Henry David Thoreaus Mindfulness Secrets: Principles from Walden for Living in the Present Moment

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Thoreau writes in Walden, "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...and reduce it to its lowest terms."

At Walden Pond, Thoreau lived an examined life and realized his full potential while simultaneously developing a spiritual view of the natural world and where humans find themselves in it. Much of Thoreau's time at Walden Pond was spent becoming more mindful, a lesson from which we could all benefit in the hectic, technologically advanced society of modern day. Millions of people worldwide spend vast sums of money in attempting to achieve the type of mindfulness that Thoreau achieved for free and penned in Walden almost 200 years ago.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness can be described as full awareness and enlightenment. It involves constantly being aware of the present moment and always looking at what there is to be seen. However, mindfulness involves more than just the sense of sight. Thoreau invoked all five senses in his mindful practices during his time at Walden Pond. He used these five senses to fully "know" his world. As he wrote in his later journals, "A man has not seen a thing who has not felt it." Granted, most of Thoreau's contemporaries who knew him say that Thoreau's senses were more finely tuned than those of an "ordinary" person, as he was able to hear faint peeps of animals who were far away or smell goods passing on a freight train. However, anyone can learn to use their five senses to their fullest potential.