InnerSelf

In New York I am going to have late-afternoon tea with a rather unusual artist. She works in a bank on Wall Street, but one day she had a dream: she had to go to twelve places in the world and in each place make a painting or a sculpture using material from nature.

So far she has managed to complete four of these works. She shows me photos of one of them: an Indian sculpted inside a cave in California.

Waiting For A Sign

While she awaits the signs from her dreams, she goes on working at the bank – in that way she saves up the money to travel and fulfill her task.

I ask her why she does this.

“It’s to keep the world in equilibrium,” she answers.

Our Actions Make Things Better or Worse

“It may seem silly, but there is something tenuous that joins us all and we can make it better or worse according to how we act. We can save or destroy so much with a simple gesture that at times seems utterly useless.

“It may even be that my dreams are a lot of nonsense, but I don’t want to run the risk of not following them.

"For me, people are related just like a huge, fragile spider’s web. I am trying through my work to mend a part of that web.”

This article was reprinted from
Paulo Coelho's blog, with gratitude.

Recommended book.

Warrior of the Light: A Manual 
by Paulo Coelho.

Paulo Coelho helps bring out the Warrior of the Light within each of us. He also shows readers how to embark upon the way of the Warrior: the one who appreciates the miracle of being alive, the one who accepts failure, and the one whose quest leads him to become the person he wants to be. Every short passage invites us to live out our dreams, to embrace the uncertainty of life, and to rise to our own unique destiny.

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About the Author

Paulo Coelho is the author of numerous books, of which the first to become a success, The Alchemist has gone on to sell more than 65 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books in history. It has been translated into more than 70 languages, the 71st being Maltese, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author. Since the publication of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho has generally written one novel every two years including By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Fifth Mountain, Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, Like the Flowing River, The Valkyries and The Witch of Portobello. Visit his website at www.paulocoelho.com