Invest Your Soul

Flyfishing is an art that can be shared with millions.  It offers you the opportunity to learn about nature, fish, and rivers, as well as hone the finer points such as flytying, casting, and reading the water.  This is important because, as you grow, the way you interact with the world become the thing we call the soul, or so I beleive, and I think most people will agree enrichinnng the soul is one of the greatest activities one can engage in.  It teaches skill, sense, and self direction.  It deepens our interaction with the world around us meaning not just thinking of ourselves but thinking of others as well.   This can lead to deep commitment to friendship and fellowship and hope in our next endeavor.  Sure there are struggles.  Learning and engaging while they can be stimulating are not easy things.  But through hard work and the grit of determination those things that matter rise to the top and become our battle cry or calling card for life and the things that we hold dear.  In this we find that the things that matter ato us are connected to the soul and, somehow, we are almost made to be by these activities, these things we value.  Fly fishing is big for me.  I am commmitted and have been for over  twenty-five years.  Fishing in general, closer to thirty.  I sense I am made for this actiivty no matter how you define it, art, sport, past time, or just plain fun.  Granted there are forces that seem to lessen our sport by popularizing or commecializing it and even though our country is built on free enterprise, I feel some misgiving about this state of being, mainly because, with a little money and an internet course, you can cheapen the experienc e I hav gathered over time that, though thoughtless, I hold so dear.  Fly fishing is my everything and more than just a sport and my love for it is more steady than all other feelings.  I see it as a nature, and essence and that is important because it fills my heart and deepens my belly just thining of the word, irregardless of where or how or what specifically it brings up.  That strength cannot be taken away, intentional or otherwise.
Today was a sunny day anbd I knew the river well.  It flowed and I understood, seeing where and how, as I have in the past.  This is a result of my experience.  Where I go to be engaged and fulfilled is a river or stream.  Apon them, I sense the way, and that to me is greatness, one of my most fulfillinmg drives.  The river speaks to me telling me to cast here or wait there or feed line here or manipulate the line with a rod flip there.  This is all part of streamcraft, the art of fishing and the experience I have when on the water.
Some see wter.  I see more.  I see see a genuine opportunity to get in touch with myself in a way that only that which offers us meaning allows.  Its like riding a bike.  At first a challenge, you soon learn, and never forget and the feeling of riding stays with you for life.
You don't have to be a genius to fish, but the willingness to learn and explore help.  It is soul denching and life instilling and a power of its own.  Despite, in ways, its lesssening we can still enjoy it as there are always rivers somewhere wnd wherever there is water there are fish.  So know yourself, and know your river, or rather, invest your soul.  Only ythen will the things that matter rise to the top and it ts then that we are truly at our bst.