My Book Side

Routine has nothing to do with repetition. To become really good at anything, you have to practice and repeat, practice and repeat, until the technique becomes intuitive. I learned this when I was a child, in a small town in Brazil’s interior where my family used to spend the summer holidays. I was fascinated by the work of a blacksmith who lived nearby. I would sit for what seemed like an eternity, watching his hammer rise and fall on the red-hot-steel, scattering sparks all around, like fireworks. Once, he said, “You probably think I”m doing the same thing over and over, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, you’re wrong. Each time I bring the hammer down, the intensity of the blow is different, sometimes it’s harder, sometimes, it’s softer. But I learned that only after I’d been repeating the same gesture for many years, until the moment came when I didn’t think – I simply let my hand guide my work.”

I’ve never forgotten those words.

- O Aleph, Paulo Coelho -

I bear many years but I also carry with me moments that would not have happened if I had not dared to beyond my limits.

- Chronicle – I’m not happy, Life: Selected Quotations -

Start to do something.
That way, time will be an ally, not an enemy.

- The Fifth Mountain, Life: Selected Quotations -

I was never a crammer, so time has always been my friend. However, there are numerous times, specially at work, whenever I am overwhelmed by the bundle of tasks piled on me and whenever I am rushing to meet a deadline, that I really wish that time could slow down a bit. Sometimes, “expectations” of you, seem to connive with all else, including time, and you feel defeated.

I’ve proven it’s true that when you’re doing something, you don’t notice time pass but when you’re not doing anything and you’re bored, it seems to stretch to forever. Don’t we at some point seem to stare the clock and threaten it into moving faster to lunch break or dismissal time?

Time is a friend to those who know how to value it’s existence. In reality, we don’t have time. We just have now.

Don’t try to be brave when it’s enough to be intelligent.

- The Pilgrimage, Life: Selected Quotations -

The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.

- Veronika Decides to Die, Life: Selected Quotations -