The Alchemist’s Secrets to Life
The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.
This story that Melchizedek tells Santiago that one should live life fully, and that living life fully also means to be responsible. You won’t find happiness by focusing solely on the task at hand: your career or schoolwork. You also won’t find happiness indulging in all the vacations, cuisines, and relationships.
Find an equilibrium where you do both, he says. Be accountable to those who gave you the opportunities you have and be serious about what you can contribute to the world. At the same time, be enamored by what you have around you: your people, your world, and your humanity. Take nothing for granted. That’s the secret to happiness.
The world’s greatest lie is that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what is happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.
This sentence speaks for itself.
We are afraid of losing what we have[…]. But this fear evaporates when we understand our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.
More often than not, the status quo is the greatest paralyzer. I’m happy enough as is. Why risk it all? But in truth, the destiny you were meant to fulfill and reality are decided by the same person. Be that God, or yourself. With that in mind, there is only one way closer to that dream. Forwards.
Because I don’t live in the past or the future. I’m only interested in the present. If you can concentrate on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.
Life is the moment we’re living right now.
To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.
— The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
