Finance with Don Fraser Fraser Farm Finance

Life is a journey – and it is happening now. Life is not an event. Many farmers (but not only farmers) long for a time when there is enough money, enough time, enough stock feed – enough love.

Well there is, right now, enough. Yesterday has gone and tomorrow is yet to arrive. Do we humans all live in the past, not in the future, and not in the now? Life is not about reaching a station, it is about the journey. There is a wonderful Zen proverb: 'Where ever you go, there you are”. Trusting life – this is it. Many people do not trust. They won't trust their luck, their partner, their bosses, the weather, the cows, the grass etc. Farmers may need to change their views on trusting life and the universe. It will just take the strain out of everything.
I am personally very trusting of everything and everyone, by and large I get along brilliantly and the odd thing will cross me but I deal with it when it happens. I do not fear in anticipation, nor do I ever try to get even on past wrongs. There is no point in trying to get even, you need to get over it and move on. I see farmers who have been wronged and they spend the next five years fighting it through courts, looking backwards over their shoulders, only to waste a big portion of their lives.
Good luck – bad luck – there are no such thing. Events, some good and some bad, happen. Farmers need to learn from these events. See the bad ones as an opportunity and see the good ones as learning.
My accountant says that if you lose one of your key staff members instead of seeing it as terrible and horrible you should see it as an opportunity. This could be an opportunity to find someone different, may be even better, more interesting, or someone who you can learn from and they in turn learn from you.
Every period in life has something new to teach us. 'The harvest of youth is achievement; the harvest of middle age is perspective; the gravest of old age is wisdom,”- John Chittister.
Being truly grateful for life, is as good as it is important. Being thankful that you have a good family, a nice farm or property is important. We need to be grateful that our health is as good as it is. Say thanks to the people who are kind and helpful. Show some gratitude, rather than being grumpy all the time. Let people into the traffic, but don't expect them to be grateful.
Here's a little story of mine. If you pick up a bird off the side of the road and nurse it back to life, would you expect gratitude from the bird when you let it go? No. So don't expect gratitude from people when you show them kindness either. I have found that being grateful to people and sending them letters and notes and small gifts always gives a very good response.

These are the opinions of Don Fraser of Fraser Farm Finance. Any decisions made should not be based on this article alone and appropriate professional assistance should be sought.