Daddy & Daughter Fishing Trip (Bedtime Story With SFX)

This meditation bedtime story is about a father and daughter spending a day together. The daughter often wants to spend time with her dad, but he is usually too busy. The father takes his daughter out fishing on a lake, teaches her to fish, then takes her down the river to find somewhere to eat before returning to the lake, teaching his daughter about camping, deciding they need to spend more time together and then heading home to bed.

Transcript

I don't know whether you'll find yourself drifting to sleep faster,

With the sound of my voice,

With the words that I'm using,

Or whether it'll be with the spaces between my words.

And as you comfortably begin to drift off asleep,

I'm just going to tell you a story in the background.

A story of a young girl who keeps wanting to spend some time with her dad.

But her dad is always busy,

Her dad is always working,

Or wanting to relax and have time for himself.

And every day this girl asks,

Will you spend time with me today?

And every day he's always too busy.

But eventually,

Just as she's giving up hope and yet still keeps trying,

He responds by saying that he wants to take her fishing.

He wants to teach her how to fish.

And the girl didn't really have an interest in fishing,

But was interested in spending some time with her father.

So the two of them the next morning woke up,

Packed for the fishing trip,

And set off to a nearby lake.

And as they arrived at the lake,

So the girl looked around.

And she enjoyed the smell of that fresh air,

Breeze on her face.

There was a few clouds in the sky.

She could see trees around the edge of the lake,

And lush grass.

And no one else seemed to be around.

And her father said,

Come on this way,

And took her down to a boat.

And he carried a lot of the fishing gear,

And she carried a little bit.

And they got on the boat.

And he started to row that boat out into the middle of the lake.

And then she asked if she could have a go at rowing.

And so she rowed that boat towards the middle of the lake.

And at first she struggled to get the coordination between the left and the right oar.

And they kept going around in circles,

And then weaving the other way,

And then the other way.

And sometimes the oar wouldn't go in the water right,

And it would splash water up into her father's face.

And he was laughing with her,

As she was laughing at him.

And they rowed out into the middle of the lake,

Pulled the oars onto the boat.

And just allowed the boat to bob up and down in the middle of the lake.

And the father then baited up the fishing hook,

And demonstrated how to get that hook as far away from the boat as possible into the water.

And he whipped that rod as the rear lance spun,

And the hook shot off,

And plopped into the water.

She then got her smaller fishing rod,

And facing the opposite side of the boat.

She copied him,

And then whipped that rod off,

And almost straightaway got it right by copying.

And the hook plopped into the water.

And he said,

You just have to sit and wait.

Just sit silently,

And patiently,

And feel the rod.

Feel any subtle movement,

Sensations,

That what you're looking for,

Is a sign that a fish has bitten on the bait.

And a slight tug on that hook.

And that slight tug will translate into a slight movement at the tip of the rod,

Which will be felt in the handle.

And that you just have to be able to sit and wait,

And focus on the feelings,

Focus on the sensations,

That it's about becoming in tune with those feelings.

Learning to notice the most subtle response,

And to be able to begin to learn the difference between a lifeless piece of weed catching on that hook,

And a fish.

And that you can begin to learn the different way both feel,

The different way different things feel,

Through your fingertips,

Through the palms of your hands holding onto that rod.

So that you'll know when to reel that fish in.

And that when reeling a fish in,

It's about sensitivity.

Reel too fast,

And you'll lose the fish.

Reel too slow,

And you'll lose the fish.

So you have to reel at just the right speed,

Which requires sensitivity to know when to reel faster and slower,

When to pause reeling in or out.

It's almost like falling into a dance with the fish on the end of that line.

And the father said,

So it is with many other things in life.

All you have to do is learn to transfer skills from one area to another.

That there are people you need to deal with like fish,

And situations that you need to deal with like this.

And so fishing will teach more about life than just how to fish.

And the girl had a sense that she kind of understood,

But she didn't know how you transfer skills from one part of life to another.

But she trusted that somehow it must happen.

And she was enjoying her fishing trip with her father.

It was these kind of experiences that she wanted,

Something where she learned from the wisdom of her dad.

And after a few hours of fishing on that lake,

Her father had caught a few fish,

And yet nothing had bitten her line.

And she was wondering whether she was doing something wrong.

And so the father taught her a trick,

A way of wiggling the rod,

Of pulling in and out the line a little bit,

To create some movement at the end,

At the hook,

That creates a sense of curiosity,

Intrigue.

And she did this,

And suddenly she got a bite.

And excitedly she started reeling in this fish,

Following her father's instructions,

Not too fast,

Not too slow,

Sometimes letting the line go,

Sometimes pulling the line in,

Pulling on the rod,

Loosening the rod.

And eventually she got the fish to the boat.

She had a photo taken with that fish before she unhooked it and threw it back.

And then she decided it was starting to get a bit later,

And she was starting to get hungry.

It was just after lunchtime,

And she'd been there for hours,

So the father suggested,

Why don't they row down the river?

He knows this nice place to stop.

So the father and his daughter set off across the lake to the river,

And started rowing down the river.

And they rowed past people walking on the bank.

And she loved just sitting back,

Closing her eyes,

Feeling the warmth of the sun and the breeze on her face,

As they row down this river,

As she listened to the sound of the oars,

As they pushed the water behind them.

While she occasionally would talk to her father,

And he'd talk back,

And she had this strong feeling that she was creating something beautiful in her mind,

That will last with her forever.

And as they carried on rowing,

They saw dog walkers on the shore,

Some people just sitting there eating sandwiches,

Some people would just wave and say hello,

For no reason at all other than that they were passing by.

And after a little while,

They arrived at a little pier area,

Somewhere to dock up the boat.

And so the father navigated the boat alongside the pier,

Tied the boat to the side,

Helped his daughter off,

And then climbed off the boat himself.

And they're at a beautiful country hotel.

And they walked up to the hotel.

We're going to the restaurant in this hotel.

They sat outside the front of the hotel overlooking the river.

And he went in and got some menus and came back.

They looked at the menus and decided what they'd like to eat.

Then someone came out and served them.

They ordered a couple of drinks,

They ordered their food.

They sat just peacefully with a mumble of sounds of the voices in the background.

Just sat and enjoyed the view,

Enjoyed gazing over the river,

Watching others in boats of different kinds occasionally pass by,

Enjoying some relaxing time with dad and daughter.

And then their food came out and they ate their food.

They had a little talk with each other about their interests,

Mainly the dad asking what the daughter liked to do,

What was going on for her and her life at the moment.

And while her mouth was answering,

Her mind was thinking about the fact that he was totally focused on her.

He wasn't thinking about work,

Thinking about other things,

Thinking about what time he has to go.

He appeared totally interested in her and what she had to say,

And totally in that moment with her.

And she felt so loved and valued and respected in that moment,

And knew that her father being like this was teaching her more than just giving her a nice experience as a dad,

Teaching her about the way people interact and communicate meaningfully with each other.

And after eating they had another drink and continued sitting there.

She realized it was now getting well into the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set and the sky was starting to turn the most beautiful orange.

And they left the hotel and went and sat on the pier,

With their feet dangling over the edge,

Just continuing talking as the sun started getting lower over the horizon.

And then before the sun had fully set,

The dad said it was time to start heading back home,

To make it down the river back to that lake and back to the shore before it gets too dark.

And so as the sun was beginning its journey over the horizon,

They got back in the boat and the dad rode the boat back along the river towards the lake.

And the daughter continued to savor this moment,

To savor this day.

And then they arrived at the lake.

The moon was more visible in the sky now,

Starting to shine brightly.

The sun was almost totally set,

It had long gone over the horizon,

But there was enough light to still just about make out the shore.

So the dad rode to the shore.

And he said,

Did you want to know how to start a fire and have an experience of some camping just for a few hours,

To really make the end of this day special,

To round off the day so that when they get home they could just go to bed,

It'll be the end of the day.

But for now,

Did she want this experience?

He could teach her,

And she really did.

So together they gathered up some wood,

From among the nearby trees.

He demonstrated clearing an area to make sure the fire wouldn't set fire to anything it's not supposed to.

Demonstrated stacking the wood,

Making it so that it will light.

And then he lit the fire.

And the girl got two chairs out of the car.

Set up those chairs near the fire.

The dad got some food out of an icebox.

And they cooked up that food,

And just enjoyed watching the last of the sun,

Watching how the stars appeared more in the sky,

Twinkling above.

The way the moon now glistened on the lake.

And then after a little while,

The dad said it was time for them to go home.

So they put out the fire,

Packed everything away,

And made their journey back home.

And on the journey home,

The daughter and the dad continued talking and bonding.

And the daughter said that she wanted to do this kind of thing more often.

She didn't want it to be just a one-off.

And the dad said that he also needed to make more effort.

That he can get so wrapped up in work,

So wrapped up in what he needs to do,

That he forgets what he should do.

And that sometimes life can pass you by while you're busy doing something else.

And when there are loved ones involved,

You don't want that to be the case.

He told her that this trip had taught him a lot about where his priorities should be,

And how he should focus his attention.

And the daughter closed her eyes and just listened as the car drove along.

Just listened to the sounds around them,

With a smile on her face.

Reminiscing about the day she's just had,

And hoping this is the first of many.

And then on arriving home,

She kissed her dad,

And went up to bed.

Got into bed and allowed herself to drift into a pleasant dream,

That she began to drift off comfortably asleep.