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Hávamál, The Saying of Odin, Stanza 20
Hail and welcome! This is Huginn's Heathen Hof, with your Daily Hávamál.
Original-
Gröðugr halr
nema geðs viti
etr sér aldrtrega
opt fær hlœgis
er með horskum kømr
manni heimskum magi
Translation-
The greedy man consumes
more than he should.
Among more sensible folk
he is mocked for his large belly.
-Hávamál: Stanza 20
Today's stanza continues the theme of Moderation. The Lore places a strong emphasis on discipline, scolding those who cannot control themselves. In some translations of this verse, it even says "The greedy man will eat to his own hurt". While the example used here is food, it's easy to see where this ethic could apply to other parts of our modern lives. Like when we KNOW we should be doing the dishes, or writing our thesis, or getting ready for work, but instead we decide to watch six straight episodes of our favorite show on Netflix. Even if it makes our lives harder later, we still sometimes decide to just overindulge and deal with it later.
I'm sure we can all imagine the hundreds of things we could get done if we didn't feel the siren call of our favorite pastimes. A little moderation goes a long way. Like we saw in yesterdays verse; we don't need to abstain from the things we love, but too much of a good thing can make our lives harder than they need to be.
