Book Recommendation "The Alchemist"

I just finished reading "The Alchemist," by Paula Coelho, and I highly recommend it. This enchanting book is actually a fable that tells the story of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who sets off in search of finding buried treasure and in the process, fulfills his Personal Legend.

Soon after "The Alchemist" begins, Santiago is reading a book when an old man he doesn't know enters the story and strikes up a conversation with him.

"'Hmmm...' said the old man, looking at all sides of the book, as if it were some strange object. 'This is an important book, but it's really irritating.'

The boy was shocked. The old man knew how to read, and had already read the book. And if the book was irritating, as the old man had said, the boy still had time to change it for another.

'It's a book that says the same thing almost all the other books in the world say,' continued the old man. 'It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie.'

'What's the world's greatest lie?' the boy asked, completely surprised.

'It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.'"

It is all too easy to be deceived by the lie the old man in the book referred to, but each one of us really is the master of our own fate and the creator of our destiny, and there is no point in anyone's life where this ceases to be true. I've yet to meet a soul who hasn't experienced a failure at some point in his life, but such failures aren't the work of fate, nor are they the universe telling us we can't achieve our own Personal Legend. I say this to you with certainty: When people believe the "greatest lie," the truth remains that they are still believing a lie–something that is fundamentally not true but that can produce very powerful and very real results.

Behind the point the old man in the book made is the fact that our mind plays a pivotal part in whether or not we achieve that which we set our sites upon. If you believe you don't have control in fulfilling your Personal Legend, guess what? You'll be 100% correct every time, because as scientistist have proven, our mind is more powerful than most of us can ever imagine. The power behind what we think can literally make the difference between success and failure. If you think the universe doesn't want you to have that which you want, or that you deserve less, your thinking will prove correct in spite of the fact it's based on a lie. The good news that goes with this knowledge, though, is that we can change our minds, change our thinking, and change our lives, and we can do so at anytime and anyplace.

Each of us can harness the power to learn how to process our thoughts in a way that serves our goals, whether our goal is, in the case of Santiago, fulfilling our own Personal Legend, or something less equally noble like finding employment that is emotionally rewarding, financially lucrative, and that will leave us with enough personal time to allow us a pleasant work/family balance.

Are you falling prey to the greatest lie? Want to know how to change your thinking and change your life? Consider hiring a career coach to help you unlock the power of your mind, undo your self-defeating thoughts (ie. lies), and create new thinking patterns that will serve your goals, your career future, and your happiness. Because the truth is that you deserve that!