Living in the Present Moment – An Essay By Zoe Peterson

My daughter, Zoe who attends Cal Poly San Luis Obispo recently wrote this essay about Thoreau and living in the present moment.  It touched me deeply as I had no idea how much my own journey to finding peace would affect her.  As parents, my husband and I do the best we can and then try to forgive ourselves when we fall short.  This essay gives me hope that even though I’ve made lots of mistakes as a parent, something far bigger than I could imagine was taking place.  I’d love to hear what you think about parenting and teaching kids about the things that matter most to you – feel free to share them in the comments below…. XOXO, Leisa

Living in the Present Moment – An Essay By Zoe Peterson

As I read Walden by Henry Thoreau, I felt a deep connection to his ideas. After spending more time focusing on it, I realized his writing spoke to me so much because it parallels the beliefs my mother and father raised me on. Both Thoreau and my parents are very centered around the importance of the simplicity of life. As I was growing up, my parents showed me the value of living in the present moment. When we appreciate the present, we also begin to observe our reliance on material objects, which Thoreau wants to shift away from. My parents raised me with a love for nature instead, which acted as a funnel for consciously living in the present. Growing up with these influences on me shifted the way I look at the world, and I notice these differences every day. Reading Walden opened my eyes to more of the possibilities available with this way of thought and gave me more appreciation for the influences I have grown up with that taught me in a similar way. 

One of the central themes of Walden that I resonated with is nature and its ability to raise our consciousness. He uses the cycle of the seasons to symbolize his spiritual journey throughout the book. He starts in Spring and ends in Spring, a year later, with a “rebirth.” He also uses sunrises multiple times in his writing to symbolize “waking up” throughout his internal journey. In “Solitude,” he discusses a coexistence between man and nature. He believes people who are closer to nature will follow a more spiritual path. I grew up in Truckee, California, which is near Lake Tahoe. Growing up in a small town, there was no movie theater or mall which I only appreciated more as I got older. We spent our childhood outdoors: hiking, skiing, biking, and swimming. Both of my parents made an effort to spend at least one day each week together outdoors. When I was younger, I used to resist going on hikes, but as I have gotten older, I treasure them. I have also watched my younger brother go through these same stages, and at age 11, he is finally starting to appreciate the outdoors as much as we do. My parents were determined to cultivate a love for nature in us like theirs, and they refused to let us say no. Because they pushed me to explore, my desire to be in nature developed as I grew, and I now go to nature for comfort. When I am having a tough day, or if I just want to relax, I always find myself hiking or exploring. It acts as an outlet for me. There is no better feeling than when I reach the top of a mountain or the end of a trail. I feel as if I am totally in the present moment and that all the worries in my head are so much smaller than I make them seem. When Thoreau goes to nature, he is able to live “deliberately.” I connect with this because when I am in nature, I feel centered, and grateful for such a simple way to calm my mind.

Paralleling his feelings towards the importance of nature was the unimportance of material things. I grew up in a home where we always treasured experiences more than objects. Thoreau wrote about how we are consumed by material objects, like clothing for example. Clothing has become focused entirely on fashion rather than its original intention: warmth. When I was in elementary and middle school, I would walk to the bus stop every morning through my back yard. During the winter, the snow could pack up to 2 or 3 feet on the path. Because I was so fixed on looking “good” at school, I refused to wear snow boots and snow pants, no matter how much my dad tried to convince me I would be more comfortable. I didn’t feel I would be “cool” if I came to school wearing snow boots, so I chose to wear tennis shoes that would end up soaking wet for the first 3 hours of the school day. Eventually I grew out of this phase and I have realized how ridiculous I had acted. I watched my younger brother go through the exact same phase too. This shows how much society influences us, even at such young ages. Despite our parents’ opinions, my brother and I still both developed the same beliefs about clothing and the need to look “cool.” 

Another example Thoreau gave was how people get trapped in houses, and are prevented from living their dreams and adventuring. When a family buys a house, all their assets become tied up in the house, and they begin accumulating too many “things.” This makes it extremely difficult to move out, which ends up putting a hold on their plans.  When I was younger, my family used to build a house, move into it, and sell it within two years. Because we moved so often, we did not accumulate mass amounts of objects, making sure we just had what we really wanted. However, we moved into one house when I was 12 and lived there until I graduated high school. We ended up collecting way more things than we could have ever imagined, making moving out extremely difficult. My parents sold almost everything we owned and packed up and moved to Hawaii, and then Arizona within the next year. We realized how much stuff we had gathered in those six years and vowed never to allow that again. When you have to get rid of the majority of your stuff, you begin to understand what the bare necessities actually are. While I didn’t cut out everything except for food, shelter, clothing, and fuel like Thoreau, I was still able to look at how much I had that I didn’t need. Experiencing this while I was young has helped to shape these values of mine that will continue on for the rest of my life. 

My favorite parts of Walden were when he wrote about actions he would take to live in the present moment. The example that stood out the most to me was when he was building his house. He chose to build the whole house except for the chimney, which he would build as winter approached. This fascinated me because every day I try my best to live in the present moment, and to not stress over the future or the past. When I was growing up, my mother taught meditation at a local yoga studio. She would bring me to her classes often, so I could experience her teachings. The entire purpose of meditation and yoga is to center yourself on your breathing and focus on your being in the present moment. Because I grew up going to these classes, I know how beneficial centering oneself can be. Now, on a daily basis, when I find myself stressing too much, I make an effort to stop and remind myself that obsessing over it is not going to change the outcome. My mom can always sense when I am not centered and she reminds me to focus on myself in the current moment. If I am always thinking about the future, when will I take the time to appreciate the present? 

Most people I know are constantly worrying about their future jobs or incomes. As college students, we are under a lot of pressure to get the best grades in order to find our dream careers. However, we are also in a stage of life that people talk about for the rest of their lives. My parents have been telling me stories of their experiences in college for as long as I can remember. A lot of college students have a hard time balancing their academics and the desire to make the most of the present moment, including myself. However, because of the way my parents raised me, I often find myself with plenty of time to live life in the moment and going on spontaneous adventures. Reading Thoreau made me appreciate this gift even more. Obviously he took living in the moment to an extreme that many of us would really struggle with, but I find his purpose very admirable. 

I definitely do not plan to pack up and move into the forest, build myself a house and a farm, and live on my own for a year. However, I would love to live the rest of my life with Thoreau’s beliefs guiding my path. This is exactly what Thoreau wants as well. He states, “I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way.” He doesn’t want people to do exactly what he did, because then they wouldn’t learn the lessons for themselves. It is up to each of us, individually, to find what values we hold and determine how we view the world. I am very grateful that my parents made an effort to raise me in a way that taught me to appreciate the present moment and I will continue these values through my family in the future. 

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