What are you chasing. . . ?

Every now and then I take a look through a few online photography forums to visit with a few photographer friends and keep an eye out for what is going on in this industry. Often the conversations are very industry specific, sometimes they are fun little soap operas, and occasionally the threads have very little to do with photography specifically, and everything to do with life in general. This week one such thread was presented to our community.

The question was raised, What are you chasing?, and it followed with a joke-some might even call it a parable-about a humble fisherman and his conversation with a work-focused business man. I won’t go into the details here-you can read them below. What is important was the underlying message-often what we strive to achieve is already in our grasp, we just fail to see it.

So often we all are chasing, fighting, pleading for the answers to our lives to reveal themselves. We plan in our head what we will say if this happens, what we will do when faced with that, and then the situation we’ve cooked up in our imagination rarely plays out the way our mental script instructs. The truth of the matter is that there are a myriad of answers to every situation-each one of them correct and each one of them incorrect. It’s only our personal response-both emotionally and physically-that determine what is right for each of us.

Our world is filled with fear. With hatred. With anger, jealousy, dishonesty and anxiety. These are all tools often used to draw energy-good, pure energy-from one person then devoured by another. Yet, once this energy is consumed it is gone, and the process must repeat itself. No answers are revealed. No truths unearthed. All we are left with is an empty feeling-on both sides-with no solutions or discoveries.

There is another way. A better way. A way that is led by compassion. By honesty, caring, openness. And love. Consider the best people that you know. Is it true that they all seem to have an amazing amount of compassion and love in their lives? I would venture to say this is very probable. And is it also true that they just seem so. . . so. . . so HAPPY? Their relationships full and their lives fulfilled? And all of this despite whatever hardships they may have endured?

Again, I’m betting your answer is, Yes.

If we live our lives with kindness, if we remain open to the bumps and curves that our journeys inevitably will present to us, if we choose to explore these moments rather than push them away, we will find that energy we need to proceed. And not only that, we will overflow with positive energy-warm, solid energy-LOVE-so that we can share it with others that may need it. The answers will come to us-without our scripting them and in a manner we often least expect.

There is no need to chase. We will get there soon enough.

So when I am asked, What are you chasing?, I believe my response will be,

Why?


~wj

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An American investment banker was walking by the pier of a coastal Mexican village when a fisherman docked his small boat nearby and tossed several large yellow fin tuna onto the dock.

The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked, “How long does it take to catch them?”

The Mexican replied: “Not very long — maybe a couple of hours, senor.”

The American then asked why the fisherman didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish.

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs and was happy with that.

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

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life which I enjoy very much.”

The American rolled his eys and said, “I’m a Harvard MBA and could help you. Here’s what you should do: Spend more time fishing. You get more money, and with that, you buy a bigger boat. Then you can catch more fish, and buy an even bigger boat. If you work hard, then soon you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor. If that works out, then you open your own cannery. At that point you would control the product, the processing and the distribution. And, you could leave this little town and move to Mexico City, or LA and or even New York City. From there you could run the whole thing by phone, Fedex and the Internet.

The Mexican fisherman thinks this over for a minute and then asks, “Interesting. How long will this all take?”

The American thought for a little bit, took out his calculator and punched in some numbers, and then announced “I think you do this in only 15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said, “Here’s the beauty of the whole thing. When the time is right you announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You could make millions!”

The Mexican thought this over for a little longer, staring out to sea and thinking about what millions would buy. He asked, “Okay. Millions.. then what?”

The American said, “This is the best part — you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your friends.“