There’s a cool story I’ve read a couple times that I recommend.

It’s called, “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho, and is about a kid who wants to discover the secret of turning sand into gold (alchemy.)

It’s short, easy to read, and very metaphorical.

And like many literary metaphors, there are a lot of ways to interpret it.

It’s got a lot of common themes.

One is that the goal of alchemy is about turning sand into gold. And if you can turn sand into gold, you can get rich with a lot of work.

Paradoxically, to FIND OUT how to do that, you have to do a LOT of work.

The hero went on a journey around the world, fell in love, met lots of cool people and learned a lot of worthwhile, real money-making skills, but ignored them since he was looking for an easy way to turn sand into gold.

Finally he gave up and came home.

And found that he had a huge chunk of gold hidden under his own house.

THAT common metaphor pops up all over the place.

To go out LOOKING for something that you had the whole time.

In the Wizard of Oz, for example, Dorothy and her buddies spent all that time and energy looking for the Wizard (who really was a fake) hoping he would send them home, when all she had to do was click her heels together.

(Interestingly enough, the whole story of the Wizard of Oz is a political metaphor regarding the dangers of going OFF the “gold standard.”)

Why do so many stories have that same theme?

Of searching all over Earth for the secrets of life, only to find that we HAD them inside us the whole time?

The same stories are told because they work.

And they work because they resonate with us.

We see truth in them.

We FEEL truth in them.

It’s like that goofy expression from the movie, Repo Man:

“No matter where you go, there you are.”

And no matter WHERE you go, or WHAT you are looking for, YOUR most powerful resource is ALWAYS within you.

Perhaps we are always looking OUTSIDE because deep down inside, we FEAR our power.

The cool thing is that WHENEVER you are ready to embrace it, it will be there, waiting for you.

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