Awww....!

Following the devastating tsunami in December 2004 that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions in Southeast Asia, people across the world opened their hearts and wallets to help.The effects of the tsunami were felt in many coastal countries, and not just by humans.When Owen, a wild baby hippopotamus, was washed away from his herd on the coast of Kenya, he was left orphaned. The following day, nearby villagers came to Owen's rescue, bringing him to a local wildlife park. There the search for a surrogate parent led little Owen to Mzee, a cranky 130-year-old giant tortoise. The frightened hippo adopted the old tortoise as his parent. It seemed like love at first sight as Mzee, who was a loner for years, instantly accepted the baby hippo as his own. The pair began eating together and sleeping side by side.Today, more than two years later, Owen still follows Mzee around the park. Owen and Mzee have formed such a tight bond, workers at the park are worried that Owen is acting too much like a tortoise. They have brought in another hippo to teach Owen how to act a little more hippo-like.

When I discovered why I came into this world

I finally found the answer to the question that I have been asking for a long, long time now. At one point in time I was sure that I was going to die without discovering the answer to my question. It was a simple question: Why did I come into this world? What was the purpose?

As I was growing up, I didn't pay much attention to finding the answers, since I beleived that the answer would ultimately find its way to me in the form of the choices that I would be making in my life -personal and professional. But that was not to be so.

With each birthday celebration there was an urgency in me to find the answer to that all important question, which was slowly eating at me. I mean, I knew I wasn't born to just live and die. There was something that I was meant to do in this world. Something that people usually call, mission, vision, dream, goal...whatever....I too had my mission, vision, dreams, goals and whatever...only that none of those `items' never lasted long enough for me to say, "Aha this it it...this is the reason I was born." None of the M.V.D.G.Ws felt right. I was never consumed by any of those. I lost interest quickly...I never enjoyed doing what I did for long....Now, if those things that I were doing in life where the right reasons for which I came into this world then I shouldn't find it difficult or boring or downright miserable doing those things....I should be enjoying them. I should be filled with joy ....But no such luc. It was indeed a NO..Until two weeks ago....

Finally, when I found the answer I was stumped. For some strange reason I always thought the answer, when it finally came, would be something on the lines of -Oh, you came to this world to be the next Oprah Winfrey or Steven Speilberg or Richard Branson (yeah, yeah....very materialistic and ambitious of me!) or someone really great and famous and rich and wonderful....(yeah, more materialistic)So, finally when I got my answer to the question that I was looking for I did a doubletake. I wondered aloud -Is that it? Is that why I came into this world? Is that the purpose of my exsistence? Are you sure? Would you like to check your books once again and let me know...I can wait you know....afterall I have waited for so long.....But then the answer was crystal clear -I came into this world for just one purpose -to live every moment of my life joyously. Yes. That was it. Yup, it did sound a little trivial even to me...but that was it...I CAME INTO THIS WORLD TO LIVE EVERY MOMENT OF MY LIFE JOYOUSLY -THAT WS MY PURPOSE.

I have heard many people (read people who always claimed to know what their mission in life was very early in life) say, that Universe/life always gives you little glimpses of your purpose or mission in life early on. And as you grow older these glimpses becomes visible signposts -some are smart to notice them and go in the right direction and some like me take a little longer or wait till the signposts turn into huge billboards. If I were to pursue that line of thought, then yes, Universe did give me numerous hints of my purpose in life.

There were times when I would be engulfed in sheer, unexplicable joy that I could literally feel bubbling from within and overflowing....for no apparent rhyme or reason. Sometimes, everything around me would be collapsing yet I would feel this extreme happiness inside of me -a joy that transcended all understanding. Sometimes it would be so visible that I have had friends and others walk up to me ask, "Oh, my you look so happy. What's happening? New Man in your life?" (The last bit always bugged me. It would bug you too if the "new man" last came into your life some 100 years ago...) But then, the point is, I never realised during all those times that it was God (to me) and Universe (to those who don't believe in God) showing me little signs as to what my purpose in life was. TO LIVE JOYOUSLY.

Finally, when I did find the answer to my all important question in life -I knew it was THE and ONLY answer. It was the right answer. I knew it -in my gut! There was this feeling of having come back home for good. But that still left me with a sub-question -There should be more to this answer, what is it? And there was....

I love creating. Yes. That's what I call all that I do. Writing new stories. Articles. Making documentaries. Creating new projects -even if it meant redecorating my house - to me it was creating...everything was a new project and every project was a new creation and eveyr new creation propelled me to the next level in life. I just loved the process of such deliberate creation. I would be involved body, mind and soul in each of these projects. Complete it. And then move on. When I completed a project I lost interest in it. I very rarely went back to it. My parents and friends thought I was drifting. Especially my father who thought I didn't have it in me to be interested in anything for long. My pastor was happy that I was single....But I knew in my heart that I was not a drifter. I just loved creating different things. Finish it. And move on to the next thing. But then society has a knack of making you doubt your own truths. And that's what happened to me. Over a period of time I begin to see myself as someone who was without an anchor -a rolling stone...and that anguish only increased my questioning -why did I come into this world? To do what?

Each one of us create our own world. We create our own reality. And creation is meant to happen only from a joyous state. Such creations always expands the universe. Think of any invention and you will understand what I mean. You might ask, why should we expand the universe? The universe evolves constantly and for it to evolve constantly it needs to expand and it can expand only through our creations or our individual realities and in order to do that you need to be in a joyous state, for that is what we were to begin with -pure, positive, joyous souls (for those who blieve in God) or pure, positive, joyous Energy (for those who believe in the Big Bang Theory -either which way it works....

Confusing? It is not, for those who want to understand.....for the universe always functions on the most important law -Ask and you shall receive -the law of attraction! Think about it.