How Emerson Used His Journals to Think Better I’ve been teaching you over the last few weeks how Ralph Waldo Emerson approached journaling—not just as a place to jot down thoughts, but as a tool to sharpen his mind and clarify his life. Today, I want to show you how Emerson used his journals to thinkContinue reading Learn to Journal Like Ralph Waldo Emerson (Week 5 of 6)
Last week, I talked about John Locke’s method of indexing a journal and how Emerson abandoned it in favor of something simpler. 📚Emerson kept three main types of journals: Pick one to three key topics you’re most passionate about. I’ve chosen Philosophy and Writing. Then create a topic-specific journal for each. Finally, get one journalContinue reading Learn to Journal like Ralph Waldo Emerson (Week 4 of 6)
A good index is a beautiful thing. Flip to the back of a nonfiction book and you’ll find every topic discussed, along with the page numbers where it appears.Here’s a shot of the index from The Mind on Fire, a biography of Emerson’s life. Okay, what do we have here? On the very first page ofContinue reading Learn to Journal Like Ralph Waldo Emerson (Week 3 of 6)
First, let’s get some semantics out of the way. I prefer the term “notebook,” which to me sounds like a working tool for thinking. However, Emerson referred to them as “journals,” so we’ll stick with his terminology throughout this series–even though “journal” reminds me of my grandmother, who wrote about the weather in her “journal”Continue reading Learn to Journal Like Ralph Waldo Emerson (Part 1 of 6)
I’m reading an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled The Poet written in 1844. Here’s the main argument: Poets are called upon to write honestly about the world. If they can manage this, we can hold on to our humanity. There’s a specific passage that reads, “He (The Poet) is isolated among his contemporaries byContinue reading Your Painful Secret
On August 31, 1837, a speech was delivered to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University that would become famous. The address was titled, The American Scholar, and it was given by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He challenged the students of Harvard, along with all future thinkers (which include you and I), to realize thatContinue reading Dear Reader, What Do You Think?
In Walden, Henry David Thoreau built a cabin in the woods that he might live deliberately. He wanted to get rid of the unnecessary claims on his attention so that he could focus on the act of being human (80). It struck me yesterday that we’re all looking for our personal Waldens. There’s a forceContinue reading I Will Live Deliberately
“Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” This quote comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s fantastic essay titled, Self-Reliance. Let’s unpack it. My first job in college was doing basic accounting work for a homebuilder. I was tasked with keeping track of all the bills we had to pay. We were building 250 homes aContinue reading Foolish Consistency