The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Meditation
It takes courage to listen to your heart, particularly when the heart is fearful. Lately, I’ve found myself overcome with gratitude – but gratitude not only for the people in my life, rather consumed with gratitude out of fear of losing them. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy said. I can’t think of a more universally human fear: fear of the suffering heart.
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist encourages us to live with the understanding that fear of suffering is worse than any suffering itself, and to pursue our heart’s deepest dreams in search for our “treasure”. When have you found yourself succumbed to fear of the heart’s suffering? Has it caused you to hold back in any areas of your life? “No heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams,” Coelho writes. Muster up the courage to truly listen to your heart today. What are its dreams? What does it fear? Without that fear, what possibilities lie ahead that before seemed impossible to achieve? What does your heart need to tell you that it’s happy?
Brianna Curran, Washington, DC
