Tickled to Write: There’s a Purpose in Everything
Have You Thought About What’s Yours?
Have you ever felt the need to write something? Like somebody was compelling you to write? You don’t know what to write but you want to write and keep writing until you get the impulse out of your system. Maybe you haven’t felt it with writing but in doing some other creative work such as painting or drawing or coloring or music or simply just sitting tight and pondering over life.
I went for a walk today at my pond. I planned to walk but as usual I found myself clicking pics away. There’s always something new at the pond drawing my attention. Something I had overlooked before or simply wasn’t there. But now is. Like the hyacinths at the edge of the shore that were so far away I didn’t notice them until today and only due to their sheer number. And the water lilies which never bloomed before so I didn’t notice even notice how many of them were present there until today. Perhaps in the thousands!
Right before I got to the area that goes to the pond, I found a huge mushroom, I had to take a pic. It had rained for the past couple of days. Then as I moved on to the pond, there were flowers I had missed before, flower beds I had missed before and somehow in the bright sun, they appeared fabulous. I kept seeing a lot of pairs of birds. Ducks, egrets, other birds flying back and forth, descending into the pond or ascending beyond the banks.
The first seat called on to me and I ignored it telling to myself I had to walk. The sun was a hot 80 degrees F bearing down on me an it was noon. So, I couldn’t walk for long before I got cajoled again to have a seat. This was a better seat because it faced the entire pond. I had been listening earlier to Victor Frankl’s story and now I was listening to Leo Tolstoys. Victor Frankl was a holocaust survivor who had survived the concentration camp only because of his love for his wife. And Leo Tolstoy had been a celebrated novelist who had given up everything in search of the meaning of life.
Thank you IJ Makan.
Just when you are ready for it, God brings the right people and stories for you to listen and learn from. As I sat down to listen and watch the pond, two ducks descended into the pond. First only one did and soon another joined. They both kept going back and forth fishing and catching fish and dropping them back to share between them. I was fascinated to watch them go how they were not swallowing the fish but playing with it among them as if playing ball. Maybe they were just sharing the fish between them, but it was a profound experience because I didn’t know fish would share.
But more important than them was what I was listening to. I had just learnt that all the suffering that Victor Frankl went through at the concentration camp was like a test for him, some people are born to suffer but it is actually like a challenge for them. Victor frankl had been able to rise up to that challenge without giving up on his life because he had been living for his wife whom he loved dearly and hadn’t known that she had already died there. He kept himself alive without giving up when everybody around him did only due to his love.
I had recently been questioning about the purpose of my life also. Why had I gone through all that I had gone through. And, in the light of his story, it all seemed to finally make sense to me. And this seemed to be giving me an answer as to why I should continue to live my life and fight for it. My life is important. To me. I have many missions to accomplish before I reach the end of my life. This gives me abundant reason to live and work towards all my projects.
And Leo Tolstoy after achieving all that he achieved in life by age 50, he had accumulated property that was close to 12500 footballs fields worth. And yet at that juncture in his life, after accomplishing everything he had accomplished, he was close to suicide because he felt life didn’t make sense and everything was meaningless.
Leo Tolstoy went on to embrace simple living and inspired people like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr with his works. Can you believe that? Only this morning I had written about the two of them as examples of bold people who had stood up to oppressors in achieving freedom for their fellow citizens. That post is here:
Even before I started on my walk I had told myself I would end my walk by talking to a friend I hadn’t talked to in a long time. And today, with the sun shining down on me, it was so good to hear from the friend who was also very pleased to hear from me. It was a beautiful day which had started well and when I got home, I got a comment from Andrew Lynch about my post regarding the purpose of our life on earth.
It was a good discussion which ended with how billionaires like Taylor swift and Oprah are unable to give away their money even though they had accumulated so much already. While it was disconcerting at that moment, and I wondered and kept wondering if there isn’t even one person who can convince them to give away a portion of their money to the betterment of the world, I had also felt so tickled to write even though I didn’t know what I was going to write about and now having written all that I just wrote, I think it all makes sense. Why I felt compelled to write, why I listened to Victor Frankl’s story this morning, followed by Leo Tolstoy’s and got to discuss Taylor Swift and Oprah Winfrey’s billions.
I wish I could talk to them and make sense to them why they should think about what is the purpose of their lives on earth. Perhaps the universe that brought me the stories and the people to discuss them with will also show me a way to bring this to their notice.
But more importantly than that, I want everybody to think about what is the purpose of their lives on earth. It can’t be just going to work, coming back home, looking after the kids, pets and whatever else needs to be met for the home. Don’t you think?
That’s all I have to say for now.
Would you think about it? What is the purpose of your life on this earth?
Think about this!
Peace ✌🏽
Beautiful!