> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gilespcroft.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Going fishing - URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/going-fishing/ - Published: 2026-01-26T07:00:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-12T05:34:45.000Z - Description: A powerful visual metaphor for the mind's relationship to past, present and future 🕰️ - Author: Giles P Croft - Tags: Metaphor, Anxiety, Comics, Focus, Presence, Quick insight, AI, MECHANICS, Cycling I've written a couple of posts recently about how the mind creates its [visions of the future](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-future-is-the-past/). And as I was talking this through with a client the other day, an image popped into my head; a powerful visual metaphor that I'd never seen before. It was of the mind, sitting on a high wall, fishing. On one side of the wall, the endless content of the past. Every last shred of [data at its disposal](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-future-is-the-past/). On the other lies the future, which is, by definition empty (because it is completely unknown). It's just like pure potential: anything could happen. And the mind is fishing stuff out of the past, and dangling it in front of us, making out like it's the future, when really, it has no idea. A metaphor worth remembering. --- It's a really strong mental image that has stuck with me… enough for me to ask the robot assistant to have a go at putting it down on paper for me. What it came up with isn't half bad! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/01/2026-01-21-The-Future-is-the-past.jpg) There's some **fairly* weird stuff in the past there… I hope it wasn't using what it knows about me, to create it! 😂 As the Danish proverb goes: > *“It is difficult to make predictions,* > *especially about the future.”* When you know what it's using to *make* those predictions… that makes a lot of sense! 😉 Giles ### Post-script No sooner had I published this, than life delivered a perfect example of it: the Sunday cycling club run. I'd been invited to join a group I haven't ridden with for a while and was super excited, joining in group-chat banter about the ride in the preceding days, and really looking forward to getting out into the hills with them, and catching up. But the weather forecast was really bad. The mind, using only the past, created the following fictional picture: - *💭 It's going to be great, riding with the boys* - 💭 *It's going to be quite unpleasant, doing that in the cold, wind and rain – something to steel myself against, in the run-up* And then on the day, here's what *actually* happened: - The weather turned around completely, overnight. It wasn't cold. It didn't rain. It wasn't even all that windy. There was even blue sky. It was lovely! (I was a *little* [over-dressed](https://www.gilespcroft.com/in-celebration-of-being-wrong-again/), and all that advance worry/negativity was entirely for nought). - Turns out, unlike me, none of *them* really had much time off the bike at the end of last year, meaning they were all *way* fitter than me and I got dropped about 15 minutes in, when we went up the first proper climb. So I was out on my own for [the day's riding](https://www.strava.com/activities/17172756941/?ref=gilespcroft.com). 😂 I was chuckling to myself, at how perfect an example of this metaphor I'd just been delivered. If you look for the evidence, you'll find examples of this happening for you too, all day every day. SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY REMINDERS newsletter [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2025/12/DR_Lockup-Black-1.png)](#/portal/signup) Want to start **your* days with helpful, insightful content like this? The Daily Reminder is a quick, lighthearted email that arrives in your inbox, to help keep you grounded in reality, so that you get to **‘Think less, and live more.’* **“They feel like a moment of stillness in a world of madness.” \~* Neil, UK **“One of those small things with big impact. Honestly, just sign up!”* \~ Paula, UK [GET YOURS NOW ](#/portal/signup) ### Related [Unknown unknownsThe thing that’s going to help you change lies outside of your current frame of reference ✨![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-486.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/2026-18-03-Unknown-Unknowns_Thought-System-Box-1.jpg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/unknown-unknowns/) The funny thing is: the mind doesn't even know it doesn't know! 😂