A warrior in the making..

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life"
~J.K. Rowling.

We hit rock bottom.
We learn.
We stand back up.
And we grow up.

Life took good care of me. It slapped me in the face every time I needed to learn a lesson about life and my life, and it put me right back on track, on the path of becoming a better version of myself.

"Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn"
~ Paulo Coelho quotes from The Warrior of the Light

Life has taught me is time to face the truth and see things just the way they are. Disguising what surrounds us only leads to more lies, isolating ourselves from what's truly essential. And gosh we need to strip away from the inessential!
This simple, yet painful task gives us the ability to face our issues clearly and justly, and help us find the right path again.

"Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle.
Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone.
Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his.
Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons.
Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light. Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every Warrior of the Light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no.'
Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved. That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is"
~ Paulo Coelho quotes from Warrior of the Light

Wise words from an wise man, who has inspired my life through his words and work.

If I ever get the opportunity to meet Mr. Coelho, I would have no other words to tell him but thank you. Not everyone is a fan of his work, but the humanity and simplicity he writes with, along with mind blowing spirituality, have always hit close to my heart.

Being human means I am bound to make mistakes. Nobody wants to make them, myself included, but we all do. We all do.
But we learn from those mistakes. Honesty and forgiveness are two noble human qualities we have inside of us. We cannot lose, but win everything when we're honest with ourselves and with those surrounding us.

Lastly, I realize that not only I take life for granted, but that I often discredit it too. Looking around me, most of us do. "A miracle happened: another day of life.
I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. My Lord is wise. He knows that we don't learn the lesson unless we'd shed some tears in the process.

I post a picture that completely changed the way I view life, despite the bad quality of the shot. I share it only on special moments, and so far, only a few people have truly appreciated the beauty of it. It was taken at the very top of the Ali Mountain in Taiwan (阿里山), a truly beautiful and magical place. A Buddhist monk was playing with his dog, watching the most amazing sunset I have ever seen.

It was right there and right that second, staring at that man, that I understood what the meaning of life truly was. And how simple the answer is.









I could try and explain what this last picture means to me, but Mr. Coelho wrote it better than I could ever attempt to. I am sure, just like I received the blessing of witnessing this perfect moment, he was blessed with one (or several!) too.. just in a different place, in a different time. He understands.

"I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the Divinity of God"