Why am I here?

My astrologer friends tell me to always find time for reflection, especially when Mercury the planet is on a backward spin or what we call Mercury Retrograde (MR). This year, if you Google the dates, it says Aug. 23 to Sept. 17 is the second time Mercury is doing this backstroke. Though many people find time more often than quarterly to do this reflection session, we find that during MR it is the best time to do it.

Many religious souls do prayers everyday, sometime twice a day, go to service or mass, yet do not reflect on the difficult stuff like asking what our purpose on Earth is. Imagine skirting around and evading COVID, avoiding sickness, exercising for good health, going on a healthy diet – for what? Parents will say “for my kids,” non- parents may say “for my parents” and mostly people want to stay alive for their loved ones. But have you really thought about it?

Sometimes people go on solo trips abroad or to the mountains to do some soul-searching. But in this noisy and busy world, can we really find time and the perfect environment to do some reflection of why we are still here?

So, after you have looked up information about Mercury Retrograde and you note the inclusive dates, what else should we do during this period? We can travel, take a long-needed break from daily routine or we can just rest. Over the years I have managed to avoid making major decisions during Mercury Retrograde periods. Major and serious stuff like signing contracts and acquiring gadgets meant for communication (mobile phones, computers, etc.) are best avoided, too. After all, Mercury is the planet for communication. We may also observe that messages get lost, or are misunderstood. Emails go missing, many ways of communication just go awry.

Many non-believers dismiss it as pure coincidence or even a belief in voodoo. But from the time I was introduced to the idea maybe 15 years ago, even my professional friends like lawyers and doctors now have started to believe. You do not or will not lose anything by postponing or resetting a date or event.

Would you like to hear about failed attempts when we tried to do things despite it being Mercury Retrograde? The examples are just too many. Some have cost us some money and many have cost us time because we have had to repeat procedures from square one, to refine or begin a new version of whatever we were trying to do.

Another idea to consider is “void of course.” These are transient days when the planet is lacking a direction or lacking a “course.” These happen every few days and sometimes, we call them “bad hair days” or just an “off” day. Chances are it was a “void of course” period. Read about it and thank your lucky stars you are seeing another dimension to why things happen or not happen.

So going back to reflection time, this is when we want MR to be here already. So we can just sit, reflect and think about our purpose, our mission. It is not pure accident that we are still breathing on this Earth. It is not just because we have eaten well and exercised and cut out all the bad habits. But these healthy habits surely help to avoid medical complications and possible confinement. Go ahead and continue the good healthy habits. But try to explore what else you need to do in this world.

When people ask “what do you do,” what is your reply? Is it about your occupation or your job? Or is it about what else you do besides earning a living? This column is rightly called “food for thought” because we get caught up in everyday routine that we forget to sit down and think. And on Saturday, we take a break and think. Why am I still here? Is there a purpose I should embrace?

For example, people ask why we still pursue planting coffee when it is easier to import the beans. I find that with my experience in talking to farmers, joining them in planting may be a good thing to do. Next, we have a next generation of coffee drinkers who care about the environment and are the new breed of young farmers we all need. I do not lose hope that young people may just carry on, because they also love to drink coffee.

Next is to count our blessings. If we are disease-free, still physically able, why do we not use our brain and body to further a cause? Not for ourselves, but for a whole society. We opened a natural and organic store 15 years ago when the idea was absurd, even a losing battle to most business people. But we carried on. Today, every other new restaurant café is preaching what we preached at the start – farm-to-table, using local ingredients, knowing the farmer. Am I anxious that they have followed suit? No, I am happy they do. It did take 15 years for them to follow, but they are now doing it.

So the next time you think of something different, something novel but is good for the soul and good for the world, just do it. Sometime soon, they will follow. The same with coffee. We started naming the sources of coffee 20 years ago in an annual event called “Coffee Origins” at the Greenbelt mall. Today, every other mall has a coffee event with the same idea – know your farmer, know the source, try the coffee. Am I angry they followed? No, I am glad and I just smile.

Once you know what you are here for, you get a push from the Universe to just do it. But sitting down to reflect and staying still and quiet is the first rule. Then you will feel it come to you.

What are you here for?