Reading Offers Meaning To My Existence
I am many things, I am someone who learns to live with humility, enriching myself each and every day. I am also the one who is walking along a complex path called existence, trying to learn from my mistakes, from my triumphs…
I surround myself with my people, I appreciate the here and now, I let myself do things, give in to my whims, and hug my reality with all my strength, while at the same time delighting in my nights reading so that I can live other lives, put myself in others’ shoes. Because books, too, form a part of my existence.
Reading is a form of happiness that is within reach of anyone with an open mind, those capable of stripping away their daily worries in order to pass through the lock of knowledge, of passion, of delight, and the most sublime of all mysteries.
Those who love to read adore the smell of books, and those who adore reading always finish that last page with a tinge of sadness. But that pain is not permanent, because for each finished novel, there are a thousand worlds awaiting us in the millions of pages in the world.
You are your experiences and everything you read
Did you ever doubt this? As the avid reader that you no doubt are, you should know that your identity, your personality, and your reason for being has been shaped by all of your experiences. Your hours reading have also sculpted you until they formed the authentic person that you are now.
Reading is a mansion with multiple windows. Those who are curious and dare to lean out will receive life lessons that do not leave marks of pain, but footprints of knowledge.
If there is something that we must also keep clear in our minds, it is the way in which we arrive to books. Maybe you became interested because you saw it at home, because your parents were your mentors. It is also possible that you will forever be drugged by a particular title that will in some way open the doors to that undeniable pleasure that is reading.
In fact, it is common for us to remember those first childhood or adolescent novels with special affection. Unforgettable discoveries that form part of who we are. We know that we like reading, that our house has already become small in the face of those towers of novels but… Have you stopped to think about everything that books do for you?
- Reading is a form of daily freedom that offers us refuge from stress and worries.
- Reading is a very effective way to accumulate a cognitive reserve. Tomorrow, we will have a brain full of multiple connections that are as strong as the best of our muscles, capable of diminishing the impact of possible dementia.
- The pleasure of reading is the best inheritance that we can offer to our children.
- Books bring us to tears, smiles, and even fill us with the pleasure of terror…However, we appreciate all of those intense emotions because it is also a way of life. Part of our existence.
- Many think that those who spend their day reading are fleeing from reality. This is not true. People who do not read are a slave to their own limitations.
Reading is an excellent daily therapy
We all feel empty, we all go through hard times, and we experience those existential doubts that those around us cannot always help us resolve. Books can answer many of those questions that we ask ourselves and can serve as authentic therapeutic tools for us.
If you feel doubts, if you want to acquire knowledge, do not limit yourself to finding that answer in one single book. Go to all of those within your reach and polish your critical awareness. Sometimes, there is not one single truth, but rather the one we need in a given moment.
Reading is a way to question ourselves. Sometimes putting ourselves in the shoes of other people helps us to think about situations, comments, and attitudes.
Life offers us experience and lessons, but books are daily storehouses of knowledge from which we can glean information, data, and especially emotions.
All emotions experienced in the pages of a book are a print on our brain capable of staying forever. They teach us, shake us, and sometimes force us to see reality with other eyes.
Reading is also an invitation to life. And therein lies one of its therapeutic wonders. It can bring us out of our daily sadness to make us feel curiosity towards things that we had not considered before.
Books help children mature and adults to be children again. They are a simple key that we can keep in our pockets when we take the bus, they are our friends on the night stand, and the ideal companion for nights of torment.
Reading opens your eyes, turns on your mind, and makes your heart vibrate. It is the noblest legacy that humanity has created. It is an exciting adventure that never ends.
Images courtesy of Jonathan Bean, Vittorio Giardino
