Reflections...

The Heart

An excerpt from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

“All people who are happy have God within them. And that happiness could be found in a grain of sand from the desert, as the alchemist had said. Because a grain of sand is a moment of creation, and the universe has taken millions of years to create it. ‘Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,’ his heart said. ‘We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them-the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. ‘So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.’ ‘Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?’ the boy asked the alchemist.’ ‘Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.’” [page 131]

I can relate. Sometimes our hearts tell us NO even if we know we want it, because we are scared of what may come from it and the consequences it may bring. So our drive for those personal legends, treasures, desires, or what have you, is not as strong, and so we give up and stop going after it, leaving it all up to fate, but dont get me wrong, sometimes that’s all you can do, and sometimes that’s what is best.