The Fisherman’s Lesson

Interestingly, this may often trigger a return to the inner search of our youth as the concept of our mortality begins to set in. I’ve heard over the years from friends and acquaintances that it is more common in our fifties to stop caring as much about what people think than ever before in our lives and then in our sixties we begin the paring down process such as selling the big family home.

Our lives appear to be defined by our constant need for what’s next for our next “want”. How is our striving to have more affecting future generations? What legacy are we leaving for them? What is it that eludes us in our quest for more? Is it the new ad campaign convincing us that we must have the new and improved gizmo? Are we a statistical consumer with spending habits for marketers to define, and if so, when do we take control of our impulses and our financial health? Too often people throughout the many stages of their life are at the affect of very creative marketing strategies that we consume much more than we can handle.

The fisherman representing sufficiency teaches a valuable lesson for all of us. It is a simpler path he follows, providing for himself and his family through his own hand and within his own means. It brings to mind the idea of what life might be like if we could get control of our consumption, prioritize out of this perpetual cycle of “more is better” and learn to live within our means and without debt? Perhaps, abundance is then a natural procession, like that of the fisherman of sufficiency.