A man became aware that he wasn’t spending his money wisely.  When shopping at the grocery store, he would just buy things without looking at price, purchase his items, and then would go on his merry little way.  When he became aware that he was spending too much money he decided to pay more attention.  So, during the next visit to the grocery store he got his cart and began walking through the aisles comparing prices and sizes and quality.  When he wind up in the freezer section, he saw a bag of frozen zucchini medallions on sale for $4.99, originally $5.99.  He decided to purchase them.  On his way to the checkout counter he had a thought.  What if there is a sale on fresh zucchini in the produce section?  He walked over to the produce section and saw that they were being sold for 2 for $4.00 and looking at the ounces he approximated how many ounces 2 medium sized zucchinis would be.   He found that the fresh zucchinis were a better deal.  He returned the frozen ones and kept the fresh ones and checked out.

A few weeks later the same man was walking around the local farmer’s market on a beautiful Sunday morning.  At a corner booth there was a vendor with large wooden tables set up and they were selling plants.  He read a sign that said “Zucchini Plants $2.00”.  Wow!  He could purchase a plant for the same price as a single zucchini at the grocery store.  He excitedly purchased the plant happy to go home and plant it in his backyard. He would be able to turn that plant into dozens of zucchinis!  The vendor noticed the man’s excitement and smiled.

A couple weeks later the vendor was walking around his farm at his zucchini plants.  He was searching for something very specific.  He would brush leaves aside and then keep walking, talking to himself and shaking his hand.  Then he found it.  A very large and hard zucchini with a dark green color.  “Yes!”  He thought to himself.  He cut the zucchini off the plant and brought it back with him.  He then cut the zucchini open and took the seeds out.  He dried them and then stored them in a safe spot.

8 months later the vendor took out a little pouch of seeds he had labeled.  He took out the seeds and planted them in little containers. He had 40 small 2-inch pots and in each one he put a seed. He had them placed in full sun and watered them consistently each week. When the plants were about 6-8 inches tall with healthy looking leaves, he loaded them all up in his van along with his other plants. He drove them to the Sunday farmers market and put them out on his wooden tables with a sign that said, “Zucchini Plants $2.00.”

When you gain enlightenment and wisdom about a certain subject you are given a certain power. With this power you can take action and use that wisdom to create. When you create you add value to others dependent upon where they are on their own journey of enlightenment. This example is about the humble zucchini, but you can apply it to a lot of facets of daily life in a consumer culture. What wisdom will you gain today on your life journey? And more importantly, what actions will you take as a result of that wisdom?