Paulo Coelho

This is a collection of reflections and short stories, written from 1998 to 2005. The subjects are varied: his own experiences on his travels like “In a bar in Tokyo”, “In Melbourne”, “Prague, 1981” and “Jordan, the Dead Sea, 21 June 2003” but also his home experiences in “A Day at the Mill”, “A Man Lying on the Ground” and “Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro”.

You have to read only one reflection every morning because you have to think deeply about it and make it your own before reading the next, but it is very hard because it is written beautifully.

My personal favourite is “A January day in 2005”, in which Paulo Coelho reflects on being busy. It is a day after he finished The Zahir and posted it to his publisher. It took all his effort to stay in the moment and not to fill every minute of his day with senseless and mundane tasks. You are not useless because you are not busy now. You have many friends, but they respect your need for solitude. And no, you don’t need that glue now.

Read it, and you will understand.