The FIsherman's Tale

Hit play at the bottom if you'd rather watch than read...same message, just a different vibe.


Earlier this week, I saw a fisherman wading quietly through the water, cradling his net with a kind of calm that stopped me. There was no urgency in his movements—just presence. Grace. Intention. And it stirred something in me. A quiet question rose up:

Do I live like the one with the rod and hook… or the one with the net?

For much of my life, the rod felt like the only way. You choose a goal, you lock in, and you fight for it. You cast, you pull, you brace against the current. And yes, sometimes you catch something. But it often comes with exhaustion, misalignment, or the feeling that even the “win” took too much out of me..

That used to be my default—goals, grit, grind. I mistook control for clarity. Movement for momentum.

But when I watched that fisherman cast his net, something shifted.

The net doesn’t resist the river—it flows with it. It doesn’t grip, it opens. You still show up. You still do the work. But the effort feels different. There’s trust instead of tension. There’s surrender instead of strain.

And what comes back to you? Sometimes more than you imagined. Sometimes what you didn’t even know you needed.

That shift didn’t happen all at once. But it changed everything.

Now, when I feel myself pushing, gripping, chasing… I pause. I ask:
Am I trying to force life to happen?
Or am I allowing life to meet me?

There’s no right way—both paths teach.
But I’m learning to soften. To receive.
To cast the net… and let go.

Reflection:
Which kind of fisherman have you been lately?
Where are you casting with tension… when trust might carry more?