Delight Springs

Friday, August 4, 2017

"What gets me out of bed in the morning"

Emerson had a resolutely resilient thought when he counseled himself to "finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.” Emerson in His Journals, Jan 26, 1844

But did he in fact ever say what the Internet claims he said?
Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Doesn't matter, it's a darned good statement about what gets resilient people out of bed in the morning.

Taking the whole discussion down a notch in solemnity, while taking it up in levity, is Senator Al Franken in his new book. "What gets me out of bed in the morning is having to pee. Sometimes that's also what gets me out of bed in the middle of the night. In either case, I always go right back to bed."

I can relate. Walls of sleep aren't as solid as they used to be. But tomorrow is a new day. Exciting new blunders and absurdities await.

1 comment:

  1. When I go to sleep I stay asleep, but if I have thoughts on my mind I can never find sleep. I find that by clearing my mind of all my daily worries allows me to find peace enough to sleep. At least I don't have to build a cabin in the middle of the woods by a lake like Henry Thoreau to get a good night's rest. Yet what about our problems that are always there, the constant need for food, shelter, clothing, water, and arguably a good night's rest? If those problems are always there until our death, then how can we ever get a good night's rest and wake up "serenely and with a high spirit" if we always have problems to deal with. Maybe thats why they write RIP on tombstones.

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