to be a good day, and that inner choice that you make has a lot to do with your inner strength and your belief in yourself and your capacity to stand strong and be well no matter what – so the better off you are inside yourself, the better you are for all those who surround you.
I write a lot about the ripple effect of your life on the life of those who surround you, and I do so because that is precisely the reason why being filled with self love is totally contrary to being selfish. Those who truly love themselves are capable of much greater giving, and can have a much greater positive influence on others, than those who selflessly give and give but who leave their own well-being out of the equation, or at best, it comes way down there somewhere on the list of priorities.
Self love is healthy. And being healthy emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and physically brings you closer to happiness – and much more quickly – than anything I am aware of. You are here to be happy.
I just needed to share this song with you ……
It made me cry because it was so touching :-)
There is also wisdom pictures showing in the video that made everything come together and I understand everything in that moment :-)
I´m alive – Celine Dion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR3TGeY5JIs
Wonderful story Paul :-)
But I also think its a balance between not giving up yourself and your dreams and taking care of the small people which we are raising.
I think its important to show your children that it is important to follow your dreams whatever they want to do.
We have to be the change we want :-)
There is two parents of a child, and I believe that men also can take care of the children, when the mother has to follow her other dreams for a while.
I have always have bad conscience when I left my children with their father because he always complain.
Ohh it´s so hard to take care of the children alone, do you have to go away?
He behave like a child I think, and now I get angry instead when he behave this way.
He is also a parent and so many times I have been taking care of the children in the nights and he just sleep becasue he say he has to work.
I also had to work outside the home, so it ended up with that I worked twentyfour seven.
With both a ordinary work and also being the head responsbile for the home and children.
Now I have forced him to also being responsibale for the children, otherwise I will go under just doing what everyone else think I should do.
I want my girls to have a life outside the home when they become mothers in the future.
The key which I see it is balance, to balance work, play, rest and so on.
Among the native people everyone took care of each other, if one person had to do something somebody else, maybe a grandmother,or a neighbour helped.
Because they know that one day they also needed help.
We should stop be so egoistic, and help each other in big and small matters.
I don´t believe in the nuclear family, I believe in the extended family :-)
Love Jessica
Dear Sandra, why don’t you just credit it with “author unknown”… for this is the truth… Love, Paul
Randy Pausch died on July 25, 2008. At this time he was only 48 years old.
Randy was professor at the Carnegie Mellon University. On September 18, 2007 he gave his “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon – following a long tradition, but this time it REALLY was a last lecture, as Randy by then knew that he certainly would die.
His heart-moving speech was about life and especially about how to achieve your childhood dreams. I don’t want to say more as Randy says the rest himself…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Prior to his death Randy published the book “Last Lecture”, which summarizes the speech and also goes into more detail. I read it and found it worth sharing.
Randy left a loving wife and three small kids. Both, the speech and the book, are to be shared for the good of all people being interested. However, Randy’s main intention was to leave an impression for his kids, so that they will be in the position to know who their father was and what he thought about life.
I was impressed and I would enjoy to see all you of being impressed as well.
Love
Günther
Actually we sometimes do not wish to know our own requirements; there is no balance – probably that is why it is called life. Some disorderliness, something not right, something unfulfilled does exist in our life and the realisation of this something brings life to us.
Life is too small and that makes us selfish. But we forget our truths are their truths too. We all are in the same boat. We all are infected with a disease called death. We all are dying. We hear statements like – the dying do not tell a lie, they do not harm – probably there is a feeling that we should do something good before we leave. We probably want to create some goodwill for us while leaving this world. It is strange that we do not feel the need of this goodwill when we are alive.
Oh Paul, your story brought tears to my eyes. It is important and relevant for so many people. Is it possible for me to use it another forum if I credit back to you, your blog, website?
I’m posting this because I realized that we should pay more attention in our relationships, retrieve the best of them, and never be sad when they finish. Your responses will be interesting. Pay attention to what you read.
Here goes:
People come in to your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person..? When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come in to your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, Love the person and put w hat you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.
I have noticed in the comment sections that there are young people who visit Paulo Coelho’s Blog, and it amazes me how caring, insightful, adventurous, and connected they are to the world. Way to go! Great work!
Dear Paul from Austria,
Very nice Story of a Man and a boy. May be this is for me where I was busy for a while moving in to different location…
Anyways, it is always good to hear from you guys and I will also try to give some words of wisdom into this…
-”Life is worth living only when it is worth spending.”
-”Those who work hard for money actually do not work at all.”
-”At present we are doing, in near future we will be memorizing our past with cherising memories.”
-”Those who say I speak the truth, are the ones who have never understood the meaning of truth.”
-”The deep meaning of life is pain and deeper meaning is happiness.”
I am back again…
Cheers !
God bless you all !
I hope this is okay. My most recent poem seems to bear on all
our sense of vulnerability. I would share it here, con permiso.
The Minefield As A Metaphor For Life
Take one wrong step. Boom.
They’re buried in the ground,
your mistakes, you can’t see them
until it’s too late. You can prepare
all you want, you can study the ground,
minutely inspect each patch for strange
bulges and misplaced sprigs of grass.
The effort of living this way is insane.
You can’t walk at all; I see this
as a paradigm, a social mode,
so much fear.
Prevent heart attacks.
Don’t eat trans fats.
Don’t smoke.
Watch out for prostate cancer.
Wring your breasts once a month
ferreting out tiny extrusions.
Run to the doctor,
run run run!
He’ll prescribe something
to save your life.
He can’t save the joy of it,
he can’t free your heart of the paralysis
you inherited from your TV set.
Achtung! Minen!
Watch how you step. On this very spot
a boy lost his leg. He was just playing,
he didn’t realize how vulnerable
vulnerable, we all are.
Watch out for those hot dog nitrates!
They can explode your pancreas.
The ice cream is loaded with Chinese poison.
Jesus, how does anyone take a single step
with all this crap hanging over our heads?
How long do you want to live?
How much will you spend to ensure
that you live to a miserable tottering hundred,
taking thirty eight pills a day?
It will always be a minefield, life.
Always has been, always will be.
Our obsession with minimizing risk
has made us into timid consumers
of saw palmetto and echinacea.
I say this: March cheerfully to your doom!
March and laugh, march and laugh,
nothing will prevent you from avoiding it,
nothing will save you or improve the odds.
You’re wasting time! You’re wasting your life
considering each step through the field.
Accept it. Any step could be your last.
Any choice could be wrong. How long will you
inspect the ground in front of you,
before you move? How many opportunities
for love will you miss, as you protect your
fragile body from the hurtling projectiles?
March march! Be of good cheer! Bring up a laugh,
for god’s sake, life is a minefield, life is a bombing
range, life is an artillery target
into which you have stumbled.
The soldiers don’t know you’re here.
They’re loading the guns. Fire, fire!
Boom.
Art Rosch
California
Catherine M, thank you for answering me. It was a pleasant surprise to find the word ‘free’ in there. Maybe feeling loved is one of those things, as Paulo Coelho said yesterday, that are so important they need to be discovered alone.
Amara Rose, my gratitude for Santana’s project. I saw his Live your Light concert in Vancouver, the energy was amazing, not because of just music, but because it was used for such a wonderful purpose!
Paul from Austria, thank you for the reminder of where our time should belong.
On a trip down to Portland a few week-ends ago I sat across from a Brazilian woman, in her 50’s, and her teenage son. She was going to see a friend and spend the week-end with her. She called her when the train departed, and ended the call saying I love you. Her son was restless, and kept interrupted her knitting, so she asked him to let her finish, first saying I love you. She made several calls, never forgetting to say I love you.
And all this time I was mesmerized on the seat in front of her, because I have never heard these three words spoken so easily, so dense in a matter of a few hours, and every time she would use them they would gain more meaning.
We parted at the train station, her hugging her friend and me dialing nervously to my parents.
Nice story, Paul. Thank You!
~*~*~*~
For some reason, after watching the ‘Gran Torino’ movie today, it flashed to me, in the end of the movie, that the meaning behind a phrase ‘the winner stands alone’ does not neccecarily mean loneliness and sorrow… and having to be alone.
It occurred to me, that ‘the winner stands alone’ can have a positive meaning. It can mean something like – You, who are standing for Your beliefs, Your destiny, dream. You, who dare to fight the good fight. And being able to stand alone in this fight that possibly will turn out to be some other winners fights.
Now I understand, Paul from Austria, why You said under a story about a daisy who was selfish (if I am correct), that the winner is not alone after all. :)
Thanking for today,
Liina L.
I have noticed that many of my friends,relatives,aquitances are more and more trying to work in countries far away from their native place.Now is for sure great part due the financial crises.Is sad,for I will miss them.I can only wish them good luck,and looking forward to meet them again.
Pela primeira vez, o termo veganismo foi colocado em pauta no senado brasileiro. Tramita no Senado Federal o Projeto de Lei 01/2009, apresentado pelo senador Expedito Júnior, que altera o artigo 6º do Código de Proteção e Defesa do Consumidor, incluindo a obrigatoriedade da indicação, no rótulo dos produtos, sobre a existência de componentes de origem animal.
O que podemos fazer para ajudar?
Continue lendo…
While doing my morning pages this morning,I thought of Cath my mum’s old friend who used to get bullied for her weight.Her saying to all this was ” There are always people up the cemetry who would love to take my place”.
While writing and feeling stuck with all my seemingly unsolvable problems I mused a bit on Cath’s words and came to the realisation that not one problem did I have that someone would gladly swap mine for theirs.Everything from the place I live in , who I have relationship problems with, added to the disability and fears and guilts that often circle my thoughts are probably things others would swap.So with these thoughts I sort of thank Cath again, and my morning pages for sorting me out .
Thank you Jessica and Paul from Austria!
Time. In this respect being born and grown in a small country I feel lucky. The tempo of our lives is very slow. My father’s business was just in the ground-floor of our home. He was a timber merchant and then he had an art Gallery. Whenever I .. missed him I used to run down the stairs and see him. So simple and so beautiful. I used to go with my lessons and ask him to .. check me and I was never disappointed by him, he always had time for us. So it was with my mother. She was always there.
Me, being a … housewife I have given all my days and nights to my daughters. I was driving them to school and private lessons, to .. parties and cinemas. Overprotected lives!! Yes, but I do not regret it. I have been always there, as my parents were, and they know now that I am here for them and the …. Blog. Plenty of time now that they have opened their .. wings and their own nests. If I had worked I may have had … more money, more clothes, my … so called ‘independence’, but I would have missed their … growing into beautiful ..ladies. After all I always have … my piano there keeping me company and waiting for me.. My dream! ;]
LOVE,
Thelma
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
DAD: “Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.
SON: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”
DAD: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.
SON: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”
DAD: “If you must know, I make £10 an hour.”
SON: “Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow £5?”
The father was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior.”
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that £5 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.
“Are you asleep, son?” He asked.
“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.
“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier” said the man.
“It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the £5 you asked for.”
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!” He yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some coins. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
“Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled.
“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.
“Daddy, I have £10 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?
Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.”
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.
Do remember to share that £10 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace
us in a matter of hours.
But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.
Annie wrote:
“My dearest Jessica, now a chill came through me…yesterday, i had a flash in front of me and i saw a nightingale in a cage.. and somewhere i was hearing the words “unlock the door and dont be afraid to fly “…
i m speechless right now…
Love and Graditude
Annie”
My answer:
Annie I think we all are one in a sense.
I think we are seperate in our bodies, but I think we are united in our souls :-)
I have had theese things happened with other people also, even now and then, more and more the last year.
I have become more sensitive in one way, and also listens to the signs what they want to tell me :-)
And it amazes me everytime, but I do not believe anymore, I know.
We are more and more people tuning in on the same channel ;-)
Then ofcourse it´s up to everyone if they want to believe it or not.
We have the right to believe in whatever we want.
Maybe you and I are on the same level of consciousness right now :-)
We are tuned in with the source at the same time.
God works in mysterious ways …always ;-)
And to you Faith,
You wrote a wonderful poem a while ago which made me cry and feel that we also were on the same level. It was just what I needed to hear in that moment !!!
Love and courage to both of you,
and everyone else ofcourse ;-)
Jessica