I just suddenly
realized that I am a student of the 'World University' founded by God. In this
University Allah has several faculties run by various Deans and Teachers.
First faculty is ‘Home’
whose Dean is my family that has taught me how to eat, behave and survive in
this world.
Second faculty is ‘Healing’
whose Dean is Dr. Zainab, whose teachers taught me how to heal myself and
others.
Third faculty is ‘Soul
and the World’ whose Dean is Oprah Winfrey, whose group of teachers have taught
me the essence of life and how to live it the best way.
Fourth faculty is ‘Life’
it has many Deans and several Visiting teachers. Everyday someone new comes in
this faculty and gives me a new lesson.
The teachers of Life faculty are of mixed variety, sometimes
they give me the painful lessons, sometimes they give me the treasures of life.
All in all this is the most interesting yet the most unpredictable faculty.
Now there is a new
teacher at my University by the name of Paulo Coelho who has given me beautiful gifts of wisdom through
his book ‘The Alchemist’.
Enchanted, charmed and
captivated in the spell of ‘The Alchemist’, what a book! I didn’t expect to
fall in love with it so soon, but here I am.
The Alchemist is a book
about following your dreams and finding your hidden treasures. I must say that
this book has entered my life at a perfect time. It has shown me that it is
really important to follow my dreams and to come out of my comfort zone, a zone
where everything is familiar, safe and monotonous.
All our lives we live
in our own different types of comfort zones because new and unknown things
frighten us; and mainly because we don’t want anything to change. We don’t want
anything to change because we don’t know how to handle that change. That’s a
safe life though, but it is a life of limited potential.
What would have happened
if Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah remained in his comfort zone, there wouldn’t
have been any Pakistan. What would have happened if Imran Khan remained in his
comfort zone, there wouldn’t have been Cricket World Cup, or international
level Cancer Hospital. What would have happened if Sattar Edhi remained in his
comfort zone, there wouldn’t have been all that high-scale philanthropic services in
Pakistan.
What would have happened if Alexander
Graham Bell remained in his comfort zone, there wouldn’t have been any
telephone. What would have happened if Thomas Edison remained in his comfort
zone, we wouldn’t have an electric bulb. What would have happened if Bill Gates
remained in his comfort zone and didn’t follow his dream, there wouldn’t be any
Microsoft.
What would have
happened if Oprah Winfrey remained in her comfort zone because she was a black
girl from a very poor background, there wouldn’t have been a multi-award-winning
The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated program of its kind in history; the
richest African-American woman of the 20th century, the greatest black
philanthropist in American history and currently North America's only black
billionaire awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President and an
honorary doctorate degree from Harvard.
What would have
happened if all the mothers remained in their comfort zones and refrained from
painful task of giving birth and raising a child, there wouldn’t have been
either you or me.
So my lovelies, I have
learned that if we all want to find our hidden treasures then we need to pass through
the path which is new, unknown and challenging. If we find our treasures then
it would be a great life and if we didn’t find anything then at least we would
be content that we made an effort.
With all my love.
Sonya Syed. (Day 522)
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