Anybody who might have even accidentally heard my name mentioned in a sentence should know that I love to read books.
Anyway, I wasn't always this way. I once found reading actually boring. I knew reading was an important thing even though my understanding of how important it was then was far less than how it became before I actually made a decision to fall in love with reading.
Today, I fall deeper and deeper in love with reading with each passing day.
I could tell you that reading creates a stair-case that takes me higher everyday, but the truth is that as the famous quote goes: "When books are opened, we discover we have wings."
So books don't take take he higher as though I were climbing a stair case but books take me higher as though I was just given wings and I can now fly.
Ok! let me begin to tell you how I went from the guy that was tricked into being content with ignorance to the guy whose mind loves to go swimming in the infinite waters of wisdom.
First, Imagining. When I would read, I would imagine pictures that the words on the page suggest. If I read a line where a pirate is chasing a merchant ship at sea, I would also imagine it too. This is way much cooler than watching a movie. It is like watching a movie where the actions appear the way you want them to appear. If you want the ship between the pages of a novel to have your favorite color you can imagine it does unless the author tells you otherwise. If you want the chief pirate to have a scar above his eye, you can imagine it that way unless the author tells you otherwise. If it's a romance story you can imagine the heroine is the spiting image of your wife. I recommend you do that even if the author says otherwise. That's the beautiful thing about a novel, you can imagine the heroine to look like your wife but that would be difficult to do while watching a movie.
By the way, the female on the cover of a novel is not the female that the author was thinking about while writing the story, but is the model the book agency could find that best fits the description of the female the author described in the book.
When I get married, I would think of my wife when I write. Right now I'm not even seeing anyone so I imagine my idea of the kind of woman that I would like to marry when I write romance stories. There are reasons why I say you should imagine the heroine in a novel to look like your wife. The reason is because when you read a good/strong romance story: you could fall in love with the characters, you form a bond with the characters and you could even develop certain desires for the characters. Even though they may not be real to you in the real world, they could be real to you in your fantasies.
In case you are reading something that might not be a story. A book on economics perhaps. You could try to imagine how the times looked, or how it applies to you.
When I'm reading a book on economics I like to imagine myself in a position relating to what I am reading. What does the book suggesting I do then? Would it work?
For example, I could read a book on economics and think, what if I was a banker, how could I use the knowledge I'm currently reading to help the bank become the best bank around and also make myself a lot more richer?
Would applying the knowledge in the book even work?
What obstacles could I face that may not even be covered in the book?
What knowledge of my own that the author may not even know can I add to the one he wrote and get even much more stronger ideas so that I can learn more than what is even written in the book so that after reading; I end up more knowledgable on the subject than the author who wrote the book on the subject?
You have to imagine when you read, especially if you are coming from a background where you watched more than 2 hours of TV everyday, because you are used to being excited by images and not words. So in other the make words exiting to you, you have to imagine images that the words inspires.
A second thing I did that helped me fall in love with reading was listening to sermons, financial, motivational & academic teachings on audio tapes (they don't exist anymore so try mp3 podcasts).
Now, listening is not the same thing as reading. However, the kind of things I was listening to was educational. It was just men and women talking about intelligent concepts which is really similar to reading an educational book out loud. I was programming myself to easily make the transition to reading books. This is all because I was introduced to really long hours of TV from an early age. Now, I had to deprogram my mind from receiving information in the only way it was accustomed to enjoying receiving it.
If I was introduced to books instead of TV at an early age, all of this wouldn't have been necessary. But sadly, I wasn't raised to love books. I wasn't raised on books. I was only asked to read to get good grades and not to read because reading is inseparable from living.
A third thing I did that helped me was to look at reading as entering into my special place. Reading is a haven to me.
When the whole world around me is in turmoil, I can walk into my haven - my special place.
I'm not talking of Escapism. I'm talking about walking into a world of wonder and possibilities. A world where my brain can eat, exercise to sharpen itself, see different perspectives and also encounter an inexhaustible flow of possibilities.
A fourth thing I did was to read faster. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you picked up a book to read and 20 minutes later you where on the same page?
Well if, Yes. Then it was because your mind wandered away. It is another side effect of someone who was raised on TV. You are used to seeing images move at the rate of 30 frames per second if you are used to watching TV. Each image is the equivalent of a page if you are reading a book unless you are creating imaginations in your mind that is influenced by each word on a page.
You would have to speed up your reading so that you would not get bored or your mind would not veer off to something else in the middle of your reading. Your mind has already been made used to receiving 30 images in a second thanks to your TV, so when your mind is not at work fast enough, it would tend to veer of to something else. Thus, things like A.D.D (Attention Deficit disorder).
The people who have the so called A.D.D are people who were affected by watching too much TV more than anyone else. It doesn't mean that they watch too much TV more than everyone else who watches too much TV. It just means they are AFFECTED by it more than everyone else who watches too much TV.
They are just smarter so they could process more images while watching TV much faster than others and have gotten used to it, hence reading or engaging in any activity where their brain waves aren't moving at a hyper level would obviously bore them and their minds would veer away to something else which still won't hold their imagination for long.
A fifth thing I did was to stay away from people who classify reading as uncool. I avoid such people more than I would avoid someone who holds a knife in his hand and is trying to kill me because the person who tries to turn me against reading by classifying it as uncool is doing much worse.
The sixth and final thing that I did is much like the fifth thing but it is different. It is that; I positioned myself in a way that only those who love reading can get close to me. If you don't like reading, there is no way you can find yourself talking to me for 10 minutes, much less be given the opportunity to be my friend.
I leave you with his quote by Helen Hayes, "From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot in front of the other. But when books are opened you discover you have wings."
Thanks & God bless.
Alfred Benjamin King.
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If you’ve been touched by what you just read and you’ve never given your heart to Jesus before but now want to become a Christian, please say this prayer and mean it with all your heart.
“Oh Lord God, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Your word says, ‘… whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Acts 2:21)
So now I ask Jesus to come into my heart to be the lord of my life. I receive eternal life into my spirit and according to Romans 10: 9, ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved’ , Therefore I declare that I am saved; I am born – again; I am a child of God! I now have Christ dwelling in me, and greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world! (1 John 4:4). I now walk in the consciousness of my new life in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!”
PRAYER FOR THE RETURNING BACK SLIDER (ONLY):
“Oh lord God, I ask for your mercy and forgiveness for turning my back on you. I come back to you today in total sincerity and like the parable of the prodigal son, I thank you for receiving me back with Joy and Gladness.
I confess that Jesus Christ is the lord of my life and God the father is my Daddy. Hallelujah!”
PRAYER TO RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT:
“Oh Father, I thank you now for making me born again. For making me your child.
I ask that you give me your Holy Spirit to live in me and with me. For your word says that you would freely give the Holy Spirit to all those who ask. I open my heart and receive, and I know by faith that you have given me your Holy Spirit. Thank you Father. In Jesus name. Amen.”
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE NOW A CHILD OF GOD. WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alfred Benjamin King is a full time writer & illustrator who obviously loves writing and drawing with all his heart.
He also loves music and so makes songs in his bedroom every once in a while.
He lives as though he’s retired early and retired rich. His bread comes from the fact that he is a business investor who God has blessed with wisdom.
He is one of the leading Christ – Minded writers in both fiction and non – fiction today.
His contribution to literature is extra ordinary. He created two new genres of literature namely, “D.I.P” and “S+C.S”
His literally works and special projects have gone spiral on the web; wheeling in an ever increasing number of views per post.
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