Living Deliberately

"I went into 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." -- Henry David Thoreau

The leaves are beginning to change here in New Jersey. Only a few so far, but I can see it. There has been a cool nip to the air as well, a bite to the mornings warning that the turn of the seasons is fast approaching. The world is shedding it's Summer sheen and revealing itself anew. Preparing for what is to come.

I am currently reading Thoreau's Walden, the American classic long foisted upon ambivalent high school students that I somehow missed, and it has me thinking about the ways I live deliberately versus the places I am swept along by convention. What have I been holding on to because it is how I have always done something, and is it worth shedding in favor of a conscious choice?

Where can I soften, relax into the process of something as opposed to rushing on to the next task?

As the earth begins to take slow deliberate steps towards winter, I want to slow down and take deliberate steps towards a truer version of myself.

I value connection, knowledge, and creativity. My intention for the month of September is to slow down an activity in each of these places in my life and notice what is lost and what is gained by the practice. Maybe the drive to be "productive" will be too much, or maybe being conscious of where I spend my energy will fill my cup. Only time will tell.

Connection-- I adore writing letters, the old school snail-mail kind, and have a whole box of stationary that has gone unused for years. The joy I get from receiving mail is only surpassed by sending mail. So starting now, every Friday, I am writing a friend.

Knowledge-- Curiosity is a key part of who I am, and one way I slake that is by reading nearly constantly. But I worry I read too fast to let things settle, to soak in fully before moving on to the next adventure. Fully engaging in a novel, therefore, is the plan. Stay tuned for October where this will be put into full effect with "How High We Go In The Dark".

Creativity-- There's something about doing something with my hands, creating something out of nothing, that is incredibly satisfying. I love that feeling, but often have trouble finding the time to live out my crafting dreams. And therefore fall into the trap of having a multitude of kits and projects half done or never opened. The plan is to pick one of these, painting this month, and work on these projects as opposed to scrolling of throwing on the TV. Watercolors and paint-by-numbers here I come!

For Thoreau, living deliberately meant bucking convention and moving to the woods, away from society, growing his own food, and bathing in the natural world. Not all of us can escape off the grid, but we can snap out of autopilot and give attention to growing the parts of ourselves we cherish.

Maybe in these small ways, we can learn what the world has to teach and truly live.