When was the last time you read a book? For many of us, sadly, the answer will not be as near in the past (or present) as we’d like. As media bombards us on a more daily basis, the time we spend watching television (up to seven hours a day in some cases) or on the internet (up to thirty hours a week by some studies) increases and takes us away from written books.
While this makes us sad just from the perspective of being concerned about the future of literacy and the written word, it also plays into the search for satisfaction that eludes most people. Television, movies and the internet present information in shorter, less insightful and often less artful forms. This experience isn’t the same as reading a book where we follow along through a crafted story and create a universe and characters that go along with it inside of our own heads. As we’re presented with more visuals and more condensed information, our own brains develop less of our own internal universes and histories. This, inevitably, leaves us feeling somewhat empty, and we often try to fill that emptiness with more media and consumerism.
Summer is just starting, and it’s the perfect time to commit to a summer reading list. Often we have more spare time in the summer, and we even go on vacations. The summer reading list has long been a staple of America that’s gradually begun to slip away. Make a list of the books that you’d like to read over the summer. Be realistic, don’t make a list that’s so long that you know you’ll never get through it, but create a starting list. Maybe just five books that you’d like to read. If you’re not up on what’s great in literature right now, take an afternoon to walk around the book store and look for things that interest you. Ask your friends and family what they’ve read recently that they think you would enjoy. Buy a stack of books (even better if you can buy them used or get them at the library) and put them on your nightstand to start working through!
Your reading time each day should be time that’s just for you and your internal universe. Make sure you honor yourself with that time. Every hour that you spend reading a book instead of watching television is an hour that you’re on the path to finding the satisfaction of enough. We’re not saying that you need to turn your television off forever, but make sure that your brain is getting fulfilled and invigorated as well!
