Paulo Coelho

Stories & Reflections

The mystery of discovery

Author: Paulo Coelho

Tonight, before leaving, I’m going to spend time sorting through the pile of things I never had the patience to put in order.
And I will find that a little of my history is there.
All the letters, the notes, cuttings and receipts will take on their own life and have strange stories to tell me – about the past and about the future.
All the different things in the world, all the roads travelled, all the entrances and exits of my life.
prayer book
I am going to put on a shirt I often wear and, for the first time, I am going to notice how it was made.
I am going to imagine the hands that wove the cotton and the river where the fibres of the plant were born.
I will understand that all those now invisible things are a part of the history of my shirt.

And even the things I am accustomed to – like the sandals which, after long use, have become an extension of my feet – will be clothed in the mystery of discovery.

Since I am heading off into the future, I will be helped by the scuff marks left on my sandals from when I stumbled in the past.

May everything my hand touches and my eyes see and my mouth tastes be different, but the same.
That way, all those things will cease to be a still life and instead will explain to me why they have been with me for such a long time; and they will reveal to me the miracle of re-encountering emotions worn smooth by routine.

I will drink some tea that I have never tried before because others told me it tasted horrible.
I will walk down a street I have never walked down before because others told me it was totally without interest.

And I will find out whether or not I would like to go back there.

Everybody thinks only about safety. ADVENTURE, I WANT YOU BACK IN MY LIFE!
 
 
taken from MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN ACCRA

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