A vacationing American businessman standing on the pier
of a quaint coastal fishing village in southern Mexico
watched as a small boat with just one young Mexican
fisherman pulled into the dock. Inside the small boat were
several large yellowfin tuna. Enjoying the warmth of the
early afternoon sun, the American complimented the
Mexican on the quality of his fish.
"How long did it take you to catch them?" the American
casually asked.
"Oh, a few hours," the Mexican fisherman replied.
"Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the
American businessman then asked.
The Mexican warmly replied, "With this I have more than
enough to support my family's needs."
The businessman then became serious, "But what do you
do with the rest of your time?"
Responding with a smile, the Mexican fisherman answered,
"I sleep late, play with my children, watch ballgames, and
take siesta with my wife. Sometimes in the evenings I take a
stroll into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, sing
a few songs..."
The American businessman impatiently interrupted, "Look, I
have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you to be more
profitable. You can start by fishing several hours longer
every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With
the extra money, you can buy a bigger boat. With the
additional income that larger boat will bring, before long
you can buy a second boat, then a third one, and so on, until
you have an entire fleet of fishing boats."
Proud of his own sharp thinking, he excitedly elaborated a
grand scheme which could bring even bigger profits, "Then,
instead of selling your catch to a middleman you'll be able
to sell your fish directly to the processor, or even open your
own cannery. Eventually, you could control the product,
processing and distribution. You could leave this tiny
coastal village and move to Mexico City, or possibly even
Los Angeles or New York City, where you could even further
expand your enterprise."
Having never thought of such things, the Mexican fisherman
asked, "But how long will all this take?"
After a rapid mental calculation, the Harvard MBA
pronounced, "Probably about 15-20 years, maybe less if
you work really hard."
"And then what, señor?" asked the fisherman.
"Why, that's the best part!" answered the businessman with
a laugh. "When the time is right, you would sell your
company stock to the public and become very rich. You
would make millions."
"Millions? Really? What would I do with it all?" asked the
young fisherman in disbelief.
The businessman boasted, "Then you could happily retire
with all the money you've made. You could move to a
quaint coastal fishing village where you could sleep late,
play with your grandchildren, watch ballgames, and take
siesta with your wife. You could stroll to the village in the
evenings where you could play the guitar and sing with your
friends all you want."
The moral of the story is: Know what really matters in life,
and you may find that it is already much closer than you
think.
Based on my observation, most people do not know what the true reason for their existence is—and that this is, of course, the core of the problem.
I make the point that this is not our fault. We’ve been told
very little about the real reason for our existence—and of the little we have been told by our ancestors, by our families, by our religions and our cultures and our tribes, nearly all of it is inaccurate.
We have been told that to be happy in life :we need to get the guy, get the girl, get the car, get the job, get the house, get the spouse, get the kids, get the better job, get the better house, get thhe promotion, get the grandkids, get the gray hair, get the office in the corner, get the retirement watch, get the illness, get the burial plot, and get the hell out.
We have been told that: we need to obey God’s commands, do God’s will, follow God’s law, spread God’s word, and fear God’ wrath, for when we face God’s judgment we will be begging for God’s mercy—and, depending on our offenses, we may not get it, but rather, may find ourselves condemned to everlasting and unbearable torture in the fires of hell.
We have been told about: the Survival of the Fittest, Nice Guys Finish Last, The One with the Most Toys Wins, It's Every Man for Himself, The End Justifies the Means, Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees and that We’re to Be Seen
and Not Heard, We Are Not to Color Outside the
Lines and that We Made Our Bed and Now We Have to Lie in it.
We’d Better Get It Right, that It’s Us Against Them, and
that We Can’t Fight City Hall; that we should Never Raise
Our Head Above the Crowd, that We Can’t Have Our Cake
and Eat It, and that We should Never Count Our Chickens
Before They Hatch.
And now, Society’s Collapse Is Imminent, All Social Systems Are Falling Apart, and that soon our world will return to Cave Man Days.
Our Minds have been filled with many, many other
messages that have created a day-to-day reality so far
removed from our real reason for being on the Earth, that
it's a wonder we find any joy or excitement in life at all—
much less muster the energy to change any of the things
that really do need to be changed on our planet if a
wonderful future for humanity is to be assured.
Yet most of the things that are “wrong” with life on Earth in the 21st Century would right themselves by themselves if the majority of human beings simply refocused their
attention on The Only Thing That Matters.
And what, exactly, is that?
It is the Agenda of the Soul. It is the Sacred Journey. It is
the Divine Purpose.
We are on a journey here, it is not the journey from birth to death. It is a journey from way before birth to long after death. Yet our here-and-now awareness of the purpose and destination of this journey can play an extraordinary effect on our day-to-day life—in some cases changing it forever, and in many ways maybe even changing the world by changing that part of the world we touch.
Here are a few things to do, as to focus on what really matters to you:
1. Is this useful?
I have found that it is very easy to spend a lot of time on things that do not really matter much. To spend
hours or days or even weeks on being angry at someone, replaying a mistake or failure in one’s mind or to dwell on something negative and feeling more
and more like a victim.
You can waste a big chunk of a year on that.
So I try to ask myself this question as often as I can to question and confront my own thoughts. To catch myself and to wake myself up when I get stuck in
negative thought loops going round and round.
By doing so I suffer less. I waste less time on going round in circles. And I spend more of this very valuable resource on finding a practical solution.
2. What is the most important thing I can do right now?
If you get lost in what to do in your day, week and life then this question can be very helpful.
It might not always give you the answer you want, because the most important thing you can do right now
is often one of the harder things you can do.
But it will help you to truly focus on the few things that matters the most in any area of your life. And if it feels too hard to get started with that then just ask
yourself…
3. What is one small step I can take right now to get
the ball rolling?
This is my favorite question for when I want to get started with something or if I want to get going again with something that I have let fall to the side for some reason.
Because it makes things easier. Makes them feel
lighter.
This question prevents me from trying to escape into procrastination and helps me to avoid the side-effects
of that such as sinking self-esteem, self-loathing and simply a lot of time being wasted on trying to hide.
4. Is there anyone on the planet having it worse
than me right now?
This question does seldom deliver enjoyable answers, but it sure does snap me out of negative thinking or
feeling sorry for myself. Now, I think it is natural to sometimes feel sad or
sorry for yourself for a little while. If you don’t take the time to process such natural responses to negative situations then those feelings can pop up later. And so you feel explicably sad or you might get angry or irritated at other people for no good reason.
But my experience is also that these things can go too far. It is easy in getting stuck in these disempowering
thoughts for too long and let them suck the life and joy out of you.
So I like to use this question to zoom out when I feel that my perspective has become too self-centered and narrow.
And it has over the years taught me a lot about the things – that I may too often take for granted – that I can be very grateful for in my life.
5. Will this matter in 5 years? Or even 5 weeks?
This one helps me to simplify.
To let go.
To not make a mountain out of a molehill.
To find the healthier and happier perspective.
To not lose my focus and energy to crippling worries.
