The book sitting in front of me is titled "Practicing the Power of NOW." Many people have heard of and read this book by Eckhart Tolle. I happen to love it and did not plan on reading it, but it has been sitting in front of me in my friend's office for days- I think it is time to give it a re-read.
While I never really had an interest in reading the same book twice, this is really changing for me, especially with books on self-improvement. We sometimes need reminders on what we read, what we liked, what principles or themes made us think or question ourselves? Perhaps if we are encountering a tough time, we need a reminder on the parts of us that make us unique, proud, and accomplished.
Since my childhood days of Book Clubs and studying like a nerd, books have always been a passion for me. Books on spirituality, self improvement, psychology, memoirs, and leaders/influential people have been my focus for the past few years. It is always interesting reading about the people's lens or outlook on life. How have their experiences shaped them along with their psychological being influenced by their childhood upbringing and family genes. My passion and purpose-psychology always fascinates me and surprises me day by day and read by read-I love it. I see it in books, movies, poems, plays, stories-psychology always plays a role in everything and has much more power than we think or even know.
While I originally posted the beginning of this post three days ago, I forgot my exact point-the consequence of not writing when an idea is fresh-my constant flaw with writing. Oh yes, I remember! ha!
Reading has become so important to me that it has replaced my clothes and shopping. Instead of shopping for unnecessary clothing, I am shopping for books. In Kathmandu, the books stores are amazing- in Egypt as extensive and expensive. In Nepal, I spent three hours picking out books and then when I went to pick them up and pay with my card-their machine was not working and I already spent my last Nepalese rupees and I was out of time-Nepal. I had to leave my four books behind! These Osho books cost $20 in any store and they had brand new copies of the best selling ones for $2. These books are so hard to come by and I had another Gandhi book on leadership I just loved. I left with such disappointment that I was still thinking about it on the plane and even into Bahrain-ugh.
My point with all this is that we can always go back to what we love with one word: replacement. Replace one want with an even better one. Replace clothes with books, replace Internet time with a physical activity, replace phone with a book, replace Starbucks with tea from home, replace your time in traffic with a bike ride/walk(if you love walking/biking/being outdoors) etc. The point is to define what are truly our wants and what connection these wants have to our actual self improvement. Having expensive clothes is not going to make me smarter, wiser, knowledgeable, aware, curious, stimulated- a book will contribute to my personal growth and it will contribute to yours too.
(Please keep in mind reading facebook updates on status and youtube is not reading-I too was guilty of this investment to facebook, but not anymore)
While I never really had an interest in reading the same book twice, this is really changing for me, especially with books on self-improvement. We sometimes need reminders on what we read, what we liked, what principles or themes made us think or question ourselves? Perhaps if we are encountering a tough time, we need a reminder on the parts of us that make us unique, proud, and accomplished.
Since my childhood days of Book Clubs and studying like a nerd, books have always been a passion for me. Books on spirituality, self improvement, psychology, memoirs, and leaders/influential people have been my focus for the past few years. It is always interesting reading about the people's lens or outlook on life. How have their experiences shaped them along with their psychological being influenced by their childhood upbringing and family genes. My passion and purpose-psychology always fascinates me and surprises me day by day and read by read-I love it. I see it in books, movies, poems, plays, stories-psychology always plays a role in everything and has much more power than we think or even know.
While I originally posted the beginning of this post three days ago, I forgot my exact point-the consequence of not writing when an idea is fresh-my constant flaw with writing. Oh yes, I remember! ha!
Reading has become so important to me that it has replaced my clothes and shopping. Instead of shopping for unnecessary clothing, I am shopping for books. In Kathmandu, the books stores are amazing- in Egypt as extensive and expensive. In Nepal, I spent three hours picking out books and then when I went to pick them up and pay with my card-their machine was not working and I already spent my last Nepalese rupees and I was out of time-Nepal. I had to leave my four books behind! These Osho books cost $20 in any store and they had brand new copies of the best selling ones for $2. These books are so hard to come by and I had another Gandhi book on leadership I just loved. I left with such disappointment that I was still thinking about it on the plane and even into Bahrain-ugh.
My point with all this is that we can always go back to what we love with one word: replacement. Replace one want with an even better one. Replace clothes with books, replace Internet time with a physical activity, replace phone with a book, replace Starbucks with tea from home, replace your time in traffic with a bike ride/walk(if you love walking/biking/being outdoors) etc. The point is to define what are truly our wants and what connection these wants have to our actual self improvement. Having expensive clothes is not going to make me smarter, wiser, knowledgeable, aware, curious, stimulated- a book will contribute to my personal growth and it will contribute to yours too.
(Please keep in mind reading facebook updates on status and youtube is not reading-I too was guilty of this investment to facebook, but not anymore)
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