Dear Paulo,
I really admire your thoughts and your messages around the pursue of one’s dream .However, not everyone is blessed with a childhood dream or a Personal Legend. Those of us that have been brought up with such a rigid pattern (school, school, work, more school, marriage, kid, etc), do not even have the luxury of dreaming what we want to become. Unfortunately, my best friend and I are among them. So, here we are, reading your books in frustration….
We completely grab the idea of pursuing the Personal Legend, but are stuck!
After reading your book, the idea of not having known what we shall pursue in life until the day we die, is really torturing to the bits of our nail.
The worst part: there is no turning back….!
Once the idea (of pursuing personal legend) has grown in our mind (or soul, shall I say it), we just cannot pretend that we do not believe what we read and return to normal life with ignorance. We cannot just act and behave normally like other woman in our ages (mid 30′s, happy smile while doing groceries or while working in the office) while we know there’s something missing in our life but have no slightest idea what the missing part is.
We keep questioning God on what we should do….
So, our question is basically simple…. How do we know whether a Personal Legend has been ‘tagged’ on us? And what journey should we take to know what they are?
Let’s do this by parts.
Firstly – if the idea of personal legend is something that is “torturing” you – well, let me say that you are in the good track.
People that have died to themselves don’t even bother wondering about this. You are alive and you wish to accomplish something – even if for the moment you don’t really know what it is.
Secondly – I totally disagree with “there’s no turning back”. Of course there is! Look at me for instance : I had parents that didn’t support me on my dream and committed me to an asylum, I was tortured in my mid-twenties, and I only truly managed to write a book at the age of 40! The possibility of “turning back” is actually the possibility of “moving forward”.
Now – how can you find out? Honestly, you should first allow yourself to do the things you want to do. You will see – it starts with very small things, but when this becomes a habit, little by little you start seeing the road you wish to take.
Having faith that the present can be infinitely richer and that life is a mystery is the beginning of the journey.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
En revisitant ces questions, je vois tellement plus clair, l’attention au detail, je comprends maintenant son importance.
Merci pour cela
Love
the flying bird, what a perfect analogy. hits us right in the heart
Salam kenal untuk Evi dan Tuti
Just as the bird has to find the courage to let go of the branch in order to fly, so we also must let go of our branches if we are to know the exhilaration of soaring to the highest potential of our life. The branches we hold to are our inner attachments’ideas, beliefs and memories. Are you flying or are stuck on the branch, cursing others as they fly past. Go on try it .. Lets fly!
salam sukses dari kota yang sama..GBU
To the ladies with the questions:
If your ‘personal legend’ was tagged on you then, it ISN’T your legend, it is your parents or those that affected it. Untag yourselves from this meaningless life (and I say ‘meaningless’ because you are ovbiously not happy). And by this, I don’t mean to forget your responsabilities with those that still need you, but to start paying attention to your own needs as well.
I agree with Paulo that there is always a turn around in your life… Your current existence is the result of following perhaps the longest path to where you want to go… All you have to do now is to leave fear behind and follow your heart. What is it that your heart is asking you to do? begin acting upon those feelings; you’ll see… Clearity of your real YOU is what you need to be happy and in balance with the Universe. Your Universe, ladies. Good luck!
Thank you all for the response :)
They are all very encouraging and at least we know we are not alone in this journey.
Best wishes from both of us in Jakarta (tuty & evi)
PS:
Anca, I think I know what you mean :) There have been moments when I hated Paulo so much :) But I keep on reading his thoughts anyway coz deep down I know he is (unfortunately) right. I still don’t know where this journey will take me, but I believe at whatever end it will be, at that point I will be able to embrace life more fully (even if my destiny is the same as where I am now). Wish we can meet someday…. best wishes always.
I did not follow my personal legend!! I did not follow my dream. Destiny had something else for me, different from what I had dreamt. But, I am not complaining! My most secret dream was LOVE. To love and be loved! Not becoming a famous pianist, not a wealthy, social personality. I also know that everyday we live adds to our character, personality, aura and soul. By living we are… metamorphosizing ourselves to a …butterfly![I have seen in Paulo Coelho's photos that he has a ... butterfly tatoo on his left arm!] Moving from the .. cocoon to real life, the Light!
We are never moving .. backwards. Every single thought, every sentiment, every .. movement in the Universe, is a step for us nearer to our true HOME, the Light. The only lesson is to live life with ‘enthusiasm’ and love.
LOVE,
Thelma.
Dear Evi and Tutti,
Our personal legend need not be grand and glamorous and full of riches or with total freedom to do what we want at all times.
God shower us all with precious gifts every day just look at nature all around us, a friend’s embrace, a poem, a book that touches our hearts, a song that evokes emotion.
But sometimes we are too close to our gifts and true personal legend to appreciate it or understand it.
If you are blessed with children appreciate that they are gifts from heaven above and how easy it can be sometimes not to notice the joy and beauty children bring into our lives because we are too busy with the day to day task of surving to truly notice and enjoy them or let their laughter and the love touch our hearts?
Also how easy it is not to realise the power we have as women on this earth and how much women are the centre of a home, a marriage and matters of the heart, the centre of our communities and schools and also of great sex.
Some one once wrote that there is only one problem with women:- They dont know their worth!!
We sometimes chase and dream of water falls ignoring the beauty of the rivers that already run through us as gifts from God
I understand as a working mother myself with an impossible ‘past dream’ which nearly destroyed me the sense of losing ones identity. But there is nothing stopping you pursing personal fulfillment whilst enjoying your many blessings which are already yours – you cultivated them they are there for you…
In work, no matter what we do in life we can make a difference in people’s lives not through grand gestures but by reaching out to our fellow humans and by being true to ourselves.
Let me put a thought to you:-
If tomorrow you found your calling, your personal legend and your dream and if you were given every opportunity to follow them, would you walk away from your loved ones without thinking how that would impact them?
I know people who have walked away from their children and family to follow their dreams and I know people who gave up their dreams for the love of their loved ones.
There is no right answer as every circumstance is different as every person is different.
All I am saying is that time goes by so quickly and opening our minds and hearts to what is here NOW, learning to stop and smell the flowers, cuddle our children and let them teach us how to enjoy the divine gifts showered upon us every day, using what is available to us now to make a difference even if only a drop in the vast ocean can bring us happiness and enlightment too.
So let us forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love with all our hearts, sing, dance, be merry, cry our tears, reach out to our friends and console them in their time of need and grow and learn right now this instant cause this moment is passing as you read it.
All my love
Walkiria
Thanks Mr Coelho.
Sido,
Thank you for atleast thinking me for March 19 Party…,Poor me.., Well, anyways may there will be chance oneday to meet Paulo face-face and talk insights… :)
God bless you all !
True.
As if the circumstances conspire.
In its own time.
After that, cussed persistence.
“stick-it-itis”
Paulo
- I am so happy to hear finally that ‘moving backwards’ is in fact ‘moving forwards’ … ;o)
I have been shifting sideways for some time til I was certain to make the move!!!
;o)
To friends in Jakarta -
Feel blessed that you have gone along the path of family – for some may strive and strive along after a dream and not even have that chance…
and don’t regret about time moving on…
timing is everything… when the time is right…
maybe when your family is settled/established.
and as for pain vs jubilation of pursuing a dream/personal legend…
don’t listen to the pain or be brought down by it – except for it to remind you how determined and passionate you are to reach your destination… so practice jubilation of the heart, so that you are able to be ready ;o)
best wishes
Ah!, finally someone who managed to put words similar to my frustration! My gratitude to Evi and Tuty and Paulo, for your reply.
Finding a personal legend, in a world that tells me that my job is secure (which is a blessing in this economy), my pay is great, and I am lucky to have benefits… the kind of benefits that keep you locked in for years. Is that why people stick to places? Fear of a toothache?
Trying to walk a personal path in a world that tells a woman in her 30′s she should get married and pop some children, act reputable, and don’t forget to visit and bring gifts to the parents every week… how does one even begin to justify a dismissal letter and a plane ticket to nowhere in a world that has your life planned, set and ticking from one objective to another? Oh, it would be so easy to justify something, anything… but how can I see my personal legend when all I can think of is escape? We all know you can’t escape the things you’re running from.
Dearest Paulo, why do you have to come every now and than and mock inner peace? what’s wrong with it? Why do I have to feel guilty every time I reach some sort of satisfaction with the current state? Why do I have to read something that condemns it, why does peace always have to be putrefying? Don’t we all long for that peace, in the end? And maybe some sort of companionship that comes with it? Why send people to struggle , just for the sake of struggle? Hitting on the walls in their life, in search for what? A crack? A crack leading to what? Endless loneliness? For what? For what?
If you are already asking these questions, then you are tagged and the journey has already begun. The journey starts from the inside before it shows up on the outside. I would recommend patience, and observation. Observe yourself and your reactions to anything and everthing. Do not judge, condemn, or become a victim. You will know when or if you have to take any action.
Blessings,
Sherry
EvolutionInConsciousness.blogspot.com
“The worst part: there is no turning back….!
Once the idea…has grown in our mind.., we just cannot pretend that we do not believe what we read and return to normal life with ignorance. We cannot just act and behave normally like other(s)….”
Paulo Freire, a great Brazilian educational theorist, coined the term “conscientizacao” (in English: “conscientization”) to describe this precise phenomenon. Conscientizacao occurs when a person, who formerly was oppressed, who was raised and lived in a state of “ignorance,” is suddenly exposed to a new way of seeing and understanding the world and, thus, themselves. Suddenly, this person is rendered with the ability, for the first time ever, to locate themselves as a subject within the larger context of society and the world as a whole. They are able to perceive and thus reflect upon the social, economic, political and psychological conditions in which they find themselves. Furthermore, they are able to see and understand (again, for the first time in their lives) the social conditioning that formerly led them to accept their own oppression as a “norm.”
And it is true, in a sense, that there is no turning back from here. Once a person sees that they are more than just another cog in a great wheel that seemingly spins out of their control, it is impossible for them to put back on the blindfold that they previously wore and simply accept their existence as relatively insignificant, their life as devoid of personal volition. As it is described by one theorist, Mustakova-Possardt, conscientizacao “also includes taking action against the oppressive elements in one’s life that are illuminated by that understanding.” After the blindfold of ignorance is ripped off, it is virtually impossible NOT to stand up and fight – to seek to fulfill one’s Personal Legend, or, at the very least, to strive to understand what that Legend might be.
As Freire himself stated: “There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom’, the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
The way I would describe it: You ARE the architect of your destiny. And once you discover that, by whatever means the discovery was made, nothing can erase that understanding. You may indeed, as Paulo describes, meet with certain obstacles on your path that will instill a fear, even a terror, in your heart. And, for a time, you may pause, you may freeze, you may stand still and tremble, afraid to move forward. But, you will never cease to know that you are meant for something greater, and you will never again be able to wholly and submissively accept anything or anyone that suggests that you are not. You may not know, at first, exactly what your Personal Legend is, but you will not quit until you find out.
And it is true that the process of conscientizacao can be excruciating, even “torturous.” It is, after all, a situation in which you are seeing, for the first time ever, all the lies that were devised and imposed upon you in an effort to hold you down, to contain you, to keep you from reaching out to achieve your Personal Legend. You were raised with those lies, educated (even brainwashed) into believing and accepting them. So, to separate yourself from them is much like tearing away a piece of your own flesh. It is painful. And yet it is a necessary and productive pain, as when a snake sheds its skin, or when a flower buds and bursts into bloom – it is the pain of growth. Soon, the old skin will be a thing of the past, left behind and forgotten; the bud will be a full-blown rose. And the pain will have dissolved into a most delicious sensation of knowing that there is no limit to the potential you possess in this life – what you can dream, you can become.
“By what we think, we create the world around us daily new.”
- Shelly Durrell
Much love and light!
Savita Vega
Really strange.Why people wish always to have another destiny ,not the own?Why is so bad having a family and working in office?Some does not have so much luck,has no family no work.Just think at that,than you will see is not so bad and frustrating.Many are only dreaming about things,things that never arrive ,perhaps.
I always desired to have a calm life ,but life decided otherwise,and I really cant help,useless trying to be “normal” ,housewife,if life decides I must be in another way,things does not come out as I wish.
Now,I decided to be the way it have to,I go on my way ,and enjoy the things I have,the things I find out,in poor words,I accept life my life as it is,sure,always trying to keep my personality as much as possible.
I thought of you Santosh for March 19: and in my pocket there was a message “if the poorest can not have money to go at the party , why me !! ”
in the other pocket there was “you too can benefit you and say your love”
so I chose not to respond immediately in order not to go
(choose to be closer to you all) and I chose to use a different for you
And I sent my mail to Paulo much later so that he knows, anyway, as I have loved to see in Paris with the other
But my heart was sad thinking of you all (readers) so I will not have enjoyed without
one day, the meeting will, but not in the party, but in simplicity,And that day, I carry you all in my heart
It’s my path
Sido
Dear all,
This would be my response-
Q1)How do we know whether a Personal Legend has been ‘tagged’ on us?
-You are the creator and your are the destroyer, which roads to choose and where to go should be decided by you, and only you. All those who are around you, will guide you.
-Everybody is born unique and with numerous qualities, remember if you will know your true virtues or path, life will be worthless living. (Meaning: If we know about tommorrow, don’t you think it would be boring to live a life?)
-Based on your decisions, you will come to know if you are doing right as per your “hidden scripts” or being directed by someone, or by somethoughts.
Q2) what journey should we take to know what they are?
-Every journey you take is the journey with meaning, Never regret your journey; if possible try to search and investigate from failure.
-We cannot learn only from our own mistakes, those around us are either teaching in present, or they are our past or they could be our future.
-Try to see logic behind every individual and every object around you. You will reach and find your true destiny, oneday !
God bless you all !
in my book , chaptre 4 :
“Again, yes right there, I cried for all the suffering, I prayed and begged the Lord that my prayer goes up to him, with your prayers that you had left here in July 2006 …
and suddenly in the sky has drawn a white cross … yes, thank you, of course, thank you my God to make me a sign to say that our prayers were mounted to your heart … “”
everything can be offered … one day … to you or to you … it is possible
in suffering, I hope, but we must always keep the flame of hope in itself
because his love is great, the return is always possible
in His love , for love and live , and one day …
faith and hope
sido
Tutti frutti,
There is hope.
Thanks for that.
Love