etching by Rembrandt
I’m going in search of the adventure of being alive.
And it’s complicated: why am I not looking for happiness when everyone has taught me that happiness is the only goal worth pursuing?
Why am i going to risk taking a path that no one else is taking?After all, what is happiness?
Love, they tell me. But love doesn’t bring and never has brought happiness.
On the contrary, its a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; its sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we’re doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstacy and agony.All right then, peace.
Peace? If we look at the Mother, she’s never at peace. The winter does battle with the summer, the sun and d moon never meet, the tiger chases the man, who’s afraid of the dog, who chases the cat, who chases the mouse, who frightens the man.
Money brings happiness. Fine. In that case, everyone who earns enough to have a high standard of living would be able to stop work. But then they’re more troubled than ever, as if they were afraid of losing everything. Money attracts money, that’s true. Poverty might bring unhappiness, but money wont necessarily bring happiness.I spent a lot of my life looking for happiness, now what i want is joy.
Joy is like sex – it begins and ends. I want pleasure. I want to be contended, but happiness? I no longer fall into that trap.
by Paulo Coelho ( “The Witch of Portobello” )
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Thank you for your interesting post.
I think let’s go for joy, let’s go for happiness, let’s go for anything we can get hold of in this life! But I believe that life is a YEARNING for something greater than ourselves, and will only be satisfied when we leave this world and join our Creator in Paradise.
many joys meets pleasant….
….EL AMOR NO FUE …NO ES …Y NUNCA SERA UNA COSA …ES UN SENTIMIENTO ..POR LO CUAL JAMAS…NUNCA …UTOPIA..PONLE LA PALABRA QUE QUIERAS ..PODRAS POSEER …TENER…ATAR…ENCADENAR A TI..O COMO TE GUSTE…Y ESE SENTIMIENTO NACE DE ADENTRO ASIA FUERA…NUNCA DE AFUERA ASIA DENTRO…EN CUANTO AL SEXO …NO TE PREOCUPES JAMAS RENUNCIARA A TI AUNQUE TU RENUNCIES A EL…SIEMPRE TE ENCONTRARA (POR MAS CASTO QUE TE SIENTAS)
Yeah, Absolutely right! There’s no happiness in this whole world. Happiness is when we are able to accept all kinda conditions & circumstances of life. I love this passage!! beautiful!
Be brave my friend..There is nothing wrong with happiness, joy, pleasures and desires. They are open for interpretation to an individuals perception of these. Happiness is a good thing, having goals in life and loving people takes you forward. being in love can cause pain and confusion but that’s life. Being content with what you have can be the most difficult as we always desire more. sometimes we have to just stop, look, and listen then we can appreciate what life has given us rather than take it for granted.. :) xx
Creo que de nuevo el mensage es algo complejo pero interesante. Todo es relativo y uno lo evalua segun nuestro propio punto de vista. Definitivamente es muy intersante.
Remember Paulo…
“this too shall pass” it gets me through the tough times and helps me be thankful and savor the good moments :)
La verdadera felicidad está en olvidar los malos recuerdos del pasado, disfrutar el presente sin importar las circunstancias y estar a la expectativa de las grandes bendiciones que Dios nos tiene para nuestro futuro. La felicidad no es complicada. Está en los pequeños detalles.
no, no es complicado la felicidad – es mirar en el avion a los nubes y ser testigo dela puesta del sol, es oir a las pajaras en los arboles, mirar a los ninos/as
es ver las flores y es ser presente en el momento es llorar si quieres una minuta y reir la otra.. es ondular con la vida simplemente.
Lovely, Joy is not hard to find . . . Thank you for your insights – I truly love reading you!
Sex has a beginning and an end, but joy, true joy…is experienced by the human soul when it is united with the universal spirit of authenticity, truth, and love…it is only when that union is broken or blocked by human selfishness and fear that joy must find another vessel to pour itself into and through…joy will not be contained…it must be expressed…it has no beginning, it has no end…
That is a beautiful expression, Cynthia. Thanks
It is a dream…..not reality!
love money happiness and so on what truly can’t bring any happiness to us, I have read one very useful sentence speaking of this trap: whenever you want to find the pleasure by outside like surronding like other people you ‘ d turn yourself into attached and dependent.you can’t decide your own happiness since it rely on others ,you ‘d never be able to find happiness include joy! If we want to be joy or happiness, we have to seach it in our own self !
Put the desire of chasing happiness down, the happiness will come find you itself! You lose as you chase!
The day I decided to give another try at “loving life”, and to now go with what was in my heart, ready to loose all those that I called friends, lover, mother, father, brothers, I began to “feel” the joy of living. I until that moment where I took that decision was not looking for happiness. I was just trying to understand the illogic of things presented to me as logic concerning love, happiness. I did not want to risk taking the path that others took, they seem so frustrated, unhappy. I got lost during a good time … because I wanted to be lost, to go to another place where you just march in this world without being there. That was not happiness either, joy … that was hating life with what it had to offer … until I heard that voice that showed me the beginning of the path. Love … yes, in deed, the love that I witnessed and lived was made of anxiety, a mind that could not stop be doubting … yes, moments of pure grace and one second after moments of pure hell. Peace … that is what I went looking for … peace … and today, I can say I mastered that one …. Being able to touch peace even if my body shivers at moment, my emotions are intense, even if a battle is preparing … Money brings happiness but most of the time puts one in front of choices where the heart goes second … and this I hate. The heart goes first, and then all comes. Love the story of Salomon about that. Joy is like sex … okay, it begins and it ends … for the moment, until that time where joy is so powerful that nothing can make it end. Okay, clouds but able to see the sun, and if not see, to feel it. I must say that today, with all that era of change for me, and with all that I have to undertake, I am ready … one step at a time, one moment at a time … and joy is there when I take life like that, one moment at time. Okay, sometimes, I feel sadness … I give it a moment, I honor that sadness which is part of me, and then wipe and march. I do not know exactly what is I seek, but just marching is pure joy, happiness, peace and is worth million of dollars.
Love to you Paolo and all the Warriors! Jojo
Beautifully said.
I’m on that path too.
Not easy at times, but the consciousness is there.
I can feel happiness when I choose to. It’s the way I look at things that give me that choice.
It would be nice to have a glimpse of happiness.
Happiness is a decision as long as chemical disbalances dont hinder us from taking this decision. Please, dont be sad.
really??
I think your life is so much different with mine..
Love always brings me happiness. It always have.
Money,itself never have brought happiness but the way how I spend and what I spend for always have.
I’ve seeen many people don’t understand what I’m saying. and they said my way of being happy is too ideal.
well..you know what I think about them??
I think they’re too greedy to be happy.so they’ve never been satisfied with the conditions that they’re in.
Happiness is not a big word. it’s just around the corner.
think less, feel more..
too much thinking will kill you.:)
La felicidad no busquemos fuera esta dentro de nosotros mismos aprendamos a encontrarla;El sexo nos produce placer pero si lo hemos aprendido a disfrutar sin temores;el dinero no es lo mas importante pero resuelve dificultades;la alegria solo tu tienes el poder de fabricarla…
I agree with you…”But love doesn’t bring and never has brought happiness.”
I have to admit to something… I’ve read every book written by Mr. Coelho up to this one. “The Witch of Portobello” has been on my bookcase since Christmas 2006, when I asked to have it in an Secret Santa exchange… and I’ve yet to read it. You see, between 2006 and 2008, I lost everything, including my desire to read your “hopeful” stories (I was feeling hopeless most of the time, and I didn’t want your stories to rub it in my face)…
That aside, this is possible the one quote from this book that may make me read it “Joy is like sex – it begins and ends. I want pleasure. I want to be contended, but happiness? I no longer fall into that trap”…
I don’t know who in the book says it, nor if the book is based on anyone real saying it…. but it is so true. And Joy. Joy is what I want in my life.
This is the the most profound and thought-provoking piece of verbage I have read in a long time.
Beautifully, clearly, and simply written!
~Victoria
“le plaisir est le bonheur des fous, et le bonheur est le plaisir des sages”
DO you really think so? Or do you confuse love with something else. I anything, love amplifies emotion, and drives people crazy with the vividness of the new reality they now experience. This is not always a bad thing. The pain felt while in love is not caused by love. It is caused by the discrepancy between one’s imagined “ideal” world, and the real, objectively-shared, world with which we must inevitably deal. The more freely you love, the less attached you are to outcomes such as you would have it, the less the pain of the descent into reality. The good part is, the joy felt in love is not thus correlated with detachment from outcomes. If anything, the potential for joy is heightened, not decreased, by the lack of expectations. And one of the end results of this porcess is happiness.
yes…. oh oh oh.. that is why i love your books so much.
usually i felt that i was weird, crazy and different….
but your books says something that i feels…
so glad to know that i am not the only one who thinks like that :p
thank you
If we are happy and have all the things we ever wanted,our life won’t mean a thing !! we won’t have a goal to loook forward to !we loose hope and the will to survive
It’s better to be always in lack of something..It makes more sense and makes LIFE worth
what a waste,, every second that i spoiled waiting for happiness to come!! I drawn into hard work, read books that i don’t like,, occupied my memory with stuff that other people told me to keep by heart to be happy.. prayed much more times that i can count or remember for God to bring me happiness,, at this moment,, I realized that this is the delusion that we waste the true happiness opportunities to get,, now I regret the seconds that i would just stare on a bug,, watch it’s wonderful freak head,, create a memory like the one of an old woman that is me watching her life on a tape,, sank on the joy that each prayer I did could have gave me,, enjoyed God rather than begging him for something that is unreal.. live each second as it will never get back to you and make up a memory to help you when you understand at last the ugliness of existence or the unbearable beauty.. thanks for your wonderful words,, I love them..
Hapiness to me is being alive. All I need to do is to remember that Iam alive and I am not only happy I am grateful.
Everybody that understood what it means to be sick will perfectly understand you, my dear. I do and I love to read what you wrote. :)
Love your way of thinking and what makes you tick…..inspirational…makes me have an ahha moment..
Indeed. The quest for happiness is still a mystery. While reading this blog entry, I just realized that I am currently reading “The Happiness Project.” I guess I am also one of those people trying to find what happiness truly is.
hermoso y muy cierto…excelente i love you
I love this passage.
ahhh… the agony of being human.
Omg! that got me!
Now in this time when I am taking paths, leaving other, trying different things.
I want JOY too.
Work is not the same that was when I was student, now I know that is not for me.
=S
Difficult to take the risk…
i believe that happiness is indeed very hard to reach. our life is mostly downs than ups. it is because God gave us these problems so that we could learn to reach HIm, for His love is the one which gives us happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. sure, everything is a battlefield, everyone loses one point at a time, everyone experience sorrow, end of relationships, endless miseries or failures, but even though how many storms try to destroy our lives, if we have God and if we can see the beauty of every right and wrong in this world, if we can see that the very simple things in life, then i believe it is happiness. it is always there, but it just waits for our hearts to feel it.
love, happiness, are independent, money or another thing is an attachment.
I believe there are 2 kinds of love, the first 1 is the love of God and the second is the human kind of love. I believe when those 2 combine with eachother you’ll only know the true essence of joy…
Peace
Bravo!
Estou indo em busca da aventura de estar vivo.E é complicado: por que não estou procurando a felicidade, quando todo mundo já me ensinou que a felicidade é a única meta que vale a pena perseguir?
Por que é que eu vou correr o risco de tomar um caminho que ninguém está tomando?Afinal, o que é felicidade?
Amor, me dizem. Mas o amor não traz e nunca trouxe felicidade.
Pelo contrário, é um estado constante de ansiedade, um campo de batalha; são noites insones, perguntando a nós mesmos o tempo todo se estamos fazendo a coisa certa. O amor verdadeiro é composto de êxtase e agonia.Tudo bem, então, a paz.
Paz? Se olharmos para a Mãe, ela nunca está em paz. O inverno é a batalha com o verão, o sol ea lua d nunca se encontram, o tigre persegue o homem, que está com medo do cão, que persegue o gato, que persegue o rato, que assusta o homem.
Dinheiro traz felicidade. Ótimo. Nesse caso, todo mundo que ganha o suficiente para ter um alto padrão de vida seria capaz de parar de trabalhar. Mas então eles estão mais conturbado do que nunca, como se estivessem com medo de perder tudo. Dinheiro atrai dinheiro, isso é verdade. A pobreza pode trazer infelicidade, mas o dinheiro não necessariamente traz felicidade.Passei muito da minha vida procurando a felicidade, agora o que eu quero é alegria.
A alegria é como o sexo – que começa e termina. Eu quero prazer. Eu quero ser afirmado, mas a felicidade? Eu já não cair nessa armadilha.
É essa mesma a tradução? Usei O Google Translator.Mas modifiquei algumas partes.Obrigado
Utilizei
U make me think that what i m experiencing in this moment of my life is not that wrong….welcoming joy, pleasure- I agree with u 100% even if it s still difficoult to let the idea of happiness go.. A real trap!
Vanessa
italy
It is true. Everything has a cycle, a beginning and an end, there is no escape from this cycle. Everything changes and for good reason. Too much of one thing can get very boring, even joy, sex, Happiness or being on a vacation for ever, how boring would that be? Man needs to work, to create, it makes us feel good and productive and feeds us with positive energy when we create.
I no longer fall into that trap of happiness either. What is happiness, happiness to me is following my dream, that’s happiness, with all it’s trials and tribulations and heartaches and despair, I welcome it all.
Thank you once again!
With love,
C.
love it….
yes, indeed. the joy of life is when you can feel the ride to the fullest
thank you
peace,
Rosa
Love, joy, sex, and even peace, are all states of mind.
They come to you if you call
They leave if you let go.
That even goes for ecstasy.
Gostei, além de concordar com o que está escrito.
Mas apenas não diga que o amor não tem seus dias bons… haha
Happiness, joy, love, money and sex are nothing but a state of mind.
Money doesn’t make you happy but happiness will eventually make you a lot of money.
Looking for love you might find nothing but sex. Looking for sex you might find a little bit of money at best.
If you knew yourself for even one moment,
if you could just glimpse
your most beautiful face,
maybe you wouldn’t slumber so deeply
in that house of clay.
Why not move into your house of joy
and shine into every crevice!
For you are the secret
Treasure-bearer,
and always have been.
Didn’t you know?
– Rumi
Paulo,
I think you eloquently expressed, as you always do, exactly what I was feeling today:
After all, what is happiness?
Love, they tell me. But love doesn’t bring and never has brought happiness.
On the contrary, its a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; its sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we’re doing the right thing.
It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that someone else feels this way also.
Thank you :-)
Fantastic.
I’m a fan and reader. Paulo – I think you are confusing love & desire or passion. There is no anxiety in love, only in a lack of faith or trust. Fear.
Word.
I agree
Thanks for sharing your thought Paulo.
I think all human being are in search of happiness, and so am I.
I read lots of books about happiness. I totally understand the ways to be happy; however, those still remains too ideal for me.
As you have mentioned i also want joy and pleasure in every small second of my life. When I look back my life with full of those, I may say I’ve lived a happy life.
Namsoo from Seoul, Korea
I agree with you, and I like that.
Dear Paulo,
Not long ago you tweeted something that got stuck in my head accompagnying me everyday: You wrote, something like “Dont let anybody make you believe that love means suffrance.” … I once read a Buddhist monch write the same: “When it hurts, its not love”
Now you say, love is “(…) a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; (…) agony”
What do I get wrong?
Love
a.
um dos meus trechos favoritos! expressa exatamente como me sinto.
é impressionante como o senhor capta a alma feminina, como em uma “cantiga de amigo” :)
grande abraço e obrigada por TUDO <3
Interesting, happiness IS a tricky business, I believe that the diference between happiness and joy is time. Happiness is to be described as a long term of beautiful emotions and encounter in wich the psyche knows no pain or sorrow what so ever, and joy its a delighful moment, just a moment of sheer splendor. So yes, you are quite right happiness its almost and utopian idea, however joy is more real and obtanaible.
Stay Bright, cheers!
Laura Hopkins
Adoro essa sua obra Paulo! Bom recorte de texto! Bgssssss
Helen Araujo
Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso.
hahahaha…..is it so??? happiness is all inside…d cause is within the means without…its fine….we all srive for what we r. i guess, im a happy person cos d sorrow is my base:)
Olá Paulo…
adoro todas as suas mensagens, são verdadeiras fontes de inspiração e de esperança…
Obrigado, por nos presentear com histórias especiais…
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