The Lives We Imagine - Earl Nightingale
MOST PEOPLE LIVE IN TWO WORLDS: There’s the real world, in which they move and work and live, the world of the nitty-gritty; and there’s the world of the imagination, where they want to live...
Here’s something worth keeping in mind:
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
It was written by Henry David Thoreau. And it contains a truth most people do not even dream exists. If they did, the entire country might be turned into total chaos.
The truth most of us miss in that great quotation is that success – beyond anything we might now imagine – lies in wait for those who can put together enough courage to actually live the life they imagine.
Most people live in two worlds: There’s the real world, the world in which they move and work and live, the world of the nitty-gritty; and there’s the world of the imagination, the world in which they would secretly like to live.
And what keeps them from moving from the world of reality into the world of their imagination is habit, and the fear of falling flat on their faces in the attempt, and losing even the little that they presently have, and perhaps looking ridiculous in the eyes of their loved ones and friends. They are like the character Walter Mitty, created by James Thurber. They are the people who dream their whole lives instead of living their dreams. We’re all Walter Mitty's to some extent.
What we fail to realize is what Thoreau discovered: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Thoreau knew this because he did it. So have thousands of others who have found to their delighted surprise that life pays off most handsomely when we are doing that which we most want to do, when we are actually living the life we have imagined for so long.
That doesn’t mean that we run off after every vagrant whim. But it does mean that we should live the life that we know, deep down in our very being, we would most like to live. It means that we should be doing that which every indicator of our makeup, every fiber of our being, tells us we should be doing – and has been telling us for some time. Even Thoreau didn’t go to live at Walden Pond the first time the idea struck him to go off by himself, and meditate and think and write and try to discover for himself what was important and what wasn’t.
But when an idea tugs at us day after day, year after year, when we think about it as we lie awake in bed or the first thing when we wake up – when it worries our consciousness like a puppy with a slipper – then it’s time to do something about it. And even though making the move might seem to jeopardize everything of order in our lives, it is very likely as Thoreau suggested, that we will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
The most commonly voiced thought after taking such a step is, “Why didn’t I do this years ago?"
Emerson said, “A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his."
When was the last time you allowed yourself to nurture your imagination?
Do you take the time to write down your dreams and thoughts?
If the idea of taking a big risk to pursue your dreams frightens you, consider taking smaller steps first and watch your success grow!
Another essay by Earl Nightingale from the How to Completely Change Your Life Series
