Hello My Charmed Ones!
Did you know that reading is considered to be one of the most universally acknowledged success habits?
Statistics are thrown around all the time about how many books millionaires and CEOs read in a year. It’s always something crazy like 4+ dozen!
I know for some people, that number seems intimidating. They say the average American reads less than one book per year.
But personally, I don’t believe that it’s the exact number of books read that really makes someone successful. What I think is a more accurate predictor of success is that you are someone who values ongoing education and the way that is most commonly and easily practiced is by reading.
That is why as part of the Productivity + Planning Mastermind Membership that I host, we have a bookclub where each month the members who are interested are able to read along with a book chosen by me that addresses an important productivity or personal development topic.
(If you are interested in being part of our bookclub and getting ongoing support from me to help you live out your own personal vision for success, I would love to have you join the Mastermind and my inner circle, so please do click here to learn more!)
So, I decided that in order to share the love of books and truly, the success habit of continuing your education through the enjoyment and curiosity of reading, I am starting a series here on the blog where I will share one of the books we have read in the Mastermind and provide my summary/feedback on the book.
I am calling this series #BOSS Bookshelf!
We will start with one of my all time favorite books, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
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So this is how I feel about the Alchemist. I’ve already told you this is essentially my favorite book because to me, it’s not a story, it’s an illustration of the principles of Alchemy at work in “real life” situations. For those of you who are not as familiar, Alchemy was an ancient science and the precursor of chemistry, but it was so much more than that. Early Alchemists theorized about the world and physical science and many of their predictions were ultimately proven true through modern research. They had no science or evidence at the time to rationalize their belief, instead, their belief came from pure intuition and engaging and learning from the world, the way the Alchemist in the book taught Santiago to engage and learn from the desert to gain true knowledge or gnosis.
For example, the belief that all things are a manifestation of just one thing, that is true from a quantum mechanics perspective. All things known to us in the universe are created by the arrangement of energy into matter (E=MC Squared), we know this know and it’s a major pursuit of science to understand how we can manipulate the arrangement of energy to create whatever we want or need.
The concept that everything evolves, even seemingly inanimate elements evolve, we also know to be true now via the Theory of Evolution and the fact that coal becomes diamonds, fossilized remained become oil etc. A grain of sand was once a particle of star matter. The dunes of the desert take the form of solid waves, referring back to the fact that the dessert itself was once an ocean.
The great mystery of life is unraveled in this book if you read it deep enough because it is a principle of both this book and alchemy that you can look at the face of any thing in our world and read the entire history of the world in it. It’s quite profound and thats why every time I read this book I learn something new about life and how to evolve myself into the person I want to become.
As the book points out during the scene when Santiago is tasked with turning himself into the wind to avoid death, all of us, each human, plant, animal, mineral, are part of the story of the world written by the one hand (God) and because the one who wrote us is infinite, so are we. We have a story to live out that was written inside of us, and to uncover our purpose we need to get our hands dirty and get down to the business of living.
This is the thing I love about this book the most- it comes out and tells you the thing many religions and world philosophies simply dance around. That you were put here for a reason, that your story began long before you were ever conceived and it will go on as you evolve past your current form. You yourself are not a god but you live inside of God and are connected on a metaphysical level to that single power and every other thing in existence known or unknown to you. Your life has significance and meaning, and it’s up to you to live it out or not, the choice is yours.
Now, I have also come up with a few discussion questions to help us dig a little deeper into the lessons and meaning of the book. Feel free to share your thoughts on these questions as part of our ongoing discussion of The Alchemist.
Question 1: What was your favorite or most impactful lesson from the book?
Question 2: Do you use a system of signs or omens to help you tap into your internal guidance system and what are they?
Question 3: Can you think of a time when the pure expression of enthusiasm and a solid work ethic brought you to success?
Question 4: What is your personal legend?
Question 5: What was the moral of the story for you?
I can’t wait to read your thoughts!
xoxo,