海角大神

Shortly after starting my career nearly 40 years ago, I drove through a summer rainstorm to claim a copy of Henry David Thoreau鈥檚 鈥淲alden鈥� that I鈥檇 spotted on a store shelf. Thoreau, the 19th-century naturalist and social commentator I鈥檇 first read in college, seemed good company as I began to balance the deadline-driven demands of my work as a journalist with my need to occasionally put the news cycle at arm鈥檚 length.

Decades later, as a suburban empty nester with fewer deadlines but a continuing need for thoughtful calm, I still pull Thoreau from the shelf each summer. His clarity and composure聽seem even more important to me these days as anxious headlines drain my focus.

I tend to connect with Thoreau most in summer, perhaps because his move to Walden Pond on the outskirts of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845 began as a summer project. Thoreau lived in a tiny cabin there for a couple of years, growing much of his own food and recording his experiences in a book that many readers admire more as an adventure than as a practical model.

I don鈥檛 live in a small woodland house, nor will most 鈥淲alden鈥� fans. But over repeated readings, I鈥檝e gleaned four principles of mindfulness from Thoreau that seem as useful to me now as when he championed them nearly two centuries ago.

Find revelation in the familiar.

Although summer travel is a cherished tradition, I can鈥檛 routinely seek mindfulness by sitting on a mountaintop or booking a formal retreat. Thoreau, who famously bragged about traveling 鈥渁 good deal in Concord,鈥� found inspiration close to home. 鈥淭horeau walked around his own small town thousands of times, with a relaxed attention that made it forever new to him,鈥� Geoff Wisner, who鈥檚 edited several collections of Thoreau鈥檚 writings, including the recent 鈥淎 Year of Birds,鈥� told me. Spotting a bluebird in 1859, Thoreau describes it as 鈥渁 speck of clear blue sky seen near the end of a storm.鈥澛�

Taking a cue from Thoreau, I try to make time each morning to scan the bird feeders outside my Louisiana home. Just a few minutes of this ritual, I鈥檝e discovered, lowers my stress levels and leaves me more composed for the day ahead.

Keep a journal.聽

Although Thoreau is best known for 鈥淲alden,鈥� he also kept a copious journal that in one published version stretches to 14 volumes and some 2 million words. Laura Dassow Walls, a celebrated Thoreau biographer, told me in an email that she was inspired by his example to keep a journal herself. 鈥淚 aspire to practice journaling as a kind of spiritual exercise in seeing, experiencing, and expressing the pulses and routines and surprises of life more fully,鈥� she said. 聽

Although I鈥檒l never match Thoreau鈥檚 diligence in recording his daily observations, I keep a small journal in my pocket, and having it near nudges me to notice little things. 鈥淐ucumbers grow ripe on the vine, hanging like pi帽atas in the morning sun,鈥� I wrote from my window the other day. Journaling helps me see my life as a story, slowing its pace so that I can dwell more purposefully within each hour.

Embrace the benefits of working from home.聽

Although we tend to think of working from home as a new thing, Thoreau practiced it at Walden, where he was busy finishing drafts of 鈥淎 Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,鈥� 鈥淲alden,鈥� and various essays. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing Thoreau had time to cultivate all those beans, keep up with his family and his chores in town, take his daily walks 鈥� and, oh yes, entertain frequent visitors,鈥� Dr. Walls told me. 鈥淭horeau鈥檚 two-plus years at Walden Pond were the most productive of his very productive lifetime.鈥澛� 聽 聽

As he scribbled away at Walden, he was buoyed, Dr. Walls writes in her biography, by 鈥渢he summer air, wafting through the chinks in the walls, carrying the scent of pine and the sounds of birds.鈥�

I try to embrace similar pleasures on workdays at home, opening a door to enjoy an occasional breeze or birdsong from the yard, or taking a lunchtime walk. These kinds of respites remind me that wonder doesn鈥檛 have to be writ large in my life to warrant my attention; it can sometimes dwell within the fine print of an ordinary Wednesday afternoon as wind grazes my cheek or a cardinal flutters into view.

Find partners in mindfulness.聽

Though often regarded as a loner, Thoreau was known to take people along on his hikes, something that on occasion seemed to sharpen his pleasure in what he saw. His friend Ellery Channing was a frequent tagalong, as was Ralph Waldo Emerson鈥檚 son Edward.

Though I鈥檓 a fan of solitude, a recent Saturday morning with a kayak club paddling a stretch of Louisiana wetlands reminded me that fellowship can kindle collective awe. I might not have spotted a turtle on a log as he drank in the sun if another kayaker with keener eyes hadn鈥檛 pointed it out. As I pursue mindfulness, the support of fellow travelers has helped me understand that the hunger for this kind of mental centeredness is a shared part of the human condition. It鈥檚 why Thoreau alternated between solitude and society, recognizing that they could mutually sustain his desire to live with attentive purpose.

What I鈥檝e also learned from Thoreau is that mindfulness, properly embraced, is a continuing pursuit, something to practice without expecting perfection. He chastised himself for missing stuff, but the important thing, he pointed out, is to keep trying. 鈥淏e so little distracted,鈥� he wrote in 1851, 鈥測our thoughts so little confused, your engagements so few, your attention so free, your existence so mundane, that in all places and in all hours you can hear the sound of crickets in those seasons when they are to be heard.鈥澛�