What is destiny?

It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny 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 destiny.

It?s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it?s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It?s your mission on earth. The Soul of the World is nourished by peoples happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy and jealousy. To realize ones destiny is a person?s only real obligation. All things are one.

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

Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it its 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. Its 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.


~The Alchemist: Paulo Coehlo~