10 life lessons from the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

1. Fear is bigger obstacle than the obstacle itself.

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams. Because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.

2.Be present.

Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.

3.Follow your heart, it will not lead you astray.

Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.

4.Focus on your journey.

When someone sees the same person every day, they wind up becoming a part of that person’s life. And then they want the person to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

5.Make a decision.

When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he has never dreamed of when he first made the decision.

6.Never given up on your dreams.

Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.’

7.Love is the language of the world; it requires no explanation.

At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the soul of world surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke—the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as has theirs here at the well.

8.We create our own reality.

I’m like everyone else—I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.

9.Alway take action

“There is only one way to learn,” the alchemist answered. “It’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.

10.Keep getting back up, no matter how many times you fall.

The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.