The Immigrants by Brian Quinn

The year was 1889,
And the rail-gang paused to rest.
The sun was hot, the men were tired
As they laid rail-tracks to the West.

One of the gang wiped his sweating brow,
His name was Paddy Joe.
He had worked on the gang for twenty years
And the wear was beginning to show.

The railroad president was in his train,
He was out to inspect the rails.
And his train stopped behind Paddy’s gang,
And he descended to welcoming hails.

The president paused and said a few words,
And he thanked the railroad crew.
Then his eyes caught the eyes of Paddy Joe,
And he winked, that’s all he could do.

Then Paddy Joe said to his neighbor,
“That man up there could be me.
We both left Ireland on the very same boat,
And together we crossed the sea.”

“We both started out as laborers,
And I took my pay and had fun.
But Michael there had a big vision,
He wanted a railroad to run.”

Brian Quinn

Keeping And Living Your Dream

There is a man called Monty Roberts, as he was a kid, his father was a horse trainer was moving from stable to stable, from ranch to ranch, training horses. Thus, the boy’s school career was constantly interrupted. One day, when he was a senior, teacher asked him to write about what he wanted to be when he grew up. He did not hesitate a minute and wrote seven-page paper about his aim to be an owner of a horse ranch, he wrote many details and drew a location of buildings and stables and even a detailed house plan.

Two days later he received his paper back with letter “F“ on the front page. After class he came to teacher and asked: “Why did I receive an F?”. The teacher responded: “This dreams is so unrealistic for a boy like you, who has no money, no resources and who comes from itinerant family. There is no possibility that you will reach your great goals one day.“ Then the teacher offered to rewrite the paper with more realistic attitude.

The boy went home and asked his father, how he should act. The father answered: “This decision is very important for you. So you have to make your own mind on this“.

After several days the boy brought the same paper to his teacher. No changes were made. He said: “Keep the F and I will keep my dream“.

Now Monty Roberts owns 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of 200-acre horse ranch and he still has that school paper, which now is framed over the fireplace.

Remember, you have to follow your heart and never let anyone take your dreams away.

Where To Find Strength To Reach Out To Your Dreams

One man decided to reach for his dream.

But he didn’t have enough strength to do it. So he turned to his mother:
– Mother, help me!
– Darling, I would be glad to help you, but I don’t have it. And everything I have, I already gave to you…

He asked a wise man:
– Master, tell me, where can I get strength?
– It is said that, it is on the Everest. But I couldn’t find anything there, except the snowy winds. And when I came back, the time was irretrievably lost…

He asked the hermit:
– Holy Father, where to find the strength for realization of my dream?
– In your prayers, my son. And if your dream is false, you will understand it and find peace in your prayers…

The person asked everyone, but the only result of his searches was confusion.

– Why are you so confused? – asked an old man passing by.
– I have a dream, good man. But I don’t know where to find strength for its realization. I asked everyone, but there was no one who could help me.
– No one? – a light flashed in the old man’s eyes, – And did you ask yourself?

Thought For The Day

Quote: Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it.~Unknown

Proverb: If you want your dreams to come true, don’t sleep. ~Yiddish

The Milkmaid

A  milkmaid was on her way to the market to sell some milk from her cow. As she carried the large jug of milk on top of her head, she began to dream of all the things she could do after selling the milk.

‘‘With that money, I’ll buy a hundred chicks to rear in my backyard. When they are fully grown. I can sell them at a good price at the market.”

As she walked on, she continued dreaming, “Then I’ll buy two young goats and rear them on the grass close by. When they are fully grown, I can sell them at an even better price!”

Still dreaming, she said to herself, “Soon, I’ll be able to buy another cow and I will have more milk to sell. Then I shall have even more money…”

With these happy thoughts, she began to skip and jump. Suddenly she tripped and fell. The jug broke and all the milk spilt onto the ground.

No more dreaming now, she sat down and cried.

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

Father -Son Advice

One day a son came to his father for an advice:
– Dad, I can’t do this anymore, – he said, – those lessons only exhaust me, and the result doesn’t change. It must be not destined for me to play football and my dream will never come true.

The father looked at his son with loving eyes and said:
– You know son, every person in life has a dream, a goal of his life. They are the ones that make us do what we are doing, because it’s what we should do. We have to fight for what we believe in, what we feel. In other case, you will simply brake.

Once – and for all. As thought you were never there. The easiest way is to quit everything and not go until the end, because the path is difficult and we are not used to inconveniences. We want everything to be easy and at once. But the wishes are fleeting! This is how our dream dies, and the goal becomes unreachable. Gradually, life becomes a routine without depth and meaning. Then one day, we try to forget and start everything from the beginning, we wait for a new day to make our life different. But new obstacles come in our way, and we stop again. We become full of despair and anger for our own helplessness.

But you only need to remember one thing: never give up, fight, battle. It doesn’t matter that you have lost one battle and even dozens of battles. Life goes on! Your biggest enemies are hiding in you – laziness, fear, doubt, indecision. Be a warrior of your dream, a knight of your goal and a soldier of your wishes.

Thought For The Day

Quote: Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.~H.F. Hedge

Proverb: The hen’s eyes are where her eggs are.~Gaelic

Thought For The Day

Quote: Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.~Marsha Norman

Proverb: We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams.~ Gypsy

Thought For The Day

Quote: Keep your dream in front of you. Never let it go regardless of how farfetched it might seem.~Hal Higdon

Proverb: Who is narrow of vision cannot be big of heart.~Chinese

The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist is written by Paulo Coelho, this wonderful short book is about a shepherd boy  who kept having a recurrent dream about a hidden treasure in the Pyramids of the Egypt.

Not knowing whether to trust his dreams or carry on his life as a shepherd, he is faced with the decision to make, the decision that all of us face in our lives at some point – whether ‘to leave the comfort zone and follow the dream’ OR ‘to stay in the comfort zone and let the dreams succumb to a slow death’.

While being still indecisive, boy takes on the task of gathering more knowledge about the Pyramids. After seeking advise from a Gypsy and the events that follow, the boy decides to give up everything and to go on the pursuit of his dreams.

During his journey, he meets the King of Salem, gets defrauded, then he meets a crystal glass trader whose only dream was to go to Mecca and through out his life he had being  making excuses of not having enough money. When he had made enough money, he still did not go to Mecca, the boy enquires the reason behind his actions and trader’s answer may strike many of us as a thunderbolt, trader says “this is the only dream that keeps me alive if I fulfill it now, I would have no dreams to live for”. Life can be larger, larger than it is now, but it cannot be larger than the dreams that one has.

He also meets an English man who has been traveling all over the world to find the ‘Alchemist’ who can turn anything into gold.

The Englishman shares his knowledge of alchemy to him through books as they travel in a caravan to the pyramids. And he begins to understand that his life as a shepherd has taught him a lot about ” The soul of the world”.

At an oasis, He meets the love of his life, Fatima and has an encounter with the alchemist who takes him close to the pyramids. The journey is one of self actualization.

He gets to the pyramids alone and what he found is profound.

The Alchemist promises to keep you turning each page with excitement. You find yourself going on an exciting journey with the boy in this book and you find a lot of revelations that are so subtly woven into this fable, it reinforced the mystic.

One recurring statement throughout  this book is “When you want something with all your heart, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”.

For me, it is quite different from most books I read but in all, it is a book that touches the soul.

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian and this bestseller was translated into English amongst many languages. He wrote it in two weeks as he said that it was a story already written in his soul.