It is not always books that change people. It is sometimes paragraphs. Sometimes even sentences. I have been an ardent reader all my life and books have always been my most worthy companions. But there are times that a single line from a book that I am reading strikes me so powerfully that even if I dont read another page, my life would have changed forever. One such line was from Paulo Coelhos The Alchemist, and it did change my life quite remarkably. The line went And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. Amazingly beautiful!

I am a poet. And as a passionate reader of poetry, one thing I know is that sentences have a greater impact when they coincide with the experiences that you yourself have gone through. And Mr. Coelhos line seems to have been composed after seeing a documentary film strip of my own lifes experiences. All through my life I had gone through many occasions where the right things kept on happening every time I placed a genuine effort to achieve something. Before, I thought it was only luck. But now I came to know, thanks to Mr. Coelho, that it was the whole Universe conspiring with me! That was just like an incredible pat on my back by the forces of the Universe itself. And what it brought for me was an incredible confidence that gave me courage to pursue my dreams.

Life is a journey. How we travel is really up to us. We can just flow with the tide or follow our own dreams. The subtitle of Mr. Coelhos book is A Magical Fable about Following Your Dream. I have bought many copies of the book and had shared it with people I love. We are told from childhood onwards that everything we want to do is impossible. That is all right as we have now taken a new turn. We now know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand exactly just how.

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