My Personal Legend

Alchemy is any magical power or process that changes one thing into another. The ancients believed that if you got the chemistry right, you could change lead into gold.

I read "The Alchemist" recently. In the fable, the shepherd boy, Santiago has a dream about finding a treasure in Egypt near the pyramids. He meets a king who councils him to go after his dream, his Personal Legend, and pay attention to omens. Through out his journey he gets distracted from his goal, he experiences set backs, and bad things happen. Santiago learns many things along the way, finds true love, and discovers the power he has within. Eventually his search for his Personal Legend leads him back home. It's a beautiful story with so much to contemplate.

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
"What is the world's greatest lie? 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."
"To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation."

I used this "Alchemy" theme in a teambuilding workshop that I facilitated today. One of the questions I asked was, "Where in the world were you when you discovered what your Personal Legend is and what is it?"

My Personal Legend, if I can be so bold as to say it out loud, is to be an activist, an advocate, an author and an actor.

"When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed."

*above quotes are taken from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho