I absolutely love this quote from Paulo Coelho because it speaks to the impact of the chaos and confusion in life. When ‘life gets in the way,’ we can become disconnected from what we have been working toward in our lives; from being present or still for even a few moments to hear our inner voice speak to us. And in the chaos and confusion we somehow wander off our path.
Similarly, we may meet people on our journey who are insecure in their own lives, or who are judgmental about how life ‘should’ be lived. When these people are individuals we love, respect or even just simply admire, or when they are people we believe to be our friends; who we believe have our best interest at heart, we may allow their voices to become louder than the voice within us; the one connected to our internal compass. We may begin to believe that their voices are the ones to follow, telling us what we ‘should’ be doing, the career we ‘should’ pursue, or worse – telling us that we will never be loved or wanted or successful; we are simply not worthy.
It is in situations similar to these that doubt and fear creep into our lives. The force of these two negative emotions can be devastatingly powerful. Think about the effect of doubt and fear building up over time…what that can do to us physically, mentally and emotionally. And that is when the truth of Paulo Coelho’s quote comes into play.
It is the realization that over time we have allowed others’ voices and negative forces to shape our lives. Who we have become is only a distant echo of the person we were divinely, humanly, conceived to be. And that is when we realize our human journey is about discovering who we truly are, the person we were always meant to be. And we realize how difficult it can be to release the shackles of the thoughts and directives of others that we absorbed into our being, from society, loved ones, friends, co-workers, some well-intentioned and some imprisoned in their own insecurity and fears.
My wise friend Marilyn DuMont told me, “It’s in the moment of inception (of a thought, a knowing, of love…) that there is truth. And then we let life get in the way and we mess it up.” The work of our lifetime is to listen to our inner self – to our soul – and to trust it in those moments of inception to direct us on our true, divinely inspired path; the one to the treasure that is ours alone.
For as Paulo Coelho also said, “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
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