CAN THE LAW OF ATTRACTION HELP ME CATCH FISH?

Blog author unsuccessfully utilizing the law of attraction...to catch fish.
Kahalani Beach, Kauai
(Photo courtesy of Silas K. Aqui)

Okay, I want to set the record straight.

I cater to the school of thought that POSITIVE THINKING is a very real and powerful universal force.

It follows, then, that my next natural step of progression is to buy--ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!--this notion that there is a LAW OF ATTRACTION.

When the good Lord created the universe, He didn't say, "Aw, shucks!  It's kinda dark in here.  I need some light!"  That would be a wimpy God, One who focused on the problem.  The omnipotent Creator focused, instead, on the solution.  His powerful Word proclaimed the reality of a phenomenon while it was yet just an idea.  


"LET THERE BE LIGHT!"  He declared.


And there was light.






(Flashback to last December)  I was down to my last week on Kauai, and I desperately wanted to catch some fish.  My brother, Charlie, told me that the wet weather, along with the facts he gleaned from the Hawaiian tidal chart, indicated that fishing would be poor.


I was stubborn, though, and wanted to show my brother that I could catch fish in the dirty water caused by the flow of muddy fresh water from the Wailua River washing into the ocean water.  Surely, the freshwater shrimp was attracting all sorts of small and medium game fish to the area.  Surely, I would be able to catch a papio (juvenile trevally or jack fish),  And then my little brother would be in awe of me, just like he used to be when we were forty-plus years younger.  I mean, I had all kinds of narcissistic fantasies going on.


So, I cast my line forty yards or so into the surf.  My brother had warned me to not cast too far out because the area had a lot of rocks.  But it had been years since I had cast a line out, and I wanted to show off, oblivious in my delusion that I had long lost my fisherman's moves and muscle memory.


Sure enough, on my first cast, my line got stuck on the submerged rocks, and although Charlie did his best to jiggle the lead loose, we lost it.


In five casts, I ended up snagging and losing three leads, just like I had done the week before at Poipu Beach.  I felt foolish, embarrassed, and insecure that my brother would lose his patience with me.


To Charlie's credit, he remained calm and lighthearted the whole time, putting me at ease and reducing my anxiety.  A nice change about my brother, I was observing, was his maturity and ability to use humor to defuse stressful situations.  


With the Law of Attraction, the universe does not pay any attention to NO, NOT, NEVER, and other negative derivatives.  In a sense, it was very much at work that December island morning, though in a way I hadn't intended.


Whenever I thought, "I will not get another lead stuck in the rocks!"...I got just what I asked for.  (Remember, the universe deletes the word, not.)


So what about the fish?


Initially, I consciously asserted that I would catch fish.  Lots of fish!  


But as the morning progressed, more dominant thoughts came to mind.  Darn, another whitewash!  My brother will think I'm poho (useless)!  Shoot, it's gonna rain!  I just gotta catch a fish! (Note how this last statement has a spirit of desperation, and this is contrary to the more positive intention-driven Law of Attraction.)


What I concluded about this episode and something I consider a perfect tier of loose ends is that the Law of Attraction had, after all, really manifested itself at my beck and call.


Wasn't it the most important thing, after all, that my brother and I--after decades of separation--had finally been able to have this powerful moment of connection?  A memory built on a morning at the beach...here on this beautiful,  wet but nevertheless verdant island of origin.  Wasn't it all about the renewing of the Super(natural)-Glued bond with each other and to the land, the water, the universe, and our God?


There came a pensive moment when Charlie cried out to me, "Joe, look over there..on the horizon!"


Oh, my goodness!  Magnificently, albeit briefly, way off in the distance, about 4 miles out, we spotted a whale as it breached and sent a powerful and towering spout into the morning air!


Yes, without a doubt, the Law of Attraction was definitely alive and real this gray and rainy Kauai morning...even if the fish were still sleeping.