Why?

Why are you here?
Do you fear death?
Are you fulfilled?

I came across this book the same way anyone comes across anything through the internet, you just stumble upon it. I read the description, wrote down the title and author, and left for the library, all in a time span of 30 minutes (I had also written down the title and authors of a few other books that I have yet to read). Anywho, I just finished John P. Strelecky's The Why Cafe, where it points out who the person you are presently, and gives a mirror image of who the person you want to be in the future, and sets the guidelines of how to get there. But beware, if you're looking for cut and dry answers on self improvement, you won't find them here. In this book, which I wholeheartedly agree with, the answers all involve your Self.

To answer the top, 3 questions of why, do, are, honestly I would have to say, I am here to help people. I do fear death. And I most certainly am not fulfilled.

The story takes the scene of a stressed out man that needs to 'get away from it all and recharge'. On his way to his sought out retreat, the gentleman becomes lost, and in his despair, he finds this lonely, little cafe along the roadside in the middle of nowhere, and stops in. This scenario surely represents all individuals who were, or still are, lost at one point. I am very confident to say, that I am still lost, but I have great feeling that I'm at least on the correct road.

Perspective is a theme in the book. I know that I am so conditioned to look at life at one perspective, that it's very hard for me to break that concentration, and view the world through other perspectives. I tend to see the world through others expectations. Have a career. Make lots of money. Get married. Raise a family. Retire. And this book hits all those points head on. The man in the story might as well have been myself. Trying to look at the world through my perspective is much harder to do. I am very programmed, but I have recently started to try and unprogram myself to be me, and seen things through my eyes, with my own perspective.

The book also emphasizes a time line of sorts. The characters share stories, and through these stories you find out that, Do what you need to do now to fulfill your existence. Why wait till you're retired? By then, you may be too old and feeble to follow your aspirations. Your outlook on life may have changed. You may have forgotten what you use to dream about. Why wait till it's too late? Start doing that which fulfills you. But don't be fooled into doing that which you think fulfills you.

I don't want to give too much away, and surely don't want to you to take away only my thoughts and translations to what the story means. This book is very idividualized, meaning, it has a different agenda, lesson, and perspective to each reader that it finds.

Oh, and Happy April Fools Day!