Everyone Needs A Walden Pond.

During my many vacations to Boston before my move here, my dad would always urge me to visit Walden Pond. He had been there while living in Boston himself, and me being the literature major, he thought I should visit the namesake of Henry David Thoreau's famous novel. Funny thing was, no one in Boston (at least not the college students I was around) had ever heard of Walden, let alone know how to get there. As it turns out, the pond isn't in Boston but about thirty minutes away in Concord, Massachusetts. And, fate having it, my little babysitting stint a few weeks back was also in Concord. So, having figured out where the pond was, I decided to bring my boyfriend there on a lovely fall day in October, aka yesterday. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts now manages the pond, and for a meager five-dollar parking fee, the day at Walden is yours. I wonder if Thoreau ever imagined a parking lot in his backyard? You can peek inside his little one room cabin and walk the trails which border the 61 acre pond. You can even go for a swim. For those of you who aren't so versed in all things Walden (don't worry, I had to Wikipedia it myself), Henry David Thoreau was a transcendentalist author who escaped to Walden Pond in the mid 1800's to contemplate the simple life and discover himself. Contrary to what I had previously believed, Walden Pond wasn't in the middle of nowhere- even back then. It was close to Thoreau's family home in present day Concord. Thoreau didn't go to Walden to exile himself. He merely wanted to remove himself from society for a couple years in order to see it (society) more clearly. He wanted to see what little he could live on; he wanted to live simply and self-sufficiently. Which got me thinking- we could all use our own Walden Pond. A place we retreat to contemplate; a place to rediscover the essence of our being. A place where cell phones and ipods don't function. No televisions. No laptops. No internet. Just nature. Now, I don't expect anyone to commit two years to this. I don't even think an overnight stay is necessary. But, every now and then, when life gets to be overwhelming (as it often does), instead of surrounding yourself with people and technology, I urge you to find the Thoreau in yourself and slip away for a couple hours into nature. Anything with an on/off switch stays at home. You may, however, bring a pencil and paper. Observe. Contemplate. Write. Realize how much you can accomplish using just yourself and your infinitely capable mind. I promise, your life will not be in shambles when you return to normalcy, and chances are you will feel refreshed and recharged. Nature has that positive effect on us. And, if you want to read more about Thoreau's little experiment, pick up his book "Walden, or Life in the Wood." I think I'm going to order my copy today.