EM PORTUGUES AQUI: O circulo da alegria
EN ESPANOL AQUI : El circulo de alegria
And old story tells that one day, a countryman knocked hard on a monastery door. When the monk tending the gates opened up, he was given a magnificent bunch of grapes.
- Brother, these are the finest my vineyard has produced. I’ve come to bear them as a gift.
- Thank you! I will take them to the Abbot immediately, he’ll be delighted with this offering.
- No! I brought them for you. For whenever I knock on the door, it is you opens it. When I needed help because the crop was destroyed by drought, you gave me a piece of bread and a cup of wine every day.
The monk held the grapes and spent the entire morning admiring it. And decided to deliver the gift to the Abbot, who had always encouraged him with words of wisdom.
The Abbot was very pleased with the grapes, but he recalled that there was a sick brother in the monastery, and thought:
"I’ll give him the grapes. Who knows, they may bring some joy to his life."
And that is what he did. But the grapes didn’t stay in the sick monk’s room for long, for he reflected:
"The cook has looked after me for so long, feeding me only the best meals. I’m sure he will enjoy these."
The cook was amazed at the beauty of the grapes. So perfect that no one would appreciate them more than the sexton; many at the monastery considered him a holy man, he would be best qualified to value this marvel of nature.
The sexton, in turn, gave the grapes as a gift to the youngest novice, that he might understand that the work of God is in the smallest details of Creation. When the novice received them, he remembered the first time he came to the monastery, and of the person who had opened the gates for him; it was that gesture which allowed him to be among this community of people who knew how to value the wonders of life.
And so, just before nightfall, he took the grapes to the monk at the gates.
- Eat and enjoy them – he said. – For you spend most of your time alone here, and these grapes will make you very happy.
The monk understood that the gift had been truly destined for him, and relished each of the grapes, before falling into a pleasant sleep.
Thus the circle was closed; the circle of happiness and joy, which always shines brightly around generous people.
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yeap,
I almost forgot ….
my most favorite time of this blog starts soon: holiday season.
the blog feels then like a firework.
Ken’s little christmas ball ornament is the beginning.
thanks Ken, it is beautiful.
thanks, paulo, for this beautiful blog.
Cher Paulo,
C’est une belle histoire, qui illustre bien que le plaisir de donner est souvent plus grand que celui de recevoir. Aimer c’est d’abord Donner pour moi aussi, mais parfois cela fait du bien aussi de recevoir, cela donne l’énergie d’aller plus loin. Quand le don est sincère, l’échange est magnifique. Notre monde n’est plus que dans le plaisir rapide et immédiat, et attendre ainsi que la chaîne de l’Amour nous revienne n’est plus dans l’Air du temps, pourtant quelle satisfaction profonde que ce genre de partage. Lire la joie dans les yeux de celui qui reçoit, quand on lui a donné ce que l’on avait de plus beau, c’est un plaisir durable dont on se souvient toujours.
Je vous souhaite une douce journée.
M Christine G
This world is selfish and so as each and every one of us. We tend to be so sure about what we deserve and concentrate on getting it. And once we do, the thought of parting with it does not cross our mind, since we simply do not care if someone might deserve it more than we do. It is easy to give what we do not want, as it is to give to those we like. It takes so much more to give away something we would so much like to have, to those we do not like or care about.
But just as this world is selfish, this life in its essence is so very simple – and sometimes the best, satisfying reward has no material value… Only when we have the strength to learn how to give things up in secrecy, without regret and expectations, we are able to see the other side of this world – selfless, giving, appreciating, and most importantly gratifying.
Spot on Natalya. That is a test indeed. However, I don’t think the pleasure in giving (as opposed to just being rid of something) should necessarily diminish the giving. There’s no doubt that many people have a problem receiving, however, as it perhaps stirs up feelings in them that were unintended. So simple, yet so complicated.
Beautiful… The greatest joy is in giving joy to another!!!
Love
truly!!!! Things are meant to be…
pamsky 11/30/11 2:04 pm
Very beautiful story! Gratitude is the key to happiness. Life is beautiful indeed!!! =)
beautiful..Mr. Coelho…and touching .very.
This is a story of many lives. Just if we pay more attentiom….what u give is what u get……..what goes around comes around………all these and many more sayings manifast the truth of this beautiful story. It was a joy to read it and once again make sure that life is a circle.
It has always been the best feeling when the circle of love commence from you. This brings genuine joy of having to give unto others without expecting anything in return, yet it eventually comes back to you.
Italian translation – Traduzione italiana del testo se puo rendere qualcuno felice ;)
GRAZIE PAULO..
Una vecchia storia racconta che un giorno, un contadino bussò forte alla porta di un monastero. Quando il monaco gli aprí la porta, gli fú offerto un magnifico grappolo d’uva.
- Fratello, questi sono i migliori grappoli che la mia vigna abbia prodotto. Sono venuto a portarti loro in dono.
- Grazie! Io li porterò subito all´Abate, lui sarà felice con questa offerta.
- No! Li ho portati per te. Per tutte le volte che bussano alla porta, è che tu me la apri. Quando ho avuto bisogno di aiuto, perché il raccolto è stato distrutto dalla siccità, mi hai dato un pezzo di pane e un bicchiere di vino ogni giorno.
Il monaco trascorse tutta la mattina ad ammirare l´uva nella sua mano. E decise di consegnare il dono all’Abate, che lo aveva sempre incoraggiato con parole di saggezza.
L’abate era molto soddisfatto delle uve, ma ricordó che c’era un fratello malato nel monastero, e pensò:
“Gli darò le uve. Chissà, potrebbero portarli un po di gioia nella sua vita.”
E questo è quello che ha fece. Ma l’uva non rimase nella stanza del monaco malato per molto tempo dato che riflettendo disse a se stesso:
“Il cuoco mi è stato dietro per tanto tempo, alimentandomi con i migliori pasti. Sono sicuro che potrebbe godere di queste uve”.
Il cuoco era stupito dalla bellezza delle uve. Così perfette che nessuno avrebbe potuto apprezzarle di più del sagrestano. Molti nel monastero lo consideravano un sant’uomo, sarebbe stato il più qualificato a dare valore a questa meraviglia della natura.
Il sagrestano, a sua volta, offrí l’uva come un dono per i più giovani in presa alle prime armi, che cosí avrebberò potuto capire che l’opera di Dio nei minimi dettagli della Creazione. Quando il novizio li riceve, si ricordò della prima volta che arrivò al monastero e della persona che aveva aperto le porte per lui, era quel gesto che gli aveva permesso di essere tra questa comunità di persone che sapevano valorizzare le meraviglie della vita.
E così, poco prima di sera, porto l’uva al monaco che si trovava alle porte.
- Mangiatene e godete di loro – disse. – Passate la maggior parte del vostro tempo qui da solo, e queste uve vi faranno molto felici.
Il monaco capí che il dono era stato veramente destinato a lui, e gusto ciascuna delle uve, prima di cadere in un sonno piacevole.
Così il cerchio si chiuse, il cerchio della felicità e della gioia, che splende sempre brillantemente in mezzo alla gente generosa.
A beautiful story, and so persect for this time of year…or any time of year. :-)
(((LOVE))) surround you and Christina
In other words, what goes around comes around.
Hello Sir,
I absolutely love your blogs as well as your books.
Your words of wisdom affect me to a great extent.
I follow you totally. You are my ideal.
Keep up the good work.
I would be glad if you reply me once.
Thank you,
Lots of Love,
Shaili Parikh.
So beautiful. It is wonderful that these men can keep in their hearts all that their family has done for each other and wishes nothing but happiness for each other.
‘Je dormis et revais que la vie n’etait que joie,
Je m’eveillais et vis que la vie n’etait que service.
Je servis et decouvris que le service etait joie.’
I slept and dreamt that life was only joy.
I woke up and saw that life was only service
I served and discovered that service was joy.
Admiro tanto a este escritor Brasiliano,hé leido varias obras de él traducidos en español, pero cuando envia algunos temas por internit quesiera que envie también en español porq asi como yo hay mucha gente que no sabe el portugues,aunque sea una pequeña parte de los temas que trata. se le agradece de antemano.
Great blog. First of all you have to think of yourself as worthy to receive the gift. We forget the impression that we leave people with that we are loved & deserve that people show their appreciation for the things we do no matter how small. Also what goes around comes around. Kindness is a wonderful thing to share & its great thing to have.
Wonderful story.
The movie – Pay It Forward, came to my mind and it´s also about giving gifts of kindness and passing it on.
The best gift is giving someone something that you really want for yourself.
Cheers,
Arto Hutto
Thank you, for making me aware that the best gift is giving something we would most like to have for ourselves…I had this experience recently…it is a rich one ;)
this story is told in an old coptic hymn very famous in our coptic egyptian sunday schools :) did u know that ? i am amazed at how this got to U :)) very nicely told :))) love U paulo :)
Beautiful story,as life itself with actors should be;i can feel the taste of divine grapes to get such importance in people’s life while handling it from one to another..but it is people in gratitude to someone else,to share such a divine gift,good people,and good deed was returned in some way; i wonder now what if there were any to cherish hate to take part in this circle,i suppose it wouldn’t prevent him from getting what is destined to him..i hope,my destiny will be gracious to bring me back my gifts regardless of my enemy
Paulo,o que vc faz todos os dias é exatamente a Historia que vc postou…
Vc comparte todo o tempo com nós suas “uvas” e nós, que somos tao pequeninos mediante tao bela missao que é a sua, simplesmente compartimos com as pessoas mais proximas tudo aquilo que lemos, interpretamos e aprendemos contigo.
GRATIDAO !
This story brought out a few emotions in me. Happy that the monks thought of someone else to give the grapes, but also as the grapes got passed along I thought someone just eat the grapes already!!! Someone eat the grapes, because it didn’t matter they were all good monks, and the grapes will not be fresh if you keep passing it.
But at the end the story made me feel a sense of peace, because the grapes did belong to someone. Our schedule and view of people will never be as important and correct as God’s.
wow! the sory is really amazing!!! thank you!!! I feel also happy now, cos everything u do is always back to you!!!
He comprado la Agenda 2012 de Paulo Coehlo y debo decir que me encanta, con un lindo pasaje para cada dia. Paulo es uno de los mejores escritores de nuestro tiempo.
I certainly have had a good feed on that blog with so much wisdom, – a piece of bread and a cup of wine everyday – and the opportunity to develop a taste of freedom.
So it’s good to see it’s going around in circle and is being shared.
Thank you I’ll drink to that.
With love
Marie-Christine
per quanto possa sembrare assurdo io ci credo,ognuno di noi deve riconoscere la generosita’ di chi la mette in atto,Ognuno di noi per quanto possa dirsi solo,necessita dell’altro .
Cuantas veces hemos dicho: cada uno recoge lo que siembra, pero, ¿cuantos lo hemos tenido en cuenta al momento de sembrar?
Esta hermosa narración describe perfectamente el acto de recoger los frutos que uno siembra.
Si entregamos amor, recibiremos amor; si entregamos odio, recibiremos odio, asi sucesivamente con todo, por que nada queda librado al azar, siempre busca el equilibrio que en definitiva es la base de todo.
Muchas veces entregamos amor y en algunas pocas ocasiones recibimos odio, eso nos causa sorpresa y nos decimos a nosotros mismo: ¿Pero como, si yo no siembro odio, por que recibo esto? Pero están allí las pruebas que nos ponen en el camino para seguir entregando amor, y cuando se contesta con amor al odio, este, no se por que, se disuelve como por arte de magia, o por arte de Dios.
Pero tampoco debemos permanecer en los extremos y tenemos que estar atentos para poder escapar de las amenazas, ya sea para evitarlas o en caso contrario para establecer el combate si no se puede evitar, como bien se entiende en el pensamiento anterior, “ESCAPANDO A LAS AMENAZAS”.
Gracias Paulo por hacernos recordar, estas, que parecen pequeñas leyes del universo, pero que son tan importantes y grandes como el mismo universo.
Abrazo
Gonzalo
(Me gustaría agregar algo mas, si entregamos algo con el fin de recibir, no se por que, no siempre se recibe lo que queremos, solo se recibe, cuando nuestras entregas son desinteresadas, por amor al prójimo o por contribuir a la armonía de la naturaleza, que no es mas que eso: AMOR)
When I read the story, I took a fancy to raisins with chocolate cover of course. :-) Joking aside, a really beautiful story. Probably, one must also learn to accept gifts and joy. I personally often get a bad conscience in such things. Of course I know that such an attitude is nonsense. But I feel it often. I look around and see people where there is so much worse and wonder why life is so good to me? This is very difficult to accept. In the story of course everyone is happy, because everyone has experienced the love and esteem of others. There are probably not much nicer things. Who needs grapes? :-) They are granted to the monk at the door. :-) Many things in life are running in a circle. But it is never the same circle, even if it seems, because both the circle, and as one who walks it , are never the same. The circle changed the men, the man the circle. The circles of joy and love are surely the most beautiful.
I wish you all a wonderful evening
P.S.: A beautiful illustration by Ken!
Well said, Heimo. I smiled from the beginning to the end of your comment :)
This story reminds of a young man I recently met in Buenos Aires! He told me that he had just returned to Argentina after traveling around Mexico for 2 years. Prior to his journey, he was leading a group of boy scouts, working with the homeless. At some point, the people in his neighbourhood gathered in the community church, they prepared a little ceremony to recognize these boys with gifts and ribbons…This man lead his group of boy scouts to realize that should give back a very special gift to the people. It lead this man to gain meaning, wisdom and courage to travel to Mexico, join the Red Cross to continue on a mission to help and assist unprivileged families living in extreme poverty. What they gained from this experience was absolutely phenomenal! I was so inspired by his story, that I currently writing about it for one of my future posts…his story will surely inspire others on the circle of joy!
Dear Paulo,
what a lovely story! I Life is like a circle, like what I often heard in Buddhist stories: “You often get what you reap”.
And I love the picture, it’s a nice Ying Yang.
yes, such a beautiful yin yang !
Beautiful :)
One of the wonderful things my own family gave me was to be generous and show great hospitality. Now that I meet other families who are different, who are more closed, who “We barely know you…” so therefore we keep distance and do not want much to do with you…I understand how lucky I am. I had two experiences yesterday regarding the message in this story.
A co-worker showed me a client’s file who had been denied for government support, with a diagnose of Autism (a requirement) because he was too high functioning. He had studied and scored high marks, he spoke foreign languages fluently. My co-worker was kidding and said she would have to get out a big “DENIED” stamp. At that point I said, I could never work in intake, because I would stamp “ACCEPTED” on all.. Anyone who seek to get in should be allowed.
Well, then at lunch, arriving back to my house, I saw my husband stand outside, with a man in his 30s, 40s who looked as rugged as they can get, heavy tattoos from bottom up, my impression of him was he looked like a DANGEROUS gang-banger who might be in the middle of murdering my husband. So many thoughts went through my mind, I will not quote them here. Well, I parked in the garage and heard a big bang. I hurried outside and said to the two of them; “What is going on?” It was a big ladder put up that had made the bang. My husband was climbing up on the roof to rescue a smart phone the drug-dealer-murderer-look-a-like had thrown up there, the other night when he had a fight with his girlfriend. They found his smart phone in 3 pieces, and it worked when he put it back together. I was scared, and I was furious at my husband for how he was handling this. I cannot give you all the details as it would be too long a story. Anyway, how much I actually do care for individuals who are at the edge of life, like this guy, I DO NOT WANT them to get into my private life and ruin it.. I want to use the professional helping system we have in a modern society to offer help to them. I felt so helpless, and do I really want to help someone who could so easily kill me on the spot? I found my hospitality limitation! And the worst is. Guys like him are the guys I wanted to give my life to. Street kids in Brazil!
Nice story ,well told.I had hoped they would all share a meal at table and in that way share the grapes and the joy!
Love
Breda
me, too. I waited for the sharing :o)
it is funny,
in real life …. I am waiting for some sharing.
I need to get some of these grapes :o)
Hope you get to enjoy sharing soon Katie,
Love
Breda
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Paulo!!!! I recall this particular blog entry that was written this time last year and it reminds me of the circle of life, the contribution you give and what you receive in return.
I hope your birthday is filled with the overwhelming gifts of love, peace, joy, hope, determination, perseverance and all that your personal legend has afforded you. Your gift of the giving a written word has indeed filled our hearts and minds with amazement and encouragement. Because of this, I heartily say THANK YOU – and again have a blessed birthday!
From “Zahir”, my favourite. The story really amazed me.
Thelma: Thinking of the others is important, but for some people it's becomes the only thing they do. Everything should have its boundaries.
What a beautiful story, I used to think that joy lies deep inside my heart and God is far, far away. You know, it was like trying to see a painting with a microscope and find a friend with the Hubble Space Telescope. Turned out God is joy and they are everywhere (of course, they are also in my heart). This story also reminds me of what it means to share your happiness with others.
Thanks Paulo,
Lewis
what goes around comes around?
You are right, dear Paul from Austria! It is so difficult for me to ‘receive’… I feel I am loosing my ‘freedom’ and that I will have to be …grateful for ever..[Egoism??]
LOVE and ….Gratitude,
Thelma
I love that story. Thank you.
You are true Thelma.
Nice weekend to all of you.
@ Just Adams
My dear friend, from my experience and metaphysical laws, I have found out that whatever you give or think, it comes back to us, seven times stronger!!
So we must be careful even with our wishes or words… Of course, we will not ‘press’ ourselves to think of others first, but Love will show us the way.
Love,
Thelma
It is right to do good to others to make them happy but we must not forget that we must also be happy….
“the alchemist” the reason why I love to read books, especially novels…it really amazed me and it had taught me important lesson so much useful in life.
A nice story to read on a Friday.
What a delightful story! One of my teachers said years ago that love, praise and gratitude ignite us with the best in us and grow when we use them. This story is a great example of this. What we do and put in circulation matters, it really does have an effect both in us and in the people involved which might be many more than we realize…
We all deserve happiness and joy , as this man still passed it on through his good intentions,compassion he still recieved it – what belongs to us by our divine right is always given even if it takes a bit of a journey to get there.Blessings Tania
Or…like an old aunt of mine, who loves to read and buy books. And she can only stuff so many books in her house. So, we always know for birthdays or Christmases, we will get a book, that she already have read. We know by the dog eared pages! Or…have you borrowed books at libraries, where they are already high lighted. In college it saved time reading text books other students had high lighted for you before exam, and it could be exciting to read those margin notes too.
What a wonderful story. You have heard how it is when we give away money, the more we give the less we will have left, while when we give love, the more we give the more we get. Also, this story made me think of a term used here in the USA. Re-gifting. A problem in the materialistic society is that people give each other so much they don’t need, that to get rid of the “crap” we got, we give a present on to somebody else who doesn’t need it. And, listen to this saying; “We borrow money to buy things we don’t need to impress friends we don’t like”… So this simple story, with something lovely as fresh, natural grapes and all the generous men in that convent, makes me happy to read.
From “Zahir”, my favourite. The story really amazed me.
Thelma: Thinking of the others is important, but for some people it’s becomes the only thing they do. Everything should have its boundaries.
The lesson of forgetting ourselves and always thinking first of the others. Altruism.
Love,
Thelma
Thelma, altruism conflicts with the development of the human race. We are meant to develop ourselves and altruism stops us from developing.
I agree more with Hart, since she has more reality in her staement.
vincentsylvan
Thank you Vincentsylvan, for reading me! I think that to ‘train’ ourselves to think of others first, altruism, is a lesson we have to learn as a first step of going … towards others, outside our EGO! If this happens, at the end, as a second nature, it is a step towards … transcending ourselves ! LOVE never stops us from developing, on the contrary it is the … Bridge, the Ladder ‘inwards’ and ‘upwards’ to … Paradise!
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Life is a circle…We humans attempt to keep it linear….but it is a circle.
Dear Ingmire, life, maybe is a circle, but it could be a … spiral, if we change everything THIS MOMENT!
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
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