Whole Living Today

I finished reading a wonderful novel a few weeks ago that contained a beautiful story in it which I wanted to post on my blog. But, I figured it might be a little too long and that I might be infringing on the copyright notice of “except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.”

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors. His book “The Alchemist” is the best read for those seeking. There is a great interview in Newsweek Magazine where bestselling author Paulo Coelho reveals how he supports piracy of his own work. I do agree with his philosophy on internet books. If people like what they read on the internet; reviews, scanning a chapter of a book, quotes, they will purchase the book. Who is really going to sit in front of the computer and read a whole novel? Libraries are still growing, books are not going out of style because of the internet. Books are like friends, they provide entertainment, company, and insight. A book is something tangible, something to hold on to and enjoy. To be reread at a later date. As we grow, we are able to see different concepts, ideas and symbolism because our perceptions have changed.

So, I’m going to take a little liberty and post this wonderful story from Paulo Coelho’s book “Eleven Minutes: A Novel“, a story of passion, desire, love, disappointment, freedom, and dreams.

“Once upon a time, there was a bird. He was adorned with two perfect wings and with glossy, colorful, marvelous feathers. In short, he was a creature made to fly about freely in the sky, bringing joy to everyone who saw him.

One day, a woman saw this bird and fell in love with him. She watched his flight, her mouth wide in amazement, her heart pounding, her eyes shining with excitement. She invited the bird to fly with her, and the two travelled across the sky in perfect harmony. She admired and venerated and celebrated that bird.

But then she thought: He might want to visit far-off mountains! And she was afraid, afraid that she would never feel the same way about any other bird. And she felt envy, envy for the bird’s ability to fly.

And she felt alone.

And she thought: “I’m going to set a trap. The next time the bird appears, he will never leave again.”

The bird, who was also in love, returned the following day, fell into the trap and was put in a cage.

She looked at the bird every day. There he was, the object of her passion, and she showed him to her friends, who said: “Now you have everything you could possibly want.” However, a strange transformation began to take place: now that she had the bird and no longer needed to woo him, she began to lose interest. The bird, unable to fly and express the true meaning of his life, began to waste away and his feathers to lose their gloss; he grew ugly; and the woman no longer paid him any attention, except for feeding him and cleaning out his cage.

One day, the bird died. The woman felt terribly sad and spent all her time thinking about him. But she did not remember the cage, she thought only of the day when she had seen him for the first time, flying contentedly amongst the clouds.

If she had looked more deeply into herself, she would have realized that what had thrilled her about the bird was his freedom, the energy of his wings in motion, not his physical body.

Without the bird, her life too lost all meaning, and Death came knocking at her door. “Why have you come?” she asked Death. “So that you can fly once more with him across the sky,” Death replied. “If you had allowed him to come and go, you would have loved and admired him even more; alas, you now need me in order to find him again.”

Visit Paulo’s blog for quotes, stories, interviews and more: Paulo Coelho

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds;

Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.

Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” ~Patanjali

When I started this blog in November (I have some posts from an old blog I never did anything with), I never realized how intoxicating blogging could become. I’m really looking forward to the new year when I have the time to really become part of the blogging community (this is my busiest time of year right now for my natural products business).

One common theme running through many of my posts is passion.

So many times I have been told by others and my students that they aren’t passionate about anything… how sad!

pas-sion n. 1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.  2. strong affection; love  3. strong sexual desire; lust.  4. an instance or experience of this.  5. a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.  6. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything; a passion for music.  7. the object of, such a fondness or desire. … (the list goes on but these are the definitions that I refer to).  The Random House College Dictionary

My life is based upon passion and sensuality. Sorry, I’m not talking about this in a sexual way (but that applies as well). But truly enjoying what you do, being totally absorbed. This is when life becomes fun. Pay attention to Now.

Maybe I repeat myself in different ways because I know that sometimes I hear the same thing over and over but sometimes when it’s said a little different… I think this is why some of us read and try to take in as much as we can.  We can accept what resonates with our beliefs or maybe we can find an idea that challenges a part of who we are.