The Wise Man

I read a quote the other day; the young man lives in the future, the old man lives in the past, but the wise man lives in the present. I have to agree with this philosophically, but one can't live this way all the time. It can become rather exhausting.

My husband and I received some excellent financial advice recently. "Begin with the end in mind." Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Don't I do this every day? Well, not really ... my days are far more tactical than strategic. And I think it is no different for most people just making it through each day, one small crisis or victory at a time. But we were challenged with coming up with a clear picture of what we would like the rest of life to look like. What are our mutual goals? What is achievable, and what are we willing to do or sacfrifice to achieve them?

So we went to the archives, my old copies of Cottage Living (may they RIP) to clarify our thoughts. My husband was looking at garden plans while I was pricing out kitchen renovations. (Or getting distracted by food photography.) While these approaches seem to conflict, they all fit into the grand scheme of things.

Now, to begin at the end ...

Arriving at One Goal is the Start of Another

Henry David Thoreau once said that “Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.”

If, like me, you constantly keep a to-do list (the product of some thoughts) brewing like a pot of stew, you have plenty of company. It could range from the menial (find the phone bill, pick up the dry-cleaning) to the seemingly herculean (lose that nagging extra ten pounds, organize the basement). I often misguidedly let checking something off the list stand in for happiness, only to find that three new items appear in its place. One of my sisters once told me that she’d be content when she had more storage space. To my surprise, my father-in-law told me recently that he was once, and only once, completely caught up on all of his to-do’s. He described at as a peculiar six hours in his life.

A recent study revealed that, more than a raise or promotion, employees need a sense of progress to feel contended in their jobs. This would naturally extend to our personal lives. Perhaps our lists help us get closer to how we wish the world to see us, not how we feel on the inside.

Perhaps Thoreau was right; we are the sculptors of our own lives.