Either nothing happens at all or everything happens at once

As the name itself suggests this book is about a woman having an extra marital affair. She knows she is committing adultery and still goes on with it and all the revelations she finds herself in. A lot of my questions about love and marriage are answered in this book.

I may have been able to get one reason as to why people commit adultery that is just to get out of their boredom. Boredom is really the culprit here because when one cannot get out of it constructively then it can cause tremendous devastation. Or maybe they just want some thrill through causing some problem in their lives which will given them adrenalin rush and sometimes people crave for such feeling. This can only be achieved if they can go all the way till the end and realise nothing can be changed.
I have heard that adultery for men is just a stupid mistake and for women it can be a spiritual crime and this view is agreed by society also. So women are scared of “what people will think? People will abandon me…” so on. But well with feminism women have become quite courageous in these matters just as men.

“We have to find a middle path, where there is neither joy nor suffering, only profound peace” Paulo Coelho

Maybe adultery should be traced to evolution. Let me simplify it as the author has done and this part is my favorite; in order to increase the human race men used to mate with multiple women and women were always indulged in care taking so they never had the time to mate with multiple men.
Overall the book, when read by someone who might have certain similar problems can have more interesting intakes.

The Archer

Have you ever felt to have a optimal living? Where you can understand how to be a happy being and trying to achieve an aim called life. Paul Coehlo has given a narrative about how to self-actualize; in terms of developing passion, compassion, friendships, accepting failures, hard work, intuition and indulgence, etc.

Tetsuya, famous for his talent of archery tells about how to learn archery to a boy who comes in search for him. Tetsuya talks about every single thing about archery and how it can be applied to the life as whole.

We all need friends, they are like second family to us. So while trying to befriend somebody, see for people who can help us go up the ladder rather down. People who share same interests and enthusiasm as us, and surrounding ourselves with the people who are not afraid to take risks, do not hesitate to accept their failures and are ready to work on forward.

Remember feeling a sudden rigidity during winter mornings. It irritates right? So basically unless we want ourselves to be completely rigid, being flexible or in other words being adaptive, adaptive to the surroundings and with oneself is important. Its like we being pre-programmed for looking only black and white and no shades between. Being adaptive means knowing when to work hard and when to take a meaningful break. Cause sometimes a break is needed to understand what are we doing is really worth it and going in the direction intended. It also emphasizes that instead of taking failures to heart it is better to intake those as valuable experiences.

It is obvious that when failures hit us we tend to blame it external issues and sometimes hold responsible the thing itself that we are chasing saying that it is impossible and how unfair it is…, etc. So wait and try to understand how and what that goal is, how it is influenced by other factors and how we can strategize to make it available or rather achievable. And try to remind yourself when failure hits, that you have worked hard enough and have shown consistent patience. This helps your journey bearable.

While facing failures it is easy to loose our peace and also our confidence but trying not to forget all our efforts and hard work we did in order to reach where we are right now helps to maintain our persistent patience.

Intentions matter. Good intentions help you get through tough times and also makes it easy for us to remain poised throughout the journey. It is always best to keep our intentions precise and clear.

Sometimes it’s ok to take things a little slow or even a meaningful rest is important so it will help us relax and also helps to understand what to do next. Butto understand the importance of time is crucial. We don’t have forever. Our time is limited so it’s better to make the most of it.

Today we may feel very happy and tomorrow we may not. Life is not always sunshine. Dark clouds can cover your sky too. So life is a mixture but just because today’s not our day doesn’t mean that it will be the same. And our attitude matters a lot. The way we look at things, at others and also at ourself is significant.

Once we have understood to appreciate these simple things it becomes a little bit easier as we know what type of outlook to have in order to live happily.