I'm not doing anything, and yet I'm also doing the most important thing a man can do: I'm listening to what I needed to hear from myself.
Paulo CoelhoRead
No one can posses an afternoon of rain beating against the window, or the serenity of a sleeping child, or the magical moment when the waves break on the rocks. No one can posses the beautiful things of this Earth, but we can know them and love them. It is through such moments that God reveals himself to mankind.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that while we cannot own the beauty of nature and moments, we can appreciate and love them as divine revelations.
Paulo Coelho reflects on the ephemeral nature of beauty in the world, suggesting that true richness lies not in possession but in appreciation. The experiences of witnessing rain, a sleeping child, or the crashing waves reveal deeper truths and divine presence, encouraging us to find connection and meaning in the transient moments around us.
In practice
In a speech about mindfulness, one can use this quote to highlight the importance of appreciating the present moment.
I'm not doing anything, and yet I'm also doing the most important thing a man can do: I'm listening to what I needed to hear from myself.
Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.
We need to clear our minds of bad thoughts.
Having the courage to take the steps we always wanted to take is the only way of showing that we trust in God.
The fool who loves giving advice on our garden never tends his own plants
Sometimes the Warrior feels as if he were living two lives at once.
You cannot reshape human nature without mutilating human beings.
It is important to ask ourselves, as citizens, whether a world power can provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety.
Heaven wheels above you, displaying to you her eternal glories, and still your eyes are on the ground.
Whether at work, at home or in public, we have been trained to believe that who we are at the core of our being is often unacceptable. As a result, we work diligently to live up to - and sometimes down to - what others have made us out to be, whether or not it is an accurate reflection of who we are.
I call our world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space.
The narrative constructs the identity of the character, what can be called his or her narrative identity, in constructing that of the story told. It is the identity of the story that makes the identity of the character.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.