Painted on the wall over my closet door are the words: “Live the life you’ve imagined.” So wise, that Thoreau. I wonder if he chanted that to himself each night as he listened to the dark unknowns hooting and howling on Walden Pond, calming his fears so he could sleep. The first part of Henry’s prayer is not on my wall but I wish I had thought to include it: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!”
I like to imagine Henry David walking through the woods towards his little cabin and carrying his little sack of provisions, pleased with his transcendental self, repeating this mantra to himself — Confidently, confidently, confidently towards my dreams!
And I stand there each day, thinking of this, imagining this — I really do — as I curl my hair and apply my mascara. I brush my hair looking at the backwards words in my mirror: Live the life I’ve imagined. Except, backwards it would be past tense: Imagine the life I’ve lived.
“Imagine the life I’ve lived.”
That changes everything, doesn’t it?
Published by ShadowTeamsNYC and represented by Lisa Hagen Books
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