The Pencil

More powerful stuff from Paulo Coelho:
I've put the "main points" in bold - for me... :)

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘ I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.’
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.’

source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho



Needing to take the time to read more than little bits of mr. Coelho's work...!

Siddhartha Gautama

From Paulo Coelho's blog:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha)

Yes!! :D Your own reason and common sense! That's it! :D
Trust your own heart, your own gut feeling whether it be concerning religion or love or parenting or housekeeping...! Don't do what other's tell you to do, do what you feel is right... You need to decide what works for you...! :)

Paulo Coelho

‎‎"To believe in your choice you don't need to prove that other people's choices are wrong."
- Paulo Coelho

"No" is not a sin.
"Yes" is not a virtue.
- Paulo Coelho
I'm really liking Paulo Coelho's quotes... I follow him on facebook and he really has some insightful stuff to share! He seems, at least to me, to be a very interesting and quite available person and I like him more the more I learn of him...!
His books "Veronika Decides to Die" and "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept" I can most definitely recommend that you read!

He is truly inspirational in his "quest" for individual growth (for everyone!) and questioning of the need for a "norm" to follow... Who really decides what is "right" and what is "normal"...?

Did I make a boo-boo...?

Just added "I am not a human being trying to have a spiritual experience. I am a spirit being mastering the human experience." to the top of the blog, just under the header, because I thought it so...interesting. :)
But then with English not being my first language I just got a bit unsure about what exactly the words say... :/

My interpretation is that we are not really human beings trying to have a spiritual experience but in fact spirit beings trying to master the human experience...
Does the word "mastering" say that I'm already a Master at the human-bit of life ('cause that'd be all wrong!) or is it like I think/thought that it is a act of trying to master...??

Does my rambling make any sense...? Is my newly found "good" quote in truth a fat exaggeration?? :/

More than just slightly embarrassed,

Blessing of Solitude

from Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

May you recognize in your life
the presence, power, and light of your soul.
May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging
connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.
May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,
that you have a special destiny here,
that behind the facade of your life there is something
beautiful, good, and eternal happening.
May you learn to see yourself with the same
delight, pride and expectation
with which God sees you in every moment.
- John O'Donohue

I've had this "in my keeping" for a while...and I love it because it has the same ring to it as for example the word of Max Ehrmann or Marianne Williamson, and many others...

That I am, we are, able. We need to believe and not try SO hard to be whatever our vision of perfect may be. We are good enough just the way we are...

Powerful Beyond Measure

It just struck me that I've not shared my most recent favourite quote, from my new favourite insightful person, Marianne Williamson! :D I can't believe I'd forgotten, she's (this passage!) is practically the reason for this blogs existence...! :)

It's the reason for me being in a place where I feel worthy and deserving of Good Things, where I feel allowed to be me, to shine. To shine bright for me, in my heart... Not to please or impress someone else or even to rub someones nose in my fabulousity! ;) :D :)

That's the power that words have! That's the power these words gave me...!

... no I don't always feel brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous! ;) The point is that I now know my worth even when I feel low and miserable, which I most definitely do from time to time...




"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
- Marianne Williamson

Phenomenal Woman

by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my steps,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand,
or Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

...working on her own phenomenality... ;) It's there, in all of us...we just need to believe! ♥