Knowing how to wait
The Warrior of Light needs time to himself. And he uses this time to rest and contemplate and contact the Soul of the World. He manages to meditate even in the middle of a combat.
On some occasions the warrior sits down, relaxes and lets everything that is happening around him go on happening. He looks around him as if he were a spectator, does not try to grow or diminish, just commits himself unresistingly to the movement of life.
Little by little everything that seemed so complicated becomes simple. And the warrior becomes happy.
Discovering the objective
When we want something, the whole Universe conspires in our favor. The Warrior of Light knows this.
That is why he takes great care with his thoughts. Hiding under a bunch of good intentions are desires that no-one dares confess to themselves: vengeance, self-destruction, guilt, fear of victory, macabre happiness at the tragedy of others.
The Universe does not judge: it conspires in favor of what we want. That is why the warrior is brave enough to look at the shadows of his soul and tries to illuminate them with the light of pardon.
The Warrior of Light is the master of his thoughts.
Understanding routine
There are moments when the warrior’s path goes through periods of routine. Then he applies a lesson given by Nachman of Bratzlav:
“If you can’t manage to concentrate, or if you are bothered about your day, you should repeat just one simple word, because that does the soul good. Don’t say anything else, just repeat that word no end of times without stopping. It will eventually lose its meaning, and then take on new significance. God will open the doors and you will end up using that simple word to express all that you wanted.”
When the warrior is forced to perform the same task over and over again, he uses this tactic and turns his work into prayer.
Celebrating the year that is ending
The warrior has lived each and every day of the year that has gone by, and even though he has lost some great battles, he has survived and here he is. This is a victory. This victory has cost many difficult moments, nights of doubts, endless days of waiting. Since ancient times, celebrating a triumph has been part of the ritual of life itself.
Commemorating is a rite of passage.
His companions look at the happiness of the Warrior of Light and think to themselves: “why does he do this? He could be beaten in his next combat. He may provoke the enemy’s fury.”
But the warrior knows the reason for his gesture. He gains strength from the best present that victory can offer: confidence.
The warrior celebrates the year that has come to an end so he can be stronger for tomorrow’s battles.
tags technorati : Technorati Paulo Coelho Paulo Coehlo Warrior of Light Warrior of the Light Newsletter
This year has gone quicker than ever, I remember a post in march last year, paulo commented that it was the middle of the year, I found this somewhat strange, if the middle of paulos years are in march then he shall live many more years than us !
So I shall celebrate this victory of winning the batle of 2007, thought this year has come at the greatest price any year has ever cost me, I have lost friends relatives and the way on my path, everything seems so distant but I have vowed to take everything at one step at a time, becoming a teacher, writer, charity worker, politician are all seperate mountains that I have to climb, good luck for 08 everyone !!!
the lines ‘the warrior of light is the master of his thoughts’ and tht he celebrates the year tht has come to an end so tht he can be stronger for tomorrow’s battles have a profound meaning and essence in themselves.. happy new year!
thank you again sir…
What a wonderful year it was! Amen!!
Hi Tom,
Sounds as if 2008 will be a busy year for you!
To sum up 2007, it was a very tough year for me too. I feel that Saturn took a serious swing at me. Seven years from the millenium, perhaps that is not so strange.
Well, a new year presents new challenges. Nothing ever stays the same. And that is a good thing!
Good luck with all of your endeavours!
An elderly farming neighbour of mine (his name was Liam) had a habit of saying (as he sipped his Paddy whiskey!) “We are but a heartbeat away from eternity”…so I remember his words and try to make every day a ‘new years day’ more often than not I fail but thanks to people such as Liam and Paulo, I never forget the importance of trying to live every day as my last and, wonder of wonders, sometimes I succeed!! Happy new year Paulo and fellow travellers in this life, here’s to enjoying the yet undiscovered experiences that await us in 2008
Peter
It has been a difficult year for me but I find a great connection with the idea of celebrating still being here, it has been hard to feel like this is a victory for me … but it is, and I am glad.
A Happy New Year to you all and may this next year bring you a magical and spiritual journey
YES TOM !
quicker than ever, paulo’s ‘middle of the year’ flag had startled me too. sorry to hear about your loss, I have always found it very difficult to say anything in times of loss; just a squeeze of the shoulders.
I loved paulo’s new year sharing with us; i love to see myself as a wol, have a cpy of his manual. a few pages i read almost daily, contemplating as I sip my evening tea, in the beautiful garden around my house !!
I am trying to get “The Warrior of Light is the master of his thoughts” heck this is the one I have been seriously grappling with !! for before I can be master of something I need to be aware of it in real time !! and that is where I slip so often ! every day. OUR awareness needs to become two pointed !!!1
the year was of many a battles, most inconclusive, defeat I would accept not ! war is on ! warrior is alive !! and what a sweet war ! no bloodshed. does a wol fights his wars under rules of love ? for himself and everything that is. saw “passion of the christ” for first time yesterday, my friends could not stand it when zesus was being tortured, i would have to see that movie alone it seems !!
HAPPY NEW YEAR FRINDS !! WOLS !!!
it was a … can’t say what kind of year…!!!
strange things happened…!!!
hey gauri…. what were u doing there??….writing another review???…..
Hi - I am responding to Tom’s question - I believe that perhaps Paulo works on the star sign year which begins April so therefore Christmas (March) would be the 12 month of the year with April being the first - if you get what I mean.
I am yet to know Paulo and his books but I am a spiritualy healer, reiki master, counsellor and NLP coach and I believe his books give me a completely different dimension to my life. Blessings - love, light and laugh - Diana
x
Dearest Paulo,
Truthfully, my entire life, i’ve never looked at new years as a celebration of the year past, but rather as the chance of new beginning. A time of year where we are hoping the that we have a great year, and we start it with happiness and a celebration. Over the past few years, i’ve had some really rough times, and each year things started to build up to the point, where, when i got to new years, i was actually scared of a new year. I’d sit and think to myself, what’s going to happen next in my life? And this new years for me, i found myself surrounded by this feeling of uneasiness, fear, and even sadness. Lets just say, that the night led me to reach my limit in many ways, which i am grateful for, simply because when i woke up on new years day, i found myself a new person. I decided enough is enough and i can do better. I decided to change certain things, i decided to actually strive to be a better person that i know i am, and i decided to even believe that maybe beyond all doubt this will be a good year. I have to thank you Paulo, because after reading this passage i realised something crucial, which was gratitude. I have alot to be grateful for, and although i may have had a rocky year, i should still be able to hold my head up high and celebrate, because i’ve still got my family, and my dreams. I’ve also realised that despite everything, i stand stronger today, and i made it.. So yes, i should celebrate. I should celebrate, because i’m still here. I’m still alive. And i still have a chance to discover more of myself, and of course, by all means, love.
Thank you for being Paulo,
once again you’ve helped me more than you know, thank you. And i wish you and your family everything of the best for this new year. May God bless you.
Lots of love
Yajna
Friends,
i wish you all everything of the best for this new year
may all your dreams come true. Aditya, i think that i feel the same way that you do about this place. The people here, are trying, and although we all are fighting our own battles, we find strength here somehow to carry on. And i guess in many ways, this place reminds us that there’s always hope, and someone who cares. My friends, although i may not know your faces or voices, i love you all very much, and i’m very thankful to have met you all. I look forward to talking to you throughout this year and many more years to come! May God bless you all 
lots of love,
Yajna
Happy new year to all warriors of the light. In reply to a question on the devil and mrs. prim, if the stranger is truly evil or not.. all i can say is that he is definitely touched by evil and it is this evil that has eaten up most of his soul. He is a fool like no other.
One question I would like to ask Paulo is “what is your true vision of paradise, life after death, when we are reborn in heaven?”
I am ramping up my warrior inside at the moment as I have many battles ahead this year, so keep pumping out the stories spiritual father.
Hope you all have a good new year
Wolffather
Enjoyed this book immensely over this past week-end. Paulo Coehlo is a gifted writer and his book was most refreshing for my mind.
Favorite Quote from Warrior of The Light :
A Warrior of the Light is in the world in order to help his fellow man , not to condemn his neighbor. p.76
Yes — this is truth !
a year has passed with all its good and bad, but the mercy of GOD, make us remember only the good things with gratitude and the bad things may be with laough or at least rlife. whenever new year come, its a new step into new experince,s and new battels to be fighted inspite of the outcome of them, we should be greatful and praise GOD for having the new chance of being alive.
may GOD make it a happy, benfectual year for everybody.
thank you sir
dearest friends,
hope that i’m not too late in wishing everybody ‘happy new year’! i dont know but i’ve always found that phrase ‘happy new year’ somewhat weird, it’s like how are u to know whether this new year will be happy or not? and for that reason, i’ve shied away from parties and clubs on new year’s eve because i’d rather stay home with close freinds and reflect on the year that has been (gosh! i sound like an old drag, but it’s true….)
When talking about new year’s, the talk of resolutions always comes in.. the normal year after year ‘i will stop smoking, drink less and lose weight’ is somehwat routine yet it never happens… i suppose when you try to pinpoint it down to specific details like that, you tend to think too much about not doing those things, therefore the temptation of breaking the resolution is higher… am i making any sense here?
it’s different if you have a general one like, ‘try to be a nicer person to people, try to show gratitude at every given opportunity and smile more often’.. when you have general resolutions like that, its easier to fulfil them because there are so many chances to show that you actually mean to keep the resolutions intact without having to resort to sheer will power and strength… and after a while, it will help you to become contented and less bitter about life…. we are quick to pinpoint the fault of others but in doing so, fail to notice that we have our faults too and it is a prt of us whether we acknowledge it or not…
‘i realised that all the trouble i ever had about you came from some smallness or fear in myself’- kahlil gibran
good luck in the new year everybody,
take care and all smiles,
lots and lotsa love,
sarah from malaysia
This year is already proving to go fast but it has been very happy even if it has gone quick, well over a week into 2008, lets spend the other 358 days wisely. while I was writing this I realise I just said lets spend the other days. That really proves that the most valuable thing you can spend is time.
A.V.C,
I do not wish that this year be any more easy, I like to be challenged, but I have had some mentally and physiically hurting memories in 2007, some very good ones though, after all, what we really need to do is concentrate on the present and its problems, you see I look at the western world and when they come to a dillema, they try to find out what the problem was, what caused it. Then I look at the most advanced culture in the world, Japan and they do not concentrate on what the problem was or what caused it, they concentrate on what they should do next to improve the situation, maybe thats why the Japanese have the lowest obesity rate, highest life expectancy rate and most advanced country in the world, they dont dwell in the past…
aditya,
With 2007, it was like a strong current, I tried to swim against it, but the more I tried, the more I got stuck in a rutt. Eventually I decided to go with the current and it took me to were I wanted to go, pretty ironic I think. In this year, my ambitions and dreams have taken a beating, but 2008 is a year for defining my individualism, people this year, seem to really appreciate my personality, which is a nice change. Just the other day, I had just got home after a hard days studying, I was outside the front door, and what I really needed was a cup of tea, but I stopped and felt there was something un-finished. I looked at my surroundings, the road that I have lived in all my life, the friendly people going about there businessess. I looked up at the sky and there was a cloud. It was always moving forward but in hwat direction was not its choice, the wind sent it on the way it was destined to go sonce the beginning of time, but I noticed that even as it moved forward, it changed shape. So I was happy to go inside after learning a very simple lesson, as we go on in life, we change, I also felt this feeling when I sat down in fornt of the computer, that there was something unfinished, and now I realise, the wind is like the current of 2007, I was meant to flow with it all along, and in the end like the cloud, I am were I am supposed to be.
And yes, it has been a year of battles, very dishonourable battle for me, with back stabbing and suffering, but I, being the stubborn and moral person that Im told I am, refrained myself from building my success on other peoples suffering, and so I suffered. and through this period of suffering I watched a documentary on the age of chivalry, and at the end, was a very famous battle Im sure we have all heard of, english versus the french at the battle of agincourt in 1415, an english commander was surrounded, with many french prisoners, and so in panic, he slaughtered every last defenceless prisoner and so ended the age of chivalry, but I like to think that the age of chivalry lives on in every WOL’s heart. But I learnt a valuable lesson form this battle of aginacourt, I already knew a lot about the hundred years war (whihc this battle was about)
and I knew that, the english won the battle of agincourt, but they lost the war. This is much like my personal battle of agincourt, the backstabbers versus the honourable, they may have won the battle of 2007 but in the face of ultimate victory, the honourable and loyal and chivalrous shall always prevail!
Sorry for the long rant by the way, I just had to get it out of my head, haha.
Diana,
This is a possibility, but I still find it quite amusing with no offence to paulo of course, but as I have grown up with the same calender, all my short life. But a fact that I find even more amusing is that the ancient roman calender had something like 212 errors which meant they weould be celebrating around the time of the start of spring, haha.
Wishing you all a peaceful, joyful new year. i don’t usually read the blogs and i never participate by sending messages. i just wait patiently for the wise one to send me food for my mind… and he never fails. But today i wandered over to the blog and i am so glad i did. The first message i read was from Tom. i was glad to read that i am not alone… for me this past year has been very difficult and lots of loss… lots of tears. Though i am grateful for I have certainly learned a lot about myself in the process. Now i will go and reread the Warrior of Light… So thank you all for opening your heart and be well and be safe. 2008=10=1 it truly is a promising new beginning.
mitakuye oyasin
brenda
Peter I love the comment from your neighbor, i just want to share with you that we should not live every day as our last day, instead live every day as if was the only day given to us.
Happy new year to all.
IF
[quote comment="17298"]An elderly farming neighbour of mine (his name was Liam) had a habit of saying (as he sipped his Paddy whiskey!) “We are but a heartbeat away from eternity”…so I remember his words and try to make every day a ‘new years day’ more often than not I fail but thanks to people such as Liam and Paulo, I never forget the importance of trying to live every day as my last and, wonder of wonders, sometimes I succeed!! Happy new year Paulo and fellow travellers in this life, here’s to enjoying the yet undiscovered experiences that await us in 2008
Peter[/quote]
Happy New Year 2008! Where prosperity, health, Success & Love will always be with you all.
hi?i am writting from kenya and this year i’ve come to really appreciate the value of peace and when all is going in many directions i’m grateful that i can sit here and think of the goodness of the Lord for He has saved this nation from the brink of violence lets pray for each other and especially that the Prince of Peace might reign all over.GOD BLESS YOU.AMEN
what a year it has been .. the most wonderful year of my life. i cherished it more because i wasn’t supposed to survive through new year 2008. i was given 8 months to live in November 2006. but i am still around. and last two days i was told i have 6 months to live. what is this? i don’t understand.. so now i live each day as if it is my last. i thank God for every extra day He has given me. i thank God for giving me the best days of my life. i thank God for giving me someone to love.. someone from the past. even though we can’t be together yet i know we are always together spiritually. and i thank God for getting to know Paolo, who inspires me. happy new year to all. i certainly hope i will be around a year from now to wish you another happy new year.
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
Hi Tom ! yagna !
sorry due rto some tech glitches I could not respond earlier.
hey what’s life without a good fight !!
peter, u still around nice to see u buddy.
u have said that sometimes u succed in living life as if its’ your last day, hey ! then how come u r still around !!!
Thanks for this post!