Jedi Elana

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.

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When the boy asks the alchemist why so few alchemists have succeeded in turning lead into gold, the alchemist explains that "they were loking only for gold... They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend"

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"When you possess great treasures within you, you try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed"

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Omens
Omens are the individual language in which God talks to you. My omens are not your omens.

They are this strange, but very indivdual language that guides you towards your own destiny. They are not logical. They talk to your heart directly.
The only way that you can learn any language is by making mistakes. I made my mistakes, but then I started to connect with the signs that guide me. This silent voice of God that leads me to the places where I should be.

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Alchemist: "This is for you. It's for your generosity to the pilgrims"
Monk: "But this payment goes well beyond my generosity"
Alchemist: "Don't say that again. Life might be listening, and give you less the next time"

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This is why alchemy exists, so that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life.
Tha's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

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If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you (treason). Because you'll know its dreams and wishes and will know how to deal with them.
You will never be able to escape from your heart. So its better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you'll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.
-come to understand its dodges and tricks, and to accept it as it was

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A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.



Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention.



The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours.



"Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something," said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. "As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill."



The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was.



"Well," asked the wise man, "did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?"



The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him.
"Then go back and observe the marvels of my world," said the wise man. "You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house."



"Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen.



"But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?" asked the wise man.
Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone."Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you," said the wisest of wise man.


"The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon."





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The boy didn't know what a person's Personal Legend was.
"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.

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..... the journey we all take to find the most meaningful treasures in our lives into steps that are at once natural and magical. It is about faith, power and courage we all have within us to pursue the intricate path of a Personal Legend, a path charted by the mysterious magnet of destiny but obscured by distractions. Santiago shows how along the way we learn to trust our hearts, read the seemingly inconspicuous signs, and understand that as we look to fulfill a dream, it looks to find us just the same, if we let it.

"the world's greatest lie" - that we all lose control of our own lives and must let them be controlled by fate

"beginner's luck"
"a universal language understood by everybody"

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