"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Henry David Thoreau
I have always loved Thoreau and this quote especially. It has a grandeur and elegant inspiration to it. But there is more in this beautiful short prose than you may notice at first glance. It is an actual prescription for achieving an extraordinary life.
Advances: Takes forward action
Confidently: With solid belief
Endeavor: Make effort, work
Imagined: Thought- out creatively
Success: Achieve
Unexpected in common hours: Beyond what you may think you can attain or is typical for the average joe, Extraordinary.
I believe we all have dreams. That we all have a life we imagine we would like to be living. Unfortunately, I believe that most of us do not meet with a success unexpected or uncommon. I further believe it is because most of us do not do the part that comes in the middle of this passage. The confidence and effort toward the dream is the crucial piece that is missing for most folks. At times this certainly includes me. Like everyone I have a bevy of dreams, a list of grand ideas long forgotten or collecting dust in a discarded notebook. Countless times I have gotten really excited about a business program or idea, a project or a class I wanted to take only to allow inaction to dampen the flame of my enthusiasm. All things pass. That can be a double edged sword. Helpful when we allow the sadness of life to diminish over time and sad when we let the excitement of life do the same.
Inaction is a killer but so too is lacking the confidence or belief in yourself and your ability to achieve what you are after. Doubt plagues us all at times. Another favorite quote addresses that well.
“ There is nothing capricious in nature and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Capricious:Unpredictable, impulsive
Gratification: Achievement
Constitution: What you are made of.
Basically, if you are feeling a strong call or have a burning desire you have the ability to fulfill it or you would just not have the idea in the first place. You may need to gather resources, work hard, enlist help and so on but it’s doable according to Ralph. You just have to chose to go Thoreau on it.
The truth is most of us exist day to day in a blur of rushed activities so often repeated we spend most of our time on auto pilot. We crave something more but cannot quite identify what we are after. We seek meaning and fulfillment in passive things lacking any meaning and offering no fulfillment like television, alcohol, financial gain or material objects. We are reticent to express our authentic selves afraid to look foolish or be rejected. We often avoid something new fearful we won’t like the experience or will fail in our efforts. This is human and so is the disappointment and dissatisfaction that is expected and experienced in the common hour.
To live an extraordinary life is to discover the poetry and beauty within and around you. To be bold and follow the stirrings of your soul. To risk yourself and deeply experience the rewards and the disappointments life has in store for you when you do. I do not believe it is magic to be sure. There is no formula for success in every endeavor. I think what Emerson and Thoreau meant was that it is in the pursuit of living the life we imagine and following our deepest desires that we succeed in living our dreams.
I think that is an old concept our Founding Father’s embraced as well.
“...the pursuit of happiness” is our right not the guarantee of endless hours of bliss. You may recognize that one. We enjoy the right in our country to pursue our own happiness.Too often we narrowly define success as only the end result of a goal and negate the incredible journey and pleasure of the effort to work toward it. I think Emerson and Thoreau offer good advice in honing in on dreams and desires as guides to the happiness we pursue.
Living a life advancing confidently in the direction of your dreams, heeding the call of your deepest desires, finding joy in the pursuit, this is a formula for an extraordinary life.
Julia Skeesick is passionate about living life fully with meaning and success and helping others to do the same. Call or visit her site for more resources to get you confidently headed in the direction of your dreams.
630.664.9740 www.lifescapestrategies.com
