Last night I went fishing with my good friend Mike. We’ve known each other for thirty years — a friendship forged when we coached against each other, deepened when we both ended up across Buzzards Bay from one another. That was ten years ago when I moved to Marion. We’ve been enjoying each other’s company and fishing ever since.

There’s the act of fishing — the excuse — and then there’s everything else. The conversation. The sunset. The wind and the waves. Being in a place that hasn’t changed in millennia, searching for fish that have been showing up here nearly as long. Dad always liked to be able to see the fish hit the lure on the surface. That’s why we throw poppers. It makes it so fun and so visual.

Last night they were picky. Who knows why fish are picky? We caught a couple — a striper, a blue. Not a banner night. But we noticed fish following the lure all the way to the boat, then turning away at the last moment. I didn’t know it then. It wasn’t until this morning, sitting down to write, that I understood what the evening had been trying to tell me. If you have fifty yards on a retrieve, you might as well believe in all fifty. So often an angler gives up at the end of the cast — retrieves too fast, just to get to the next one. And, in doing so, short-changing every cast.

Fishing rewards patience. But more than patience, it rewards focus. And more than focus, it rewards faith. It’s not about getting to the next one. It’s about the one you’re in.

In the absence of mindfulness, everything feels rushed. The next cast. The next thing on the list. We move through our days, retrieving too fast, giving up on the present moment just before it gives us something. Perhaps something we need.

We all need places like this. Activities we can enter without a clock. A close friend alongside. Something good for the soul: walking, gardening, and good conversation.

The invitation — in fishing, in life — is to believe in the cast all the way to the boat. To linger. To stay in it. You have more time than you think. And the thing you’re looking for may already be following. So stay with it.

— Pete

Notes arrive on Sundays and some Wednesdays

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About me, and Practice Notes → here 
About Integrative Coaching → here 
About my book, The Why of Sports → here