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"The key to loving how you live is in knowing what it is you truly love."- Sarah Ban Breathnach from her book Simple Abundance
"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to keep your soul alive," Robert Louis Stevenson.
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Something to think about...
Many times, when people are doing what they enjoy, especially when it is artistic, they feel guilty for it, or are told that it is not "real" work. But what if we are meant to do what truly excites and motivates us?
"...there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth... To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation."- The Alchemist
"Did you know that both the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, and the Jewish Talmud teach that we will be called to account for every permissible pleasure life offered us but which we refused to enjoy while on earth?"- quoted in Simple Abundance-by Sarah Breathnach.
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But it's scary to follow your dreams, especially the artistic ones...
Have you read the Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho? If you haven't, you should, and if you have, keep it nearby to reread it when you need it. It seems to bring something new to me each time I refer back to it.
"... no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."
"...the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."
"when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it".- The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho
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"Leap, and the net will appear." - John Burroughs
(Thanks for this one Keita!)
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How will I make a living at it (my art)?
I don't have a specific formula for this. I am still working on it myself. But think about this, "How wll you live WITHOUT it?"
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What about all the people who try to warn me that it's not practical? That it can't be done?
"Those who say it cannot be done shouldn't interrupt the people doing it."- Chinese Proverb
People often try to stop others from pursuing a dream, only because they are scared to do it themselves.
"Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period."- the character Christopher Gardner (played by Will Smith) in the Pursuit of Happyness
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But isn't it too late? Aren't I too old? It was a dream I should have pursued when I was younger.
"Perhaps a long-buried dream still calls to you from a road you chose not to take. If this is true, then stop telling yourself that it's too late. Instead, take comfort in what Faith Baldwin tells us: 'Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.' The delay of our dreams does not mean that they have been denied. Perhaps now you have the wisdom to make alterations in your dream so that it can come true. Perhaps now you have the wisdom to choose differently."
-Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple Abundance (February 21 entry)
