Brida - what it teaches us!

(photo courtesy: Goodreads)

Paulo Coelho has been my favourite author since ages; his writing is so simple and so motivational, that the reader can see themselves as the protagonist of the story and live in the magical world as the story progresses...

I finished Brida in less than 24 hours! It was so intriguing that I lost myself in the book and the story. On a personal note, it helped me connect a few dots of my own destiny!

The story is of a young Irish girl, Brida, who is in search of her destiny and struggles to find a balance between her relationship and the desire to transform herself!

Here are few excerpts from the book - 

1. When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the Way!
2. Every moment in life is an act of faith
3. 'Do you know what Magic is?' he asked. 'It's a bridge between the visible world and the invisible world.'
4. 'What do you mean by "Soulmate"?' Brida asked. 'The Soulmate is the first thing people learn about when they want to follow the Tradition of Moon', she said. 'Only by understanding the Soulmate can we understand how knowledge can be transmitted over time.'
5. In certain reincarnations, we divide into two. Our souls divide as crystals and stars, cells and plants. Our soul when divides in two, and those new souls are in turn transformed into two and so, within a few generations, we are scattered over a large part of Earth.
6. 'But how will I know who my Soulmate is?' Brida asked. 'By taking risks. By risking failure, disappointment, disillusion, but never ceasing in your search for Love. As long as you keep looking, you will triumph in the end.'
7. Don't bother to trying to explain your emotions. Live everything as intensely as you can and keep whatever you felt as a gift from God. If you think that you won't be able to stand a world in which living is more important than understanding, then give up the magic now! The best way to destroy the bridge between the visible and the invisible is by trying to explain your emotions.
8. Emotions are like wild horses
9. Life is complicated. You had to take risks, follow some paths and abandon others.
10. Perhaps the times when it goes wrong, life is teaching you something.
11. Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right, twice a day.
12. If you say it was the 'last time', it might well turn out to be the last.
13. There are no risks in Love, as you'll find out for yourself. People have been searching for and finding each other for thousands of years.
14. The 9 gifts: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of the spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
15. The whole world could tell from someone's eyes if they were in love.
16. One only manages to understand the simple things once they've embraced the complicated ones.
17. What is outside is more difficult to change than what is inside.
18. Knowledge without transformation is not wisdom.
19. 'Why do pleasure and fear go together?' Brida asked. 'Because anyone who has sex knows that they're dealing with something which only happens in all its intensity when they lose control. When we're in bed with someone, we're giving permission to that person not only to commune with our body, but with our whole being.
20. When you are in love, you are capable of learning everything and of knowing things you had never dared even to think, because love was the key to the understanding all the mysteries.
21. God had been a woman before he became a man.
22. Every city has a 'magic place', a place where we go when we need to think seriously about life. 
23. I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
24. Never stop having doubts. If you ever do, it will be because you've stopped moving forward, and at that point, God will steal in and pull the rug from under your feet, because that is His way of controlling His chosen ones, by making sure they always follow their appointed path to the end.
25. We will never ever know the ultimate reason for our existence. We might know the how, where and when of being here, but the 'why' will always be a question that remains unanswered. It is known to Him alone, and no one else.
26. We are all masters of our own Destiny.
27. The heart's a mysterious thing.
28. The first road to God is prayer, the second is Joy.
29. Each human being carries within them something far more important than their own self, their particular Gift. For God placed in the hands of each and every person a Gift, the instrument He used to reveal Himself to the world and to help Humanity. God chose human beings to be His helpers on Earth.
30. The hand of God always guides those who follow their path and faith.
31. Everyone has a Gift, but they choose not to see it.
32. Never be afraid of making a mistake.
33.  Never be ashamed. Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle. You can only know a good wine, if you have first tasted a bad one
34. The brave are those who make decisions despite their fear, wondering if they are right or wrong. They do so because they believe in Miracles.
35. Love is liberty.

The book is a must read for everyone even if they're not pondering over what their true destiny is.