Put simply, Thoreau meant that life is short, and we ought to make the most of every moment.
He is also been credited for saying, "Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify."
(In case you haven't read up on Thoreau, he lived in a cabin at Walden Pond for over two years. His purpose? To "live deliberately.")
If Thoreau were alive today, he'd be aghast at how so many people in the country -- and the world as a whole -- have fallen pray to consumerism.
Rather than finding ways to simplify their lives, people seem to be doing the exact opposite, saturating them with more stuff, more people, more noise.
When Thoreau exhorts us to live in the present and launch ourselves on every wave, he isn't saying we should set out on shopping sprees in pursuit of material stuff we may never need.
Instead, he is telling us to look beyond shallow, ephemeral, hedonistic pleasures -- to dig deeper, if you will. By turning to life's simple treasures -- from nature to friendship to knowledge -- we can achieve a real sense of fulfillment that fancy cars and shiny jewelry could never provide.
Indeed, we should soak up the present, for that is where true happiness lies. We can't change the past or do much about a future that has yet to arrive. All we can do is make today as good a day as possible.
Can you say you've taken for granted the sight of the majestic sun setting in the evening? How about the joy of eating something delectable after you've gone several hours without eating? What about the feeling of watching an engrossing film or show?
These moments are so simple and short-lived that we may overlook them without a second thought -- probably because we're preoccupied with our phones or distracted by other things or people in our midst.
While living in the moment for the bulk of our waking hours is a tall order, we should aim to stop what we're doing and take at least a few minutes each day to focus on something simple -- whether the sound of birds chirping at the beach or the sight of someone painting a canvas near the grocery store -- and take pleasure in it.
Think of this way: Those who are blind or deaf would love to be able to experience things we might consider mundane.
While there's nothing wrong with buying stuff for ourselves -- we do, after all, work hard for our worldly possessions -- Thoreau reminds us not to get so wrapped up in the superficial that we lose sight of the things that really do matter in life. We can certainly find joy in the simple.
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