“You are not mentally developed by what you read, but by what you think about what you read” – Wallace D. Wattles
Advanced Reading Skills
Today we live in a society of information overload, daily we have thousands and thousands of things fighting for our minds attention. Many will come to find that their mind has also become increasingly scattered in not knowing what and where to place its attention. This can lead to anxiety and stress, and make your daily activities less effective.
Many people like to spend their free time reading, but I feel that more and more it’s becoming harder to make reading a meaningful peaceful experience because of information over load.
Many people spend hours reading articles and blogs that they enjoy, but after a few days ask them about the articles they read and it is becoming harder to recall the main points and details of the article.
The reason is that as your reading the article your mind is trying to head in many directions. As your reading an article on cooking, you start thinking of what you should cook tonight. Many people have to re read sentences and paragraphs several times before they are able to take in the information.
Making Reading More Meaningful
To make reading a truly meaningful experience you need to learn to tame and calm the mind before reading. Meditation is a great tool in quieting and calming the mind. Below I will give you a technique that incorporates an aspect of meditation to make your reading a good experience.
Technique:
1. Before you start to read get in a comfortable reading position.
2. Begin to pay attention to your breathing, become aware of the air as it gently enters and leaves your nasal passages.
3. As you become more relaxed, increase your awareness to include paying attention to your lungs as you inhale and exhale.
4. With practice you will learn to become subtlety aware of your entire body as you inhale and exhale your breath.
5. Now that your mind and body is relaxed, open your book and begin to read. You might need to slow down your reading speed, don’t force anything. Quiet your inner voice as you read, take in the text without judgment, but continue to be aware of your breath. You will come to realize that you begin to have a seamless intake of information from the text to your mind. As long you are able to keep your mind focused on your breath you will keep your mind from wondering.
6. By using this technique you will see that your mind is less involved and scattered and you develop a strong connection with the writer’s words. You actually might feel like you intimately know the writer.
7. Keep a note book next to you, as soon as you feel your mind becoming more active and involved, pause to contemplate what you have read so far. Jot down the ideas and interpretations that rise up within you. You will notice that by simply taking in what you’re reading with less involvement from your mind you are able to derive deeper meaning from what you have read.
Reading with this technique will help you by being able to go below the surface and get a deeper meaning. You will also be able to remember and capture the essence of your books with increased clarity. I suggest you go back and read books that you have already read before. See if this technique really helped you get a new perspective on the same book.
This is a simple technique and tried to explain it as best as I could, practice and modify it until you find something that works well for you. The goal is to have a calm mind that takes in information without the minds judgment, while at the same time able to derive the texts meaning. Hope you enjoyed this article if you have any techniques you would like to share on how to read more meaningfully, please share in the comments below.
If you find my site valuable please pass it along to your friends and family. I really appreciate you helping me in my personal mission to empower as many people as I can.
I would also love to hear your feedback, please leave your comments below. I really appreciate your support - Ivan
Related posts:
Current Location: South Korea
January 12th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Great article. Too often do we read with no purpose in mind. For any one who doesn’t like to read it’s not because they can’t find the right book it’s because they can’t find the right purpose. I have thought i was going to hate a book numerous times but upon defining my purpose usually ( how can this book make me grow) I have learned to like books I thought I would not.
I also find that if you have a purpose before reading you are able to extract the valuable material while weeding out the stuff that won’t suit your purpose.
Great article
[Reply]