Sunday, December 28th, 2008
5. Don’t compare. Don’t compare anything – prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transport, nothing! You are not travelling in order to prove that you have a better life than other people. Your aim is to find out how other people live, what they can teach you, how they deal with reality and with the extraordinary.
—— Paulo Coelho 《Like the Flowing River: Travelling Differently》
人生本来就是一种旅程，而与不同的人交涉就像拜访不同的地方。人比人，气死人，在我生命中出现的每个人我都当他们是我的老师，不论是我的敌人，朋友还是萍水相逢的人，我都能够从他们学到一些东西。我觉得因为一时的赌气而不做你不喜欢人做对的事，那是愚蠢的。
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Friday, December 26th, 2008
虽然知道这样做是不对的，我还是想把Paulo Coelho在《Like The Flowing River》中的《These Are My Friends》完完整整地抄出来。
These Are My Friends by Paulo Coelho
‘The reason the king is so powerful is because he’s made a pact with the Devil,’ a very devout woman in the street told the boy, and he was intrigued.
Some time later, when he was travelling to another town, the boy heard a man beside him remark:
‘All this land belongs to the same man. I’d say the Devil had a hand in that.’
Late one summer afternoon, a beautiful woman walked past the boy.
‘That woman is in the service of Satan!’ cried a preacher angrily.
From then on, the boy decided to seek the Devil out, and when he found him, he said:
‘They say you can make people powerful, rich, and beautiful.’
‘Not really,’ replied the Devil. ‘You’ve just been listening to the views of those who are trying to promote me.’
看不懂英文的人：这篇大意是说人们都在说恶魔有多厉害，那些很厉害的人都是出卖灵魂给恶魔换来的，但事实上恶魔并没有这么厉害，只是这些人言过其实，而这些不断为恶魔宣传的人事实上是恶魔的好朋友。
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Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
The angel goes on: ‘Would you be capable of taking at least fifteen minutes of your day to stop and look at the world, and at yourself, and simply do nothing?’ Manuel says that he would love to do that, but he doesn’t have time. ‘You’re lying to me,’ says the angel. ‘Everyone has time to do that. It’s just that they don’t have the courage. Work is a blessing when it helps us to think about what we’re doing; but it becomes a curse when its sole use is to stop us thinking about the meaning of our life.’
—— Paulo Coelho 《Like the Flowing River: Manuel is an Important and Necessary Man》
我喜欢时不时独自一人关在房里，什么事都不做，也不开任何音乐，一个人躺在床上想想过去现在和未来，偶尔也会想‘如果’。
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Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
However unique you may think you are, there is alwyas someone who has had the same dream before, and who will have left signs behind that will make the climb less arduous: the best place to attach a rope, trodden paths, branches broken off to make it easier to pass. It is your climb and it is your responsibility too, but never forget that other people’s experiences are always helpful.
—— Paulo Coelho 《Like the Flowing River: How to Climb Moutains》
Like the Flowing River书中有一篇是讲说Paulo Coelho的邻居在园艺方面很不成功，从来没有成功让花开花结果。这位邻居却很喜欢教导Paulo怎么种花，并分享自己的心得。Paulo并没有遵照邻居的指示去做，因为如果他那么做的话，他只会像邻居一样种不出花来。
虚心问人是对的事，但重要的是要问对的人。
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Monday, December 22nd, 2008
Don’t be influenced by what other people say: ‘that one’s prettier’ or ‘that one looks easier’. You are going to put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into achieving your objective, and you are the only person responsible for your choice, so be quite sure about what you are doing.
—— Paulo Coelho 《Like the Flowing River: How to Climb Moutains》
很多人对于未来没有一个蓝图，常常都是追随大众的脚步或照着别人讲的去做。向人打听询问不同的事并非不可以，但你必须要有个目标，然后透过从别人口中的资料规划着怎么达到你的目标。
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Sunday, December 21st, 2008
在机场买了Paulo Coelho的《Like the Flowing River》，这本作品和我读过的Paulo Coelho作品不一样，不是小说，而只是他的随想和短篇故事。很喜欢其中的《The Story of the Pencil》。
“The Story of the Pencil” by Paulo Coelho
A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked:
“Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?”
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
“I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.”
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
“But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!”
“That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is alwyas at peace with the world.”
“First quality: You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.”
“Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.”
“Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.”
“Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.”
“Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.”
如果一个人能记得一支铅笔的五种特质，那他不只是度过他的生命，至少他活过。如果你对生命感到迷茫，不妨买一本Paulo Coelho的书读读，会让你得到很多启示的。
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