The Why Café
A Story
by John Strelecky
List Price: $12.95
Pages: 144
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0738210633
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
The international publishing phenomenon that can change your life --- translated into ten languages
In a small diner at a location so remote that it stands in the middle of the middle of nowhere, John --- a man in a hurry --- is at a literal and figurative crossroads. Intent only on refueling before moving along on his road trip, John finds sustenance of an entirely different kind. In addition to the specials of the day, the menu lists three questions that all diners are encouraged to consider:
Why are you here?
Do you fear death?
Are you fulfilled?
With this food for thought and the guidance of three people he meets at the café, John embarks on a journey of self-discovery that takes him from the executive suites of the advertising world to the surf of Hawaii’s coastline. Along the way, he discovers a new way to look at life and relationships . . .
. . . and just how much you can learn from a green sea turtle.
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1. Before reading The Why Café, how would you have answered the three questions on the café menu? --- “Why are you here?” “Do you fear death?” “Are you fulfilled?” After having finished the book, would your answers still be the same? If not, why?
2.How pervasive do you think is the feeling that Strelecky allegorizes as being lost at night “on a dark, lonely stretch of road”? (p ix) What might account for this sense of being lost and without direction?
3.Have you had an experience similar to John’s at the café? If so, how did it change your life and the lives of those close to you?
4.Casey remarks that “sometimes it helps to look at things from a different perspective.”
(p 19) What might be the benefits of adopting a new perspective? How has looking at things from a different perspective helped you or changed your life? To what extent has The Why Café helped you look at things from a new perspective?
5.In reference to the question “Why are you here?” Casey tells John, “If you change the question to no longer be something you ask someone else, but instead you change it to something you ask yourself, you will no longer be yourself.” (p 23) What do you think she means by that?
6.In the process of fulfilling one’s Purpose For Existing (PFE), what is the importance of exploration and exposure to new ideas and activities?
7.Casey tells John that “we are all limited by our current experiences and knowledge.” (p 42) In what ways and to what extent are you limited by your present experience and knowledge? To what degree do we impose those limitations on ourselves?
8.In terms of Casey’s story of the green sea turtle and John’s reaction to it, what “incoming wave items” are occupying your time and energy every day? (p 53) How might you cease battling against those “incoming waves” and preserve your energy to take advantage of the “outgoing waves”?
9.Anne remarks to John, “Part of the answer to your question about why we spend so much time preparing to do what we want, instead of just doing it, lies in the messages that are placed in front of us every day.” (pp 64–65) How might television, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet affect our daily use of time at our disposal?
10.John questions, “How much of my definition of success, happiness, and fulfillment had been determined by people other than myself?” (p 76) How would you answer this question as it applies to yourself? What actions might you take to change things?
11.At one point, John asks Casey, “Why wait to do what you want, when you can do it right now?” (p 83) How would you respond to that query?
12.What characteristics are shared by people you know who are passionate about what they are doing? Are they the same characteristics that John describes to Casey on page 88?
13.How might “letting people know about something you are trying to do that will help fulfill your PFE”(p 92) increase your chances of receiving unexpected help and support?
14.John asks Mike, “Why doesn’t everyone go after their PFE? What is it that holds them back?” (p 96) How does Mike answer the question? How would you respond?
15.How would you answer the question “Why am I here?” and define your Purpose For Existing? How would go about identifying the activities that will fulfill your PFE?
16.Just before John leaves the café, Casey hands him a menu on which she has written a message for him. What do you think Casey’s message is? (p 118) What would you have written to John if you were Casey?
17.In the Epilogue, John remarks, “When you weigh two choices, and one is living a life that fulfills your Purpose For Existing, and the other is just living, you would think the decision is simple. It isn’t.” Why do you think the decision is not simple? Why do you think that “this is the place where most people end their journey”? (p 120)
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