How many times do you go back to your dream?
"Once more" always seems to be the answer the Universe is looking for
Imagine this: you abandon your dream of being a writer. You drop out, make do, find love, make money, but something still calls you. You write and publish a book; it fails.
Years later, approaching 40, you go on a pilgrimage and write a book about it to little effect. The next year, you write another book and the publisher prints 900 copies. However, a year later he tells you the book isn’t working. You write still another book and look for a bigger publisher,
***
I’ve read The Alchemist more than once and included it in a list I have been gathering of genre bending allegorical books for the young at heart that are wonderfully wise and beautiful in ways that “serious adult” books often forget how to be.
The idea was to mine these books for a series of daily quotes for the month of April and to include a quick movie trailer each day since the majority of them have become beloved movies as well as books. The project was going well until Day 22 when I hit a major snag … or rather snags.
The Alchemist was the featured book for Day 22, however, the trailer I found was for a movie by the same name but unrelated to Paulo Coehlo’s book.
Next, I found a one-minute trailer from 2017 which didn’t excite me so I kept looking and found a brilliant “teaser” from 2021 and wondered why I hadn’t seen the movie. The teaser was from Will Smith and Producer Kevin Frakes and it looked terrific. I couldn’t believe I had missed the movie.
Then I went looking for the official trailer and couldn’t find one, but did find a notice about the project being sold to a different production company. Apparently, the movie has yet to be made and the logical question is, “Why not?”
This YouTube explains a bit more about Coehlo, The Alchemist and why it isn’t a movie yet … and may never be.
March 12, 2024
The process of being stymied by this one-page of a “throw-away” project that won’t even be sent out by email (it’s simply a daily quote posted on Notes) wound up being a meditation, a synchronicity, an opening up to a feeling of receptivity and awareness. Words and feelings danced.
Beware or be aware?
The call to go to Mexico is still thrashing around with fear and doubt: Is this what I should be doing? Does it serve my purpose, my “personal legend” as Coehlo would call it? Or part of my Hero’s Journey as Joseph Campell describes it?
A few days ago, I heard the story of Marta Becket who created an opera house in Death Valley and danced on the stage for 50 years whether there was an audience or not. I was so enchanted by the story that I decided I had to go there before (or maybe even instead of) Mexico. (See post for more about Marta.)
I leave in four days for a brief stay in the desert and am now wondering if I’m just setting up road blocks because of fear. I’m 78, alone, going to places on the State Department’s “don’t travel there” list, and I don’t speak the language. I’ve made some preliminary calls to people who could help with this project but have received little response. Is that a sign … or simply the Universe asking me if I’m serious?
My comfy chair will miss me. (Beware the temptations of the comfort zone.)
This little nit in a tea pot has completely derailed me … or, if I look at it through the alchemist’s eyes, perhaps it has enlightened or emboldened me. Trying to find a short video to add to the April quotes led me down a rabbit trail that whiled away hours before I settled on this one.
It is all about the power of recognizing signs and synchronicities and living your Personal Legend. At this point in the story, Santiago has fallen in love with Fatima and wonders if he should give up his dream and stay with his love. And, suddenly, I feel like the video is pointing at me, saying, “You’d spend the rest of your days knowing that you didn’t chase your dreams and the only person who stopped you was you.”
The Alchemist says, “There is only one way to learn and that’s through action. Everything you need to know, you will learn after you begin your journey.” That particularly struck me because this morning, long before this whole thing with The Alchemist started, the idea came to me to change the title of this stack to Gratitude Mojo in Action. Slightly weird.
“You are the alchemist of your life.”
(And, just in case you wonder, I am a rational person, a practical realist, not given to seeing fairies or magical thinking. … although wouldn’t it be fun!) However, on the upcoming trip to the desert, I plan to stay aware, look for signs, and return knowing what the next step on my Personal Legend will be.
I’ll report back on March 20.
I read somewhere, “You can’t steer a parked car.”
Have fun!
I really liked the Alchemist but read it a while ago. It certainly lights a match under the butts of fine vagabonds everywhere. Your new trip idea certainly sounds intriguing but only you can put together all of the variables. And then the actions you take will hopefully generate the momentum you need.