Ever been fishing in the rain? Did you catch anything that day? I've caught some nice ones in the gentle rain, but that is not what this story is about.  

I'm not exactly sure where to begin. This is an extremely powerful story for me to share, and an oddly difficult one to write. That is, when I tell it in person, I generally leave out a few of the details.

About 15 years ago, give or take a few, I found myself in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. My uncle has a cabin complete with horses and a pond big enough to keep any fisher-guy or fisher-gal busy for several days.

I enjoyed the cabin tremendously, and was fortunate to have stayed several times with my family over the years.

This particular year, however, my Dad and I went alone. My Mother had passed away a few months earlier, and I'm certain that our minds were not on fishing that weekend.

Besides our somber moods, the weekend was bizarre in another sense. The weekend was, in a nutshell, (or shall I say in an earthworm) two and a half consecutive days without fish.

Did you get that? For two and a half days we had no fish. None. Not any. Zero fins. 

Let me explain how unique this situation was to us. We are both expert amateurs! We are both brilliant with the worms, granted, in different ways. And we are clearly outstanding at our craft.

On the final afternoon of our trip, my Dad threw in the entire fishing pole into the pond. (Ok, he didn't, but he did metaphorically) He said, "I'm done, feel free to stay as long as you would like. Oh, yeah, I'll leave you the bucket just in case."

My Dad is one of the most patient people I'll ever know. At that point in time, however, he had decided that it was a helpless situation. I'm not sure why he left the bucket, except to make light of the fish less situation.

I decided to stay and enjoy the peace and quite of the pond for a few more minutes.

A minute passed, and I began to realize that I had the ability to attract fish onto my line. You see, I had become a student of metaphysics and believed that through the power of my own thought, I could influence the fish.

So I did the thing I learned how to do. I decided to start making affirmative statements and visualizing.

I affirmed the abundance of the Universe. I affirmed the abundance of fish in the pond. I affirmed the health and beauty of the pond.

Then I visualized. I visualized tons of fish in the pond. I visualized fish around my line hungry for my bait. And finally I visualized a big fish on my line.

I affirmed, I visualized, then I affirmed more. I did this for what seemed to be a very long time. I waited. I visualized, I affirmed, and then I visualized more. I waited more.

No bites. Not one. Not even anything that could be mistaken for a bite.

Then it happened (no, I didn't catch a fish), I suddenly realized, as my Dad had earlier, that the situation was helpless.

At that point, I felt a sense of calmness and of release. At that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of being present and alive. And in an inspired moment, I felt a strong sense of appreciation for the entire weekend.

I appreciated spending time with my Dad. I appreciated the beauty of the pond, the incredible trees, and the calm water.

As I looked out over the pond and felt a tremendous sense of joy. I realized I had just spent a weekend doing something I love, with someone I love, in a place that was inspirational.

I soaked it in. My smile was big. I'm certain it freaked out the birds flying overhead as even I could see my smile reflected in the water. I realized that even without any fish, the weekend itself was awesome!

Ahhhh, I got it!

At that moment, as I found myself living appreciation, I also felt (like awoken from a dream) something tugging on my fishing line.

It was a bite! A fish was playing with my line. I pulled gently and realized a fish had attached itself to my hook. I reeled in my line, and sure enough, I caught a fish!

I continued to appreciate and I threw my line out into the pond again. A few seconds later, I had another bite. A few seconds later, I had another fish.

This went on and on for quite a while. I have no idea how long. Cast after cast yielded bites, and subsequently fish on my line, then in my bucket. It was as if the fish were literally jumping onto my line.

I walked back to the cabin and I could barely see my Dad. He knew and yelled, "how many?" and I quickly replied, "too many to count" as I couldn't wait to show him.

I did end out catching lots of fish that afternoon. I have no idea how many. I did have an awesome weekend with my Dad. And I did learn some pretty powerful stuff.

I'm convinced that I would have walked away with zero fish, if I hadn't appreciated the entire weekend, not to mention the pond staring at me. It wasn't about the fish. It was about me.

I simply opened myself up to what I already had. And what I had was an incredibly awesome experience. I learned this:

Appreciation for what is in front of you at this very moment is abundance...

While my "goal" was something tangible (the fish, and if you didn't get this one, please go to the top of the article and begin again), I didn't change my technique, bait, hook, or cast. I changed my experience of it.

Your job is to simply take where you are this very moment in your life and appreciate any part of piece of it. Take today, this week, this year, or this moment and FEEL GOOD.

Did you do it? Were you paying attention? Go back to the last paragraph and read it again, stop, appreciate...

Ahhhhh, doesn't feeling good feel good?
 

p.s. Interested or have comments? Email me here...

Creativity Quote

"The principle of organization is built into nature. Chaos itself is self-organizing. Out of primordial disorder, stars find their orbits; rivers make their way to the sea"

- Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

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