Paulo Coelho
We may think at times that the only thing life offers us tomorrow, is to repeat everything we did today. But if we pay close attention, we will see that no two days are alike.
Each morning brings a hidden blessing; a blessing which is unique to that day, and which cannot be kept or re-used. If we do not use this miracle today, it will be lost.
This miracle is in the small things of daily life; we must live in the understanding that at every moment there is a way out of each problem, the way of finding that which is missing, the right clue to the decision which must be taken in order to change our entire future.
But how to find the courage for this? As I see it, God speaks to us through signs. It is an individual language which requires faith and discipline in order to be fully absorbed.
Saint Augustine was converted in this way. For years he sought – in various philosophical schools – an answer to the meaning of life. One afternoon, in the garden of his house in Milan, as he reflected on the failure of his search, he heard a child in the street: “Take up and read! Take up and read!”
Although he had always been governed by logic, he decided – in an impulse – to open the first book which came to hand. It was the Bible, and he read part of St. Paul which contained the answers he sought. From then on, Augustine’s logic made way for faith to take part in his life, and he went on to become one of the Church’s greatest theologians.
The monks of the desert used to say it was important to allow angels to act. They occasionally did absurd things – such as talk to flowers or laugh without a reason. The alchemists followed the “signs of God”; clues which often made no sense, but which always lead somewhere.
“Modern man tried to eliminate life’s uncertainties and doubts. And in doing so he left his soul dying of hunger; the soul feeds off mysteries” – says the dean of Saint Francis Cathedral.
There is a meditation exercise which consists of adding – generally for ten minutes a day – the reasons for each of our actions. For example: “I now read this blog because I saw a link in Facebook or Twitter. I now think of such-and-such a person, because the subject I read about lead me to do so. I walked to the door, because I am going out”. And so forth.
Buddha called this “conscious attention”. When we see ourselves repeating our ordinary routine, we realize how much wealth surrounds our life. We understand each step, each attitude. We discover important things, and useless thoughts.
At the end of a week – discipline is always fundamental – we are more conscious of our faults and distractions, but we also understand that, at times, there was no reason to act the way we did, that we followed our impulses, our intuition; and now we begin to understand this silent language which God uses in order to show us the true path. Call it intuition, signs, instinct, coincidence, any name will do – what matters is that through “conscious attention” we realize that we are often guided to the right decision.
And this makes us stronger.
sir paulo! these words made me stronger. i really loves this a lot! :D
Hi Paulo,
I just wanted to tell you about today’s magic moment. In my kitchen, I found a crockery tea-cup in which used cotton-wicks and incense sticks left after burning were put to throw away sometime. I got angry that garbage was just sitting there. I threw away the cup and its materials on the ground. And you know what, the not a crack touched the bone-china cup even after being thrown with a force! The magic!! Making God’s presence felt!
Dear Paulo-
Just today, I was sitting on a plane next to a big black woman discussing wonderful things, talking about the circles in life, the coming back around, and I find you again, spinning your circles. The return of my son brought me to Boise, such a sad place in winter, polluted like LA. Anyway, St A and his return to the children’s eternal song is perfect. Thanks,
Jay
I like to call it the HOLY SPIRIT , THE COMFORTER, THE LEADER AND THE DIRECTOR
Today the road is talking to me about the Shroud of Turin;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin
because I took a peak at tomorrows feast day for Saint John Bosco, who came from Turin.
Some years ago, I worked together with a man for a short while, here in the USA, Mr E Delao. He was in his 40′s, a single dad who worked 3 jobs to get ends to meet, and who were an artist playing his guitar and writing on a book. I offered him to read an give him feed back on a manuscript he had written on the Shroud of Turin, a fictional text where the shroud ended up with some virus causing a deadly pest to spread to the entire world. (You might recall scientific texts claiming the Shroud to contain DNA from Jesus, blood, and such could be a source of eventually recreating Jesus.
I did my best, in a matter of fact way, to give an objective feedback on this manuscript. This was a long time before I had done any research into this famous relic, and of course I had never heard of the one claim that this Shroud is a Templar treasure, or that this image was created by Leonardo da Vinci, and is an image of his face, as a result of an alchemical experiment (see The Templar Revelation, Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince), so I must admit, Delao’s manuscript upset me. I don’t remember if I told him about these upsets, or not. The reason why I was upset, was of course because I regarded the Shroud a Holy Relic, and his manuscript an anti Church, anti God manifest. I remember I thought; Isn’t he afraid of God?
Anyway, I don’t know if his manuscript was eventually published or not. But, soon thereafter Mr E. Delao died! He came down with a vicious cancer, and dropped dead within half a year. He contacted all co workers on emails, and let us follow him on his sick bed, and of course I am still shocked by this young father suddenly gone like this.
Now, I cannot keep speculation on these ‘Signs’ or whatever, so pretty much I had left this in the past, till it today came back to me. I’m wondering how his children is doing, and of course hope his soul RIP! I really liked this man, guess because he was my first American co worker, who I connected with on a deeper level.
So now, where does all this take me? Smiling!
Tried the technique, helps concentrate on the present. Noticed that my reasons are usually: “because I like it/ because it’s beautiful/ because I enjoy it” I guess it’s good news :)
I sometimes have more than one reason – is it ok? And then, I start thinking of sth else – I guess it’s what Paulo calls ‘the second mind’.
It’s good and strange that theidea comes to my mind almost everyday now, as if I have an internal alarm clock :) Is this the case with somebody else?
Cheers!
For me a wonderful sign was being given my first Paolo Coehlo book… this helped me on my way to self discovery & healing.
Who knew a book could have such strong affect on one.
What you write about sound like old fashioned Fate to me.
I agree that it could be both wise and healthy to reflect upon why we do certain things, but if we follow the mind-links back to what started a situation and say that it was a sign from God, everything we do becomes results of signs from God. Then God serves no purpose.
Thank you God, thank you Paulo, and thanks to all the other warriors – for this blog and for the “signs”.
You wrote so many true words about signs, reading them and following them, that I too have alredy experienced some times.
And I’m really thankful for yor words abut doubt, fear and dependece and how to overcome them to follow the signs.
I will be working on it.
my best regards
[Valdai Hills, Russia]
Знаки на Камне то появляются, то исчезают… В переломные моменты истории священный Камень появляется в тех странах и в руках тех людей, которые могут особенно повлиять на ход эволюции человечества. Камнем владели царь древней Иудеи Соломон, первый император Китая династии Цинь, Александр Македонский, а также предводитель племён лангобардов, осевших в Италии. Камень находился в Древнем Новгороде, был в руках Тамерлана и Акбара Великого. Камень в своё время был послан и Наполеону в надежде на то, что его талант сможет послужить процессу обновления мышления Запада и делу единения народов Европы. Но Наполеон, устремившись на Россию, нарушил Завет, и Камень был у него отнят…
>>>
I could dream of shiny red Ferrari, but the conqueror’s coal black horse Bucephalus would suit me much better. Only Alexander of Macedon could tame it, turning the horse towards the sun.
>>>
Frederick Buechner: “Laugh till you weep. Weep till there’s nothing left but to laugh at your weeping. In the end it’s all one.” LOLita – joy and sorrow.
Mona Lisa – “LOLita” of Leonardo da Vinci. MY HOBBY HORSE.
Yes, I’m trying to compete with Bucephalus using my own legs – riding off into the sunset to far away lands…
“Rings on her fingers and
bells on her toes…”
And looking at Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, I’m reading about moisture in coal. But reading “The Alchemist” – thinking of Pythagoras and the beans…
That is my ride.
Mary Webb said:
“Saddle your dreams afore you ride ‘em.”
Has this anything to do with that?
Hello Mr. Coelho,
I am in the midst of reading Witch of Portobello. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your words have spoken profoundly to me and a revolution has begun in my soul. I see a part of myself in all the characters: I am them, they are me, we are everything. Your words touched me so much I have begun to absolutely obsess myself with the knowledge of buddhism and other religions of spiritualism. After a day of reading I felt an intense sense of urgency and came home and drew an ouroboros. I even wrote about it on my blog – yes I feel so inspired and invigorated. Thank you! After years of suffering from my mind – from my own damn thoughts, I feel like my burdens have begun to lift.
As Paulo says in the Forum THE MAGIC INSTANT ! ‘… a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.’
Seize that moment.!
Take action. !
Go. !
For instance: this morning my magic instant was when parrots flew by my house and I felt so enthusiastic I imediately got up. !
It was the exact perfect i n s t a n t to get ready to go to work. !
The other day it was around noon, I got in my car in order to drive to a restaurant to have lunch and while I was getting started with the engine I suddenly remembered of a moment on the previous night when I was just staring at the sky and the stars and I had these goosebumps and thought of my girlfriend at the same time. I just took action and imediately sent her a message to her cel phone saying something like I miss you, kisses, and this smile face :) _ at that moment I thought hey the universe is smiling with me. ! The day turned out to be very different and I FELT EVERYTHING WAS CHANGING AROUND ME. And the change turned out to be for better. !
Couple days after that we have this ‘FINDIND THE SIGNS’ and QUOTE OF THE WEEK about smiling :)
Coincidence?
We all are one if we choose to fight the good fight and specially if we choose the bright side.
Nice posts, would love to see the parrots flying.
and they make such a loud noise, but a funny one, they sound the happiest beings on earth, they’re amazing. !
PS: If you wish and believe you’ll have it. You can shake the universe. !
When You told me about the little sign You recieved when in doubt in wether to stay or leave the very next day, when You saw the little Euro, between the cobblestones (was that the right word?), on one of its sides, ROME printed on it, and that was Your answer, I could feel the resemblance. That is amazing. Always listen to signs! As You’ve said Yourself – it always works for the better that way! That’s the resemblance.
I truly loved meeting You in Austria, and I hope You are having fun in Europe! :) You are being missed!
Much love,
Liina
Dear DEN ROD,
I have just read ‘the Valkyries’ of Paulo Coelho. I did not know the connection of the Blue Butterfly!!!! ;-] So we are now ..”Finding the signs”!
Have a wonderful week-end.
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Have a wonderful weekend you too.!
Yes, The Valkyries is a very special book. Specially yet for the vision I got couple weeks after reading it… you can imagine…
God bless you, Thelma. !
hello well respected ,honest and critical human soul
I WAS REALLY PLEASED THAT SOMEONE HAS EXPRESSED SOMETHING NEW…
LET ME SHARE
“ LAND OF LOVE” (ANTHONNY DE MELLO)
“Let me tell you a lovely story. There was a man who invented the art of making fire. He took his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold, bitterly cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were very interested. He showed them the uses to which they could put fire-they could cook, could keep themselves warm. etc. They were so grateful that they had learned the art of making fire. But before they could express their gratitude to the man, he disappeared. He was not concerned with getting their recognition or gratitude, he was concerned about their well-being.
He went to another tribe , where he again began to show them the value of his invention. People were interested there too, a bit to interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who began to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were losing their popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him, crucified him, put it any way you like .But they were afraid now that the people might turn against them, so they were very wise , even wily. Do you know what they did? They had a portrait of the man made and mounted it on the main altar of the temple. The instrument for making fire were placed in front of the portrait, and the people were taught to revere the portrait and to pay reverence to the instruments of fire, which they dutifully did for centuries. The veneration and worship went on , but there was no fire.
Where is the fire? Where is the love? Where is the freedom?
And if worship is not leading to the fire, if adoration is not leading to LOVE, if the liturgy is not leading to a clearer perception of reality, if God is not leading to life , of what use is Religion? Except to create more division, more fanaticism, more antagonism?
It is not from lack of religion in the ordinary sense of the world that the world is suffering, it is from lack of love , lack of awareness. And love is generated through awareness and through no other way. Understand the obstructions you are putting in the way of love , freedom, and happiness and they will drop. Turn on the light of awareness and the darkness will disappear. Happiness is not something you can acquire, love is not something you produce, love is not something that you have , love is something that has you. You do not have the wind, the sun ,the stars ,the moon ,the rain….You do not posses these things, you surrender to them….
And increasingly –you know this and so do I—we are losing the youth everywhere. They hate us , they are not interested in having more fears, and more guilts laid on them, They are not interested on more sermons, and exhortations. But they are interested in learning about love. How can I be happy , how can I live ?..
I have a lovely quote here, a few sentences that I would write in gold. I picked them up from A.S.Neill”s book Summerhill. I must give you the background. Neill was in education for forty years. He developed a kind of maverick school. He took in boys and girls and just let them be free. You want to learn to read and write, fine; you do not want to learn to read and write ,fine. You can do anything you want with your life, provided you do not interfere with the freedom of someone else. Do not interfere with someone else”s freedom; otherwise you are free. He says the worst ones came to him from convent school. He said it took them about six months to get over all the anger and the resentment that they have repressed. They “d be rebelling for six months ,fighting the system. But once they got over their rebellion , everybody wanted to learn. But they would only take what they were interested in .They”d be transformed. What was the secret of Neill”s success? He “d get the worst children ,the ones everybody had despaired of, and within six months they “d all be transformed.
Listen to what he said—extraordinary words ,holy words:
“Every child has a God in him. Our attempts to mold the child will turn the God into a devil. Children come to my school, little devils, hating the world, destructive, unmannerly, lying, thieving, bad-tempered. In six months they are happy, healthy children who do no evil. There is no violence in those children ,because no one is practicing violence on them, that is why.” And I am no genius, I am merely a man who refuses to guide the steps of children. I let them form their own values and the values are invariably good and social. Can you believe that? When a child feels loved (which means :when a child feels you are on his side), he is ok. The child does not experience violence anymore. No fear, no violence. The child begins to treat others the way he has be treated.. You got to read that book. It is a holly book, it really is.
“The religion that makes people good makes people bad, but the religion known as freedom makes all people good, for it destroys the inner conflict, that makes people devils.”(A.S.Neill)…..
Nourish yourself on wholesome food, good wholesome food. I am not talking about actual things. I am talking about sunsets, about nature, about a good movie, about a good book, about enjoyable work, about good company and hopefully you will achieve the transformation. Lots of people gain the world, and lose their souls. Lots of people live empty, soulless lives, because they are feeding themselves on popularity, appreciation, and praise, .Feed yourself on other more nourishing things. Then you will see the transformation.”
( AWARENESS, Anthony De Mello-ONE OF THE MOST GIFTED SPIRITUAL TEACHERS OF THE 20 th century.)
WITH YOU SOME WORDS FROM BOOK “AWARENESS “(ANTONNY DE MELLO )
Thank you
Thank you for the reminder Mohamed…..
Monica
that’s love! that man is a blessing!
Thank you.
I love De Mello. Thanks for sharing.
People are always looking for signs, or looking for help, or a salvior. What about starting doing something themselves? For as long as I was “lazy”, waiting for my father and mother, my studies, and my husband to look after me I did not progress and was not feeling happy about myself. The day I found myself without my parents and divorced (from my first husband) and with a child to look after I lost “lazyness” by force! And I got myself more studies, a job, and then a better job, following a much better husband and another child and now grandchildren. So, don´t wait for the “saints” because if you don´t give of your own strengh the “saints” will have nothing to bless… God will send blessing only if there is something to scatter blessings upon! I don´t look for signs, I look for possibilities!
So, you were forced to do. How did you know what to do? What to study and where? What job to get? When to change jobs? Which second husband to marry?
What did you do in selecting your second husband that you didn’t do in the case of the first?
Are you saying you believe people should just do, and then hope God blesses their actions?
If so, do you think that’s being more or less self-reliant than those who first look for signs as to the best way, then act accordingly?
How can you be sure you’re not still lazy?
Mod – Thank you for finding my comment and publishing it.
I totally agree with you Caroline de Lourdes. I am where you were, right now, waiting for everyone else to look after me. I know that I need to get up and face the world on my own in order to reach my dreams….I’m tired of hiding behind the “signs”, telling my self that the signs aren’t there yet, or more precisely “making up” my own signs so I can have an excuse for everything! But I know that the only thing that actually holds me back is the fear of defeat and not succeeding! But I do agree with you “God will send blessing only if there is something to scatter blessings upon!”. And that I also should stop looking for signs and try to look for possibilities instead!
hello Caroline de Lourdes :)
i so agree with you! It’s great to good read how you conquered circumstance, dependency and laziness. Too many people just wait and dream and wait some more and always complain about how they don’t get their chance. You just did it: step by step. Probably there were plenty of signs and signals on the way affirming you’re on the right direction. i believe people get lucky when they work on being lucky.
have a nice day
Caroline in Mexico we commonly say “God says : help yourself and I will help you” “ayudate que yo te ayudare”. Which completely agrees with what you are saying. I am glad that God did give you the strength, after all, to look for your self and your child.
For me, the signs just show up without being looked for, which tells me everybody is following a different path.
Love
Monica
Signs show us the way. They are like road signs. Where do you go? What is aim of our life? Do you think about it? Many people who I know couldn’t find answer. It’s really hard, but I’m trying to puzzle that mystery out. We must keep an eye out! :D
good morning Martha,
maybe the thing with signs is that they are nor on the crossroads but you come across them after the steep climb, after you made a decision thats as good as irreversible. What if signs show up as affirmation instead of direction? Thats good enough isn’t it. People have to take responsibility over their own lives, thats when the universe gives them gratification, thats when the signs arrise.
Dear Paulo Coelho, please read this even if you don’t reply to me, is not important to do so, once you have wrote that dreams are the language og God through that perpesctive i would like to bring a message to you.
A few days ago i saw you in my dream you were climbing a mountain and you succeded to reach the top where we met. You were so happy but serene at the same time that you accomlished that that your face was glowing. The moment i looked at you and i saw your glowing face i felt in my head as something was the answer is “YES” concerning you. That is the only reason that i share this dream with you.
I hope that the problems, or difficulties you might going through soon will be over only you know to what was the answer YES concerning. I am only the messager.
The truth is that i talked with someone i trust if i should share the message with you because i know it shows a little weird to deliver any kind of message to you since i don’t know you personally. But i guess you might needed that answer and i don’t have the right to deprive it from you.
I know for sure that when i see a dream like this is not in vain but has its purpose.
I don’t know why i am the messager instead of somenone else perhaps someone closer to you but it is true and i would like to pay attention to that.
I sincerely hope the best for you.
The signs … I must be careful because I am the type of person who can see signs everywhere and interpret them in a second, and find out at a point that confusion is there. Why? I became aware that a little cloud of fear or insecurity was present and that I needed to calm that down. So when looking for signs or seeing signs, all that I was looking for was to destroy that cloud, a non ending pattern. When I opened a book to see a sign, or anything else, all that was there was to get rid of the cloud. Signs are there to show the path, to help in assuming who I am truly, not to get rid of the fear … since fear should not be present when truly believing in who I am and my Creator. It was important for me to see that because fear, insecurity, doubt brought me to interpret and see all from that source that needed to be calm down, to be eliminated. Now, I am more of letting the signs come than going after them. I am conscious of the cloud, ask the Universe to help me get rid of the fear, discipline myself to bring the Sun come stronger and more present than the cloud and walk … Just wanted to share this. By experience, I know that I can easily interpret and put a sense to all things in order to bring peace, calmness, security. But peace, calmness and security need to be there before to be able to capture the true essence of a sign. So, yes, signs are given, but I believe that signs are more easily evident and communicative when one prepares itself as a receiver, being developing security, peace, calmness, faith so that not cloud interferes, no perturbation.
Love, Jojo.
Nice weather pattern, thanks jojo :)
Totally agree with you.
Love you
Yesterday I started reading the ‘Valkyries’ in English. It has not been translated to Greek yet. It is about Angels!! So this subject today is part of my … lesson! To learn to ..listen to my Angel and see the HORIZON! It is so beautifully written. Thank you Paulo Coelho, once again for your precious lessons.
I think that since I have been a child I live .. intuitively. I do not do anything unless I FEEL it is the right thing and the right moment! I do not have a watch on my hand; I feel the right time for going somewhere and exactly the right time to go!! ;-] Reading the signs is something like learning to play the piano!! As long as we ‘consciously’ try to read the notes at the same time our deeper self ‘sings’ the melody; and we ‘know’ exactly when we make a mistake: The ‘breaking’ of the RULES!
I think the SECRET is to learn to live in HARMONY with our Inner Self: the LIGHT and LOVE; because HE is THE WAY, LIFE and LOVE,
Thelma xxx
In Romania should exist, but nobody saw the book…Not in library, nor in shop. Thats a mystery. I tried to buy on line, but they send only big quantities…
Alexandra!
I don’t know why, I’ve tried to buy it in Spanish, but I’ve been able to read it only in English. The same happened about two or three years ago with Brida. I wanted to give it to a friend of mine in The States, and I couln’t find it in English. It was released in English only last year. Maybe you just need to wait for it to be published in Romanian or read it in English.
Love you
Adriana
Dear Thelma,
That was so beautifully put. Definitely a new way of looking at life.
Blessings,
Rosemary
Dear Rosemary, thank you for your kind words.
I also think that our Intuition is ‘trained’ through love: by trying to ‘read and understand’ other people’s soul. To be ‘in tune’ with them.
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
I agree Thelma I think our intuition grows stronger by listening to it , acting (or not acting) on the wisdom it tells us us and I believe our souls are nourished in this process.
Love Breda : ) xx
hope you have a wonderful weekend Dear Thelma
Have a wonderful weekend too, dear beautiful, loving Breda. ;-]
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Thelma,
I love The Valkiries!!!! It’s a wonderful book full of meaning and signs….
Monica
It is a wonderful image, that one about the piano.Loved your comment. Thank you
Love you
So beautiful, THELMA! I like the comparison with playing paino… I started myself to play piano…but I stopped quickly after 2 weeks… as I thought that I will never be able to learn all by myself and to play well… Of course… now there are teacher who can teach me that… but WHO CAN TEACH ME to READ THE SIGN THAT ARE GIVEN TO ME BY GOD???? :-/ …
Love to you all, Gabriela Romaria
Quote of the Week
» I decided to pull a Buddhist monk and keep a smile on my face till 31/01 ( always have deadlines for my promises…). Smiling non-stop works, makes you and people around you feel better, and it does not blind you to the problems around that must be solved. Try it. Smile now.
: ) : ) : ) ; ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
thanks Paulo Love Breda : )