I have just finished reading Paulo Coelho’s “Like the Flowing River” – Thoughts and Reflections.

It contains a collection of weird and sometimes miraculous incidents in his life, stories he has come across from around the world, and his reflections on different aspects of Life. An interesting read, one can skim across the pages without much delay, but each of the stories leave a thought in our mind that we can take back when we are alone and chew on, analyse them in our own ways and find conclusions based on our experiences.

It is like reading someone’s blog – his thoughts, interesting anecdotes from his life, his views on life.

Throughout the book’s many pages, the authors tells us to look beyond the rising-working-eating-slogging-sleeping routine of our lives and to find our true destiny – the purpose of our lives, the reason why we exist here, at this time.

Here are some of the passages I liked from the book: To grasp and enjoy them, one really needs to read the full text.

I am filled by a profound sense of reverence and respect for a man who is, at that moment, reminding me of a very important lesson: that we each of us have our personal legend to fulfill, and that is all. It doesn’t matter if other people support us or criticize us, or ignore us, or put up with us – we are doing it because that is our destiny on earth, and the fount of all joy.
(The Pianist in the Shopping Mall)

Everything is all right. But he had been a fraction of a second away from hitting our car and hurling us into the ditch; things, then, would have been very bad for all of us. Very bad indeed.
When I get home, I look up at the stars. Sometimes we encounter things on our path, but because our time has not yet come, they brush past us, without touching us, even though they were close enough for us to see them. I thank God for the awareness to understand, as a friend of mine says, that everything that had to happen happened, but nothing did.
(Marked out to die)

If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous.
I am always amazed
that so many people are concerned with
wanting to be what they are not;
what’s the point of making yourself look ridiculous?

(Meeting in the Dentsu gallery)