A Slower Pace…
“Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.” ― Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Drawn to the vision of moving at a slower pace this summer, I am beginning to craft (and edit) my plans for the upcoming weeks when we deliberately reduce the amount of events offered at Eremos, including closing the office the week of the 4th of July.
Searching for wisdom to support this call to a slower pace (and to not fill the free time with too many fun activities or to-do’s), I found Mary Oliver’s poem “Going to Walden” (see below) in which she reminds us “how dull we grow from hurrying here and there. “
It turns out “Going to Walden” is much more than a title for her poem―it’s shorthand for retreating from the modern pace of life to live more simply, inspired by the experience and writing of Henry David Thoreau from his two years living in the woods near Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts.
“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” ― Henry David Thoreau
We may not be able to take two years to live on the lake like Thoreau, but we can begin to carve out time this summer to gaze into a pond or other body of water to “measure the depth” of our own nature, and in doing so, begin to revive our spirit and focus on what really matters. What could “Going to Walden” look like for you this summer?
Whether at a favorite park, your own backyard, or a quiet space in your home, where can you retreat to slow down to welcome all the distracted pieces of yourself back home to wholeness and plumb the depths of your own nature?
May you be blessed with your own “Going to Walden” experience this summer. And may it nourish your body, mind, and spirit for months to come .
“Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy.” ― Leo Babauta
Going to Walden
It isn’t very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying her and there!
Many have gone, and think me half a fool
To miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.
―Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems
