Tag Archives: Paulo Coelho

On Showing Up and Not Letting Life Pass You By

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

I did not want to go to the gym today, or to the seminar, or market a product, or visit someone in that faraway place.  I just did not want to.  It seemed to be much too much.

There was light rain.  My bed had spanking new, clean, crisp white sheets.   I was in the middle, curled up, roused by the idea of just staying there, and not moving.  In my mind, it had the makings of a perfect day.

It was a Monday.

A doubt clouded my brow, I know that lethargy will come, and that if I do not get off that bed, I would miss seeing the day reflected in the eyes of the people who I would meet, new friends and old friends, miss what they have to say, miss what I would have learned from what they had to say, miss an idea or doing a good deed, putting in an investment, a day laid in waste when I could have flexed that muscle and got a few calories off, miss writing about what I have learned and expanding a thought that would form words that would form ideas that would form a story that I could live in – again – for a moment.

I rouse myself, get out of bed and go out.  Out. The idea of missing life terrifies me.

Read More →

The Zahir, Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women and the Acomodador

 

The Sky Is The Limit

The Sky Is The Limit

Today I am reading Paulo Coelho’s the Zahir.  He talked about the acomodador.  It could not have come to me at a better time.

I just learned that I did not get into Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women.  I really wanted to be a part of it, part of a milestone, of women who can, with this training, “spur more jobs and income, for their businesses, their communities and, ultimately, for their countries.”

I prepared my application, lovingly, apprehensively, wondering what to put on it, wondering how to impress the judges.  I dressed carefully on interview day, sharing carefree banter (and my brochures and calling cards) with the other applicants – some out of Payatas who had a cooperative; a social worker who is building a call center from the ground up, cutting up her prices so she can compete with India; a businesswoman who flew all the way from her province, who protested at the class schedule because it will take her away one full week every month from her business (and how will the business survive without her?); and one who sold her soaps to the group and shared to me that she first went to Manila to find the mother who left her, and she did find her and came face to face with her, but she did not want her, not then and not now.  Women in business with their own stories, all strong, some struggling, all deserving.  Out of 97 shortlisted applicants, only 24 were able to get in and I was not one of them.

Read More →