A story by Paulo Coelho, video made by Ken Crane
 Please feel free to re-post this image on your website.
Closing Cycles by Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane
(a version of this article circulates in internet having me as its author. In fact, I did not write it, but I made a few corrections and decided to republish it here) One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister. Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill. Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place. Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else. Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.” Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important. Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! re-posted from Paulo Coelho's Blog The daisy and selfishness by Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane Warriors of Light must be together. The short story below illustrated this: “I am a daisy in a field of daisies,” thought the flower. “Amidst others, it is impossible to notice my beauty.” An angel heard what she was thinking and commented: - But you are so pretty! - I want to be the only one! In order not to hear any complaints, the angel carried her off to a city square. Some days later, the mayor went there with a gardener to make some changes to the square. - There is nothing of interest here. Dig up the earth and plant geraniums. - Hold on a minute! – cried out the daisy. – You’ll kill me if you do that! - If there were some others like you, we could make some nice decoration – answered the mayor. – But there are no daisies to be found around here, and you on your own do not make a garden. Then he tore the flower from the ground. re-posted from Paulo Coelho's Blog Porcupines and solidarity Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane
During the Ice Age many animals died because of the cold. Seeing this situation, the porcupines decided to group together, so they wrapped up well and protected one another. But they hurt one another with their thorns, and so then they decided to stay apart from one another. They started to freeze to death again. So they had to make a choice: either they vanished from the face of the earth or they accepted their neighbor’s thorns. They wisely decided to stay together again. They learned to live with the small wounds that a very close relationship could cause, because the most important thing was the warmth given by the other. And in the end they survived. re-posted from Paulo Coelho's Blog He needs your hand by Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane
Master and disciple are walking through the deserts of Arabia. The Master uses each moment of the journey to teach his disciple about faith. “Entrust your things to God,” he said. “Because He never abandons His children.” When they camped down at night, the Master asked the disciple to tie the horses to a nearby rock. The disciple went over to the rock, but then remembered what he had learned that afternoon. “The Master must be testing me. The truth is that I should entrust the horses to God.” And he left the horses loose. In the morning he discovered that the animals had run off. Indignant, he sought out the Master. “You know nothing about God! Yesterday I learned that I should trust blindly in Providence, so I gave the horses to Him to guard, and the animals have disappeared!” “God wanted to look after the horses,” answered the Master. “But at that moment he needed your hands to tie them up and you did not lend them to Him.” re-posted from Paulo Coelho's Blog Children by Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane
What is treason? Walking down the street, the prophet asked: “aren’t we all children of the same Eternal Father?” The multitude agreed. And the prophet went on: “and if that is so, why do we betray our brother?” A boy who was watching asked his father: “what does betray mean?” “It means to trick your companion in order to gain a certain advantage.” “And why do we betray our companion?” insisted the boy. “Because in the past somebody began all that. Ever since then, nobody knows how to stop the wheel. We are always betraying or being betrayed.” “Then I won’t betray anyone,” said the boy. And so he did. He grew up and suffered a lot during his life, but kept his promise. His children suffered less and endured fewer hardships. His grandchildren did not suffer at all. In search of rain After four years of drought in the little village, the parish priest gathered everybody to make a pilgrimage to the mountain; there they would join in communal prayer to ask for rain. In the middle of the group the priest noticed a boy all wrapped up in warm clothes and covered by a raincoat. “Are you crazy?” he asked. “It hasn’t rained in this region for five years and you’ll die of the heat climbing the mountain!” “I’ve got a cold, father. If we are going to pray to God for rain, can you imagine the climb back down? The downpour is going to be so heavy that it’s better to be prepared.” And only after these words a loud roar was heard in the sky and the first drops began to fall. The faith of a boy was enough to work a miracle that thousands of men were praying for. re-posted from Paulo Coelho's Blog Friendship by Paulo Coelho  Illustration by Ken Crane Once upon a time there was a poor but very brave man called Ali. He worked for Ammar, a rich old merchant. One winter’s night Ammar said: “nobody can spend a night like this on top of the mountain without a blanket or food. But you need money, and if you can manage to do that you will receive a great reward. If you don’t, you will work for thirty days without pay”. Ali answered: “tomorrow I shall do this test”. But when he left the shop, he saw that a really icy wind was blowing and became scared, so he decided to ask his best friend, Aydi, if it was crazy of him to accept that bet. After reflecting a while, Aydi answered: “I shall help you. Tomorrow, when you are at the top of the mountain, look ahead. I will be on the top of the mountain next to yours, where I will spend the whole night with a bonfire lit for you. You look at the fire and think about our friendship – that will keep you warm. You will manage, and later on I shall ask you something in return.” Ali won the test, got the money, and went to his friend’s house: “You told me you wanted some payment.” Aydi answered: ”Yes, but it isn’t money. Promise that if at any time a cold wind passes through my life, you will light the fire of friendship for me.” (in “The Aleph”, to be published world wide in 2011) 10 SEC READ: Destiny by Paulo Coelho (ENG, PORT, ESPA) Illustration by Ken Crane
Deciding on the Destinies of Others Malba Tahan tells the story of a man who met an angel in the desert and gave him water. “I am the angel of death and I came to get you,” said the angel. “But as you were kind, I will lend you the Book of Destiny for five minutes; you may change what you want.” The angel gave the man the book. As he was leafing through its pages, the man began reading about the lives of his neighbors. And he got discontented, “These people don’t deserve such nice things,” he said. With the pen in hand, he began worsening the lives of each one. Finally, he reached the page of his destiny. He saw his tragic end, but as he prepared to change it, the book disappeared. Five minutes had already passed. And right there, the angel took the man’s soul. ___________________________________ Decidindo o destino alheio Malba Tahan conta a história de um homem que encontrou um anjo no deserto, e lhe deu água. “Sou o anjo da morte e vim buscá-lo”, disse o anjo. “Mas como você foi bom, vou lhe emprestar o Livro do Destino por cinco minutos; você pode alterar o que quiser”. O anjo entregou o livro. Ao folhear suas páginas, o homem foi lendo a vida dos seus vizinhos. Ficou descontente: “estas pessoas não merecem coisas tão boas”, pensou. De caneta em punho, começou piorar a vida de cada um. Finalmente, chegou na página de seu destino. Viu seu final trágico, mas quando preparava-se para mudá-lo, o livro sumiu. Já se tinham passado cinco minutos. E o anjo, ali mesmo, levou a alma do homem. _____________________________________ Decidiendo el destino ajeno Malba Tahan cuenta la historia de un hombre que encontró un ángel en el desierto, y le dio agua. -Soy el ángel de la muerte y he venido a buscarte- dijo el ángel -. Pero como has sido bondadoso, voy a dejarte prestado el Libro del Destino durante cinco minutos. Puedes alterar lo que quieras en él. El ángel le entregó el libro. Al hojear sus páginas, el hombre fue leyendo la vida de sus vecinos. No le gustó lo que vio: “Estas personas no se merecen cosas tan buenas”, pensó. Pluma en mano, se dedicó a empeorar la vida de cada uno de ellos. Por último, llegó a la página de su destino. Leyó su trágico final y, cuando se disponía a cambiarlo, el libro desapareció. Los cinco minutos ya habían concluido. En ese mismo instante, el ángel se llevó el alma de aquel hombre. ~from Paulo Coelho's Blog 30 SEC READ: Problems by Paulo Coelho Illustration by Ken Crane There was once a well-known scholar, who lived in a mountain in the Himalayas. Tired of living with men, he had chosen a simple life and spent most of his time meditating. His fame, however, was so great that people were willing to walk narrow paths, climb steep hills, swim rivers – to meet the holy man who was believed to be able to resolve any trouble of the human heart. The wise man said nothing but asked them to sit and wait. Three days passed, and more people arrived. When there was no room for anyone else, he addressed the people who were outside his door. “Today I will give the answer that everyone wants. But you must promise that, to have your problems solved, you will not tell the new pilgrims that I moved here – so that you can continue to live in the solitude you so much crave. Tell me your problems” . Someone began to speak, but was soon interrupted by others, as everyone knew that this was the last public hearing that the holy man was giving. The wise man let the situation be prolonged a little, until he cried, “Silence! Write your problems down and put the papers in front of me,” he said. When everyone finished, the wise man mixed all the papers in a basket, then said, “Keep this basket moving amongst you. Each of you will take a paper, and read it. You will then choose whether to keep your problems, or take the one given to you.” Each person took a sheet of paper, read it, and was horrified. They concluded that what they had written, however bad it was, was not as serious as what ailed his neighbor. Two hours later, they exchanged papers amongst themselves, and each one had to put their personal problems back into his or her pocket, relieved that their distress was not as hard as they once thought. Grateful for the lesson, they went down the mountain with the certainty that they were happier than all the others, and – fulfilling the promise made – never let anyone disturb the peace of the holy man. ~from Paulo Coelho's Blog |
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