0:00If you ever felt like you're waiting for your next chapter to finally enjoy your life,
0:04I want to tell you a story.
0:06Once a businessman was vacationing in a small fishing village,
0:09and one day, he sees a fisherman pulling his boat into shore.
0:13Inside the boat were a few beautiful fish,
0:16and the businessman said,
0:17That's incredible. How long did it take you to catch them?
0:21And the fisherman said,
0:23Not long.
0:24And the businessman asked,
0:25Then why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?
0:28And the fisherman said, because I've had enough.
0:32The businessman looked confused.
0:34He said, but if you stayed out longer, you could catch more fish.
0:38You could sell them.
0:40Eventually, you could buy a bigger boat.
0:42You could buy a whole fleet of boats.
0:44The fisherman listened.
0:46The businessman kept going.
0:48He said, you could build a company.
0:50You could move to the city.
0:52You could become rich.
0:54And one day, you could retire.
0:56The fisherman looked at him and asked,
0:58and then what?
0:59And the businessman said,
1:01you could move to a quiet village by the sea.
1:04You could sleep late You could fish a little You could spend time with your family You could eat with your friends And enjoy your life And the fisherman looked at him and said
1:15But that's what I already do.
1:18I think about this story a lot.
1:20Because it's so easy to think that joy is somewhere ahead of us.
1:25After the next goal.
1:26After life looks a little more like the picture we had in our mind.
1:30And maybe that's why the fisherman's answer is so unsettling.
1:32because he's stopping to ask a question that many of us forget to ask.
1:38What am I hoping that this will give me?
1:40Is any piece of that already here?
1:43A slower morning?
1:45A meal with the people I love?
1:47A moment where I get to be here without rushing to the next thing?
1:51And maybe gratitude isn't a command for us to want less.
1:55Maybe it's just an invitation for us to notice more.
1:58to stop long enough to recognize the pieces of peace that are already touching our lives.
2:03Because sometimes the life that we're trying so hard to build
2:06is already showing up in the life that we have.
2:10And maybe the real question is not only, what do I want next?
2:14Maybe it's also what's already in my life right now that I don't want to miss.