An investment banker stood at the pier of a coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat were several large fish. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “only a little while.”

The banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The banker then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, relax with my wife and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The banker scoffed. “I have a business degree and can help you,” he said. “You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middle-man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening up your own cannery. You could control the product, processing, and distribution,” he said. “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the city, then to the capital city where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the banker replied, “Oh, 15 to 20 years or so.”

“But what then?” asked the fisherman.

The banker laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time was right, you would sell your company and become very rich. You would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”

The banker said, “Then you could retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, relax with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your friends.”

_{Adapted from The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman and Investment Banker, original author unknown, I’d read years ago and found again at this website https://aliabdaal.com/the-parable-of-the-mexican-fisherman/}

Before you read any further take a moment and consider what your initial reaction was to the parable. Then read it again and see if something else jumps out for you. Here are my musings…

What strikes me first from the above parable is the fisherman saying ‘I have a full and busy life’. Full for me as in fulfilment – he feels fulfiled; he’s not wanting for anything else. He has enough to live this life and enjoy the experiences and relationships he has in his life.

Note how the banker doesn’t hear any of this. He just sees an opportunity to make money. His values are different. There is nothing wrong with making money and being an entrepreneur if that is what fulfils you and brings you happiness. But what the banker is doing is imposing his own ideals onto the fisherman.

I then realised that I’d assumed the fisherman was quite happy with the life he had. Yet he doesn’t actually say this. The investment banker assumes the fisherman is not happy perhaps? Both of us making assumptions. In hindsight the banker could have asked the fisherman this before he offered an alternative lifestyle based on his own expertise.

Then there’s the word ‘busy’. A mode of being that some people wear like a badge of honour associating it with being productive, important, useful… or as a tactic for avoiding something, someone, or even yourself.

Busy can easily be perceived as fulfilment, but what is your life filled with? Is what you want in there?

‘He had enough to support his family’s needs’ ~ I love this. He had enough.

There’s an implication of ‘trust’ in this. No need to stock up on fish, there will still be fish there tomorrow, especially as the fisherman only took what he needed. This reminds me of one of the three maxims inscribed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (associated with The Oracle of Delphi) ~ nothing in excess. The other two being ‘know thyself’ and ‘certainty brings insanity’…

For the perfectionists and people pleasers it’s a reminder in determining when something has reached ‘good enough’ and then stopping. Ditto for busy people and workaholics. And for the rescuers I’ll add in the following quote:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon) philosopher and scholar

Shifting the focus onto the banker I would ask ~ Why do we end load our ‘reward’? Ie, wait for retirement?

What are we really striving for? Yes there are basic needs we have in life – food, water, warmth, shelter, a place of safety, love and connection. Yes, sometimes we have to do a job we don’t like to get the funds to pay for this and I’m all for making ends meet. What I am pondering is what do you do with the time that you have left over from ensuring your basic level of comfort and those that are dependent on you.

This is not about having lofty goals or ideas. Maybe it’s just to love and feel loved. Let’s not underestimate that!

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

Eden Ahbez, “Nature Boy” (song, recorded by Nat King Cole and popularised in the film Moulin Rouge)

Maybe there’s a ‘something something’ inside of you waiting to be expressed through you.

A few years ago I came across the phrase ‘an unlived life’. What does that conjure up for you?

This can depend on our level of awareness – do you know what might be within you that is not being expressed? If you do, is it being expressed? What would you like to bring to life within you?

This reminds me of a famous quote attributed to Wayne Dyer “Don’t die with your music still in you.” His daughter Serena wrote a book with the same title describing that to her it means “… you don’t allow yourself to live any life other than the one you were born to live.”

So, how do you know what life you were born to live? I love these words from Richard West’s book, Awakening through Change:

Purpose is the reason why we exist. Destiny is the fulfilment of that purpose…

Our purpose occurs naturally through expressing who we are, fully, in every moment, in the most aligned way possible. Destiny, is simply the fulfilment of that purpose, in other words the ripples we send out into the world, as a result of our expression.

Taken from Awakening through Change by Richard West, Chapter 8 Purpose and Destiny

Being fulfilled is being fully who you are. Do you know who you are beyond the conditioning from the outside world and beyond the beliefs you have adopted and internalised, whether consciously or unconsciously?

It can be a huge journey in itself just to unravel all of this, to find yourself, and then embark on authentic expression of yourself.

Scrutinise your goals ~ check that they are actually what you really want to achieve. A lot of energy, time, money and resources can be spent on achieving a goal to find that when it arrives it isn’t actually meeting what you thought you needed or wanted.

As an intuitive coach I help you get to the essence of who you are, what lights you up, what experiences you’d like to have, where your passions lie, what your big dreams are, what you yearn to create. Then it’s all about determining the next steps in bringing them to life; working through any obstacles including internal resistance; mapping where you are and the terrain ahead of you; celebrating the achievements!

It doesn’t have to be big. There’s no pressure here. It’s your life and one I hope will feel fulfilled.

Your purpose is not found in what you do. It is found in the natural frequency of being fully you.

Ashmi Pathela

I’ll never forget the trip I took to India when I was seventeen years old. One day, when I was on my way to the temple, I came across a holy man who was dancing and singing in the town square. A pair of Indian businessmen were standing nearby, watching him. “Look at him!” said one. “I think he’s crazy.”

“He’s in love with life,” said the other, asking his colleague “Are you in love with life?”

“No” came the reply.

“So, who’s crazy?”

Adapted from an Instagram post by don Jose Ruiz