This is a story I grew up with:
A rich man was enjoying the sunrise when he noticed a pauper whose clothes were threadbare throwing his old fishing line into the water. The rod jerked and the pauper fought with it as he reeled in the fish. He caught a big one. His face broke into a huge smile as he placed the fish on the rocks and waited for it to take its last breath. He threw in his rod again, caught another fish. Took the two fish swung them over his shoulder and started walking into town.
The rich man was mesmerized, what was this pauper doing, he just caught 2 fish in the span of less than half an hour.… he ran after him.
“Excuse me sir,” he said in his obnoxious and authoritative voice.
“Yes, How can I help you?” the pauper responded
“Ha” laughed the rich man, “My name is Josh, You can’t help me, I am actually trying to help you, I just noticed you sitting and enjoying the water and then saw you throw in your rod and go fishing and within minutes you caught two fish.”
“Yes, I am known around here as the fish whisperer, they seem to come to me whenever I throw my fishing rod into the Lake.”
“You just fish for two fish and go home for the day? It is barely daybreak. Why don’t you stay for a while and get more fish.”
“Why would I need more than two fish, I am but one person, and one fish, especially one as big as this one” he patted his shoulder where the fish lay across his back, “will feed me for more then one day and the other one I will sell.”
“But, you can get more fish.”
“What will I do with more fish?”
“You can sell it. With the money you can buy a boat.”
“And what will I do with a boat?”
“You can go into the middle of the ocean and get more fish.”
“Even more then I get here at the shore – what do I need that for?”
“You can sell more and more and more fish..”
“Whatever for?”
“You can buy another boat with the money that you make.”
“What do I need another boat for?”
“So you can hire someone to fish more fish for you?”
“We keep coming back to this – Why would I need even more fish to sell?”
“You can hire people to run your business as you become more and more successful.”
“What will I do when I am that successful that I have people running my business, fishing for me, and selling my fish?!”
“Then you can come here, like me and sit on the pier and enjoy the water.”
“I am already doing that! Don’t you see – I woke up early and came to relax at the water, I went and fished a fish that will feed me for a few days, I fished another fish that I will sell and it will take care of my expenses, I am content.”
What do you need in order to be content?
What will allow you sit at the pier and surrender to the beauty that is around us?
Life is a balance. We need fish to eat and fish to sell to cover expenses, both personal and familial. But, that is really all. Do we need to spend all day fishing for fish we don’t need? Even if currently we do need to spend all day fishing, the question becomes how do we look up and notice the sun reflecting on the water around us???
Come and explore how to make contentment a part of your everyday life?
Two Events:
March 9th: 7pm-9pm Nyack NY (Women's Health and Wealth Network Event)
March 25th-27th: Retreat at Pearlstone Center in Maryland (LGBTQ Women)
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| To Register please click on this link |
