I last read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho about 10 years ago. I remember I loved it then and – at the same time – couldn’t remember how the story evolved.
“Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognising opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.” ~ www.Amazon.com
It struck me, as I was devouring The Alchemist this time around, how this phrase from the book couldn’t be more true for me – and likely for you too.
“When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”
One of my mentors, Andrea J Lee, said to me, when I was struggling with a decision, along the lines “Kay, there was an old lady who lived in a question – and it’s OK to live in a question – but only for a while“.
We can both understand how draining it can be to be undecided, can’t we?
To keep questioning yourself.
To vacillate and flip-flop on should I, could I, will I, what if, then what – etc etc.
If you look back on decisions you’ve made, ones where you were struggling and then you decided “right, this is what I’m going for” – you, like me, will see how much opened up, how many things you did or are doing coming from that decision.
Recently, I’ve decided to change the shape, pace and rhythm of my life AND my business. Dramatically.
As soon as I made the decision to let certain things go, stop doing others, start doing others and ‘lighten up’ certain commitments – BOOM – so many things have already opened up.
Opportunities, positive responses, a feeling of lightness I knew I needed.
It comes though, first and foremost with the decision.
Then, trusting that the ‘strong current’ will carry you.
In other news…
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Last week I shared with you my thoughts about being Out Of Office. The piece I wrote is here.
One of my clients in the financial services industry responded to the eZine with a really helpful observation and I asked her if I could share it with you Amanda. Here it is for you….”Kay, just wanted to feedback that many of the financial institutions have an embargo on out of office return dates. It’s due to financial crime and things like phishing. If a date is on an out of office, it is apparently an opportunity for hacking. I agree that people want to know when someone is Back from holiday but we are no longer allowed to provide this information. Crazy world! The stance is that we email our clients ahead of holidays that we are away with the timeframe and contacts but the automated out of office emails contain only basic info.”
