To Live Deliberately

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life..."   Henry David Thoreau

Photo by Nicole Lawton

I'm not going to run off to Walden Pond (though it looks lovely, doesn't it?), but I do feel a keen desire to live deliberately and suck out all the marrow of life. Sometimes I feel like there are a million things getting in the way. I move from one activity to the next feeling like I should be doing something else instead, something more important. This vague sense of guilt follows me around.

But, hello? That is life. Those little daily moments are the "essential facts of life." Living deliberately is not so much about what you do, but about your state of mind while you do it. If I would just take the time to be in the moment--to notice, to wonder, to enjoy--I would realize that I am not missing out on anything. Be it writing, walking, taking care of my family, visiting friends or relaxing at the park. That is the marrow. I just need a reminder now and then.

And Thoreau said something else I wholeheartedly agree with: 

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

 And: 

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify. 

(He said so much more, I may have to start a Thoreau quote post as a regular feature)

What do you do to suck out all the marrow of life?

Writing at the Pond

So many fuzzy ducklings on the pond this morning. So adorable. The cool breeze sent ripples across the surface of the water. I walked for almost an hour and wrote two pages sitting on a bench overlooking the pond, all while my MP3 player served up the shuffle of unending awesome. I had offered to bring the kids along, but they refused. Even the three year old. Too bad for them. I think the pond may be my favorite place in the world.

Where do you go for inspiration?

Success

Two great quotes on success for your weekend:

This one arrived in my inbox yesterday:

"It is necessary to prepare and to plan so that we don’t fritter away our lives. Without a goal, there can be no real success. One of the best definitions of success I have ever heard goes something like this: success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Someone has said the trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never cross the goal line." ~Thomas S. Monson

This one I heard at my 12-step meeting:

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." ~ Sir Winston Churchill

Well, there you go. Get out there and succeed!

Once upon a time, I became a writer

Once upon a time, I became a writer. For eight long and often discouraging years I wrote and submitted stuff. Mostly short stories. I dreamed and hoped and prayed of one day getting published. I gathered rejection after rejection after rejection. I cried and banged my head on the desk and kept writing and kept submitting.

Then one day I opened my email to find an acceptance letter. Somebody wanted to buy one of my stories! I almost couldn't believe it was true. I cried again for happiness. I danced and celebrated.

But the weeks started to go by and the time the editor said he'd contact me again passed. The website hadn't been updated in a while. I started to worry. I saw the magazine on a list of dead markets. I emailed the editor. He said sorry. He'd hoped to publish the rest of his inventory, but it wasn't happening. I was free to submit the story elsewhere.

I was crushed. Heartbroken. I wanted to give up.

I didn't. I submitted that story and all the others again and again and again. A few months later another magazine bought the story and in July 2003, I finally got to see myself in print. With an illustration even. And reviewers who'd never even met me said nice things about my story. Joy. =)

I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. Maybe it's just to remind myself how far I've come already. Because, frankly, this whole last week I have felt like giving up. Like it just isn't worth the effort.

But it is.

Today, I read this in the January 2011 Ensign (a magazine for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints):

"Sometimes we try hard to achieve something, but our own efforts, however great, are insufficient for the task. I know Heavenly Father can bless us for our faith and obedience with even greater blessings than we hoped for initially...My toil will not have been in vain."

And in another article: "You are here on earth at this time for a reason. You have what it takes. You have skills, knowledge, and natural talents given to you from God...Take these things that are yours and have a great life!"

And I read this blog post. It really hit home for me.

So, thank you, Lord for your tender mercies today. Tomorrow I'm going to jump back into this with both feet!