It was a walk on a new terrain with a friend, when this small creature on the ground caught my friend’s eye. “Look at that snail”, she said. I was taken aback at her statement and wondered how it didn’t catch my eye and I pride myself at my observation skills. Well!!! not always I observe I guess, certainly not when my mind isn’t behind my eyes 🙂

This snail was right in the path of cars moving and is millimetering (not inching  :-)) its way forward..

The snail and the wet patch of mucus come as a package. How wonderous nature is, to provide this little animal with mucus as a moisture, to help it move forward; thereby not causing it to get hurt, when it moves. The snail is aware of it too, which is why it moves so comfortably on a surface, that we consider rough. Well, what ‘is’ to us, isn’t to the snail!!

It was fascinating to see this snail literally millimetering forward.. There was no way one could know that it has moved forward, if one didn’t keep the wet patch of the mucus as a reference. I guess that’s why it is said that we are moving at a ‘snail’s pace’ when we move slooooooowwwwwly..

It was interesting to see the head of the snail bobbing partly in and out. The neck looked sleek certainly and the pair of antenna appeared to be there for a reason. The antenna is so small that looking to see what it does isn’t a possibility.

That it was on the road millimetering, that two people were looking at it didn’t seem to make the snail conscious. It just went about its way,. no stopping and no looking.. How I wish we humans could learn that trait – just move on with our journey, not bothered about who is looking, what they are saying.. just to march on towards our destination!!

It was a bit of our curiosity to see what this snail will do if the vein of the leaf was kept, just before it. Well, this snail certainly didn’t look bothered. It just went on with its movement, over the vein, making no pause whatsoever. It was as though it was saying – this is way too small an obstacle for me to bother. I can move over it, with ease. The snail moved and we stood!!

There was a leaf which had fallen from the tree and we wanted to see how the snail will respond to it. My knowledge is that when the snail comes to contact with something, it withdraws its body into its shell. I wanted to apply this knowledge without causing hurt to the snail. Kept the dry leaf in front of the snail. Ah!! What a sight it was to see the snail, least deterred by it. It just went over the leaf.

Personally for me, it was a big learning to see this. I thought the leaf maybe considered an obstacle for the snail and it would withdraw itself into its hard shell. But no, the snail perceived the leaf differently.  What appears as an obstacle for us, may not be perceived so by them.

This is the case in real life, isn’t it, for us as human beings? What we think is an obstacle for someone else may not be so for them. Why do we then fear for them or think of protecting them?

If they need help or support, they ask and we give. We learn to move on.

The human mind doesn’t let go.. We can’t let things be as they are. We want to see if what we know is what is!!

Curiosity stayed on – What would make this snail retract its body into its shell? A gentle touch on the snail’s touch did it.

Immediately, the ethical aspect hit hard and a question arose in the mind, “Is this right? To see if knowledge gained about the snail is what is, should the snail be disturbed from its journey?” The answer too cropped up, “Its nature is to retract its body into its shell, when it feels a threat; and that’s what it is doing. I don’t think I am hurting it.”

Well, ethics won the battle and the thought of leaving the snail to itself took over.

Within a few seconds of the decision to leave it alone, it brought out its head and decided to move on. It turned its body to another direction and moved on. No looking right or left to see if the threat is still there.

Bringing the parallel to ourselves, depending on the nature of the threat and the threshold each of us have, we humans also withdraw into a shell. A little while after we encounter what we perceive as a threat, we peep from within our shell to see if what we felt as a threat is still there; and if we no longer feel it, we are ok to move on.

However, there is a difference between us and the snail. More often than not, we take time to move on and after we are more or less certain that all is well. That time to be certain is a long duration at times. Till then we remain mostly or partly in our shell. By the time we decide to move on, some time is lost.. What is important however, is the fact that we are ready to move on and move on we must.

No matter what comes in its way, the snail appears to have its way of moving on in its journey. It must have its own purpose in life.

The question of “What’s your Ikigai?” has been occupying my mind for some days now. Ikigai – the reason for being.. The purpose for which each one of us wake up and live for, everyday.

The snail has its own Ikigai. What it is, only the snail knows.

Each of us have a purpose for our being. A purpose we live for.. A purpose that drives us to wake up evey morning..

What is your Ikigai? What is the purpose for which you live for? The purpose that drives you to wake up every morning?

Food for thought to understand ourselves more.. Life can be so much more enriching, when we do!!