Sunday, April 12, 2015

Emerson's Tenth Step

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have 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.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 
After the steps, one through nine,
come the daily ones, ten, eleven, twelve.
Step Ten, deal with things as they come up,
look at the day, find what needs to be fixed,
set it straight. We vigorously commenced 
this way of living as we cleaned up the past.It's common sense. It's a way of letting the day
take care of that day's mess, not borrowing
from the future nor digging up the past.
It's sanity in bite-size portions, easily grasped,
within reach, easy. And, at least in this step,
it's simple, for how much can even I build up
in a single day that needs addressing?
It works, it makes sense, and when we've done Ten
then starting the next day with Eleven,
with Good Orderly Direction, comes easily.
RWEmerson

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