![]() ![]() What would I say to the man who had written a book that made me believe anything was possible? He was in there for a while, so I waited right outside the door. So halfway through his talk, at the intermission, I followed him to the toilet, like a crazed 23-year-old groupie. Listening intently but not actually going, bingo! That’s it! That’s the lesson I came here for. I can’t remember what he talked about now, but I remember not really feeling the vibe. The man who had written The ACTUAL Alchemist, there in the flesh. So I duly went to the talk, sat in a church pew and heard him speak. My New Age little self saw it as such a huge sign. Oh my god! Fate! Destiny! The Universe conspiring! It’s meant to be. Paul Coelho was presenting a talk at St James Church at Piccadilly. It was scheduled for my final night in London. I was able to save enough cash to return to South America after six months and as my departure loomed, I saw a talk advertised. I landed a job in London with the metaphysical author Stuart Wilde, who paid me well to do anything from type letters to read books on lucid dreaming to go to the pub for a few beers. My heart, soul and spirit were still in South America, while my body was in London working and counting down the days till I could return. I could never have imagined, when I was planning my three-month backpacking trip, that I’d end up living there for three-and-a-half years.Īfter my initial three-month visit to South America, I went to London to work and save money, but I was only half there. I was devastated when I missed my chance to interview Paulo, but the following year, I did indeed embark on my trip to South America. Paulo said nothing was a coincidence – that signs and synchronistic forces came into play to guide you towards your true purpose in life. Blatantly untrue, I now realise, but comforting nonetheless. The book’s core premise – ‘that when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true’ – was comforting. I loved that the book made me feel I had a destiny and that destiny was to travel to South America, where I would have some sort of epiphany. It was one of the books that fed my desire to go to South America, least of all because Paulo is Brazilian. My chance at interviewing this amazing author had passed. I called his publisher but alas, he’d left for Brazil the previous day. I had to interview Paulo Coelho while he was still in Australia. The next day I raced into work to look for the book’s accompanying media release. It sat on the top of the pile for a few days before I took it home and devoured it in one night. I rarely had time to read them all, but when I saw The Alchemist, with its mystical purple cover, I was intrigued. My desk was piled high with self-help books like The Celestine Prophecy and Creative Visualisation. It was a healthy lifestyles and environment newspaper with a large section for book and music reviews at the back. ![]() I was working for a newspaper in Sydney called The Planet. I first heard of the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho in 1994 when his book The Alchemist landed on my desk for review. I just wonder why, instead of believing in supreme beings or cosmic forces, we don’t believe a little bit more in ourselves.“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. Whatever works for each one of us is fine.Įverybody has to believe in something. If you choose to believe that if you pray to god that something will or won’t happen, and it works for you, that’s fine by me. If you choose to believe that just by wishing something very much you’re gonna get it, and it works for you, that’s fine by me. Wishful thinking doesn’t work.ĭon’t get me wrong. It’s no good to want something and wait at home wishing for it badly. If you fall, you get up again, over and over. And that means that you must work you ass off, and have a plan, and follow it until the end, no matter what. I am convinced that this wishful thinking stuff is just a figure of speech, a much shorter way of saying that when you want something bad you must use all means at your disposal to get it. Do you really think that Madonna has wished her way to success? It doesn’t matter how much you wish for something, if you don’t open up to the possibilities and work hard for it, you’re not gonna get it. As if what she has achieved was down to “the universe” and wanting it so badly instead of working her ass off. ![]() It pisses me off when she says things like that. You don’t get to be like this by wishing, Madonna ![]()
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