“I really feel the urge to read books again.”, she told me. “I usually don’t have time to read back home and also I don’t really like it, but here on holiday I love it. It’s strange…”
I found this not strange at all. It’s rather normal, I thought. Or better yet: “the norm”.
“No, I REALLY feel how my body and my mind need this right now. It feels sooo good! I tell you, you can’t even imagine how it feels like!”, she continued.
She had something annoying in her voice. It was like she was talking just because she likes to be heard and not because what she had to say was of value to the person sitting across her.
I guess everybody knows these kind of people…
And I got annoyed. But I tried my best to not be a complete dick to her. It was hard though (no pun intended). I was not in the mood for giving her the attention she was craving at this very moment.
I’m sorry.
“At home you were just too busy to listen to your body and your mind and what they really crave.”, I started explaining to her.
All this noise you allowed to enter your life clouded your vision and distracted you. More than you would even admit to yourself.
But here while you are on “holiday” you are free once again.
You changed your environment and with it comes the change in your mind as well.
And with the “newly” gained freedom arises your mind’s urge to evolve. Its desire to go beyond its current potential. Its deep-seated desire to grow.
And then you “unconsciously” picked up a book.
Because it is great food for your starving brain.
And there was probably nothing else important to do at this very moment anyway.
But still, it is very likely that back home everything will go back to it’s default state again. The noise increases once more and so will your daily obligations. You will be too busy to “listen” to your mind’s call for help.
And then you give in. And you go back to normal.
You go back to “the norm”.
It will be our own duty to keep this connection with our mind intact. We have to keep listening to this “voice” we reconnected with while we were on holiday and were “calm and free”.
Everybody knows the feeling when we “finally arrived in our holiday”. That’s what I am talking about here. The noise shuts down. Your mind is free.
At least for a little while.
But this period can be extended. You can train yourself to feel this way most of the time!
When was the last time you decided to sit down somewhere in silence and allow yourself to experience this “peace of mind” back home?
When did you really take the time to think about where you are heading in your life and reflect on what it all means?
Oftentimes putting our focus on ourselves and just sit there and think is exactly what is necessary to live the “good life”.
We should go inwards more often and soon we will realize that a lot of our problems (if not all of them) can be resolved from within. Well, maybe not all of them, but it’s a good point to start your search.
And if the answer is not within you sure will find it on the outside. In a book. In a mentor. Or in a friend.
But it’s best to do cultivate both approaches anyway.
What stopped you from “looking for an answer” back home? What stopped you from picking up a good book in all these years and absorb its wisdom? Why does not everybody actively search for answers to his problems (in the inside AND the outside)?
What stopped you from learning from amazing people far beyond your own potential? Why is not everybody looking for a person way smarter than himself and appreciate his success and his presence and just learn from him instead of giving him a lot of crap based on jealously and envy?
Just like Sam Levenson said: “You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all by yourself.”
What stopped you from cultivating this humility and just learn from the giants themselves, reading what they left for us to learn from?
What stopped you when you were “back home”?
I tell you what stopped you.
You were too addicted to all this external stimulus that is going on around you. The daily drama overwhelms you and clouds your mind. There is always something “more urgent”, “more important” or even something “more fun” to do.
Reading books is not “fun”, because you didn’t yet grasp the power of it. You didn’t yet realize that you can squeeze the sharpest and most stop-on summary of the experiences of a true mastermind into your brain. Simply by sitting down and reading a book.
Also, I bet your mind can’t even properly focus on reading anymore. I bet you felt “sleepy” after a couple of pages once you went back to reading after the long break. “
I am tired, I’ll just have a quick nap.” That’s what I used to say.
But to be honest, that’s a lot of crap.
Guess what?
Tired of you feeding it bullshit all the time.
Tired of wasting its energy on meaningless bullshit on TV, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
It is tired of not being pushed beyond its limits.
Maybe you should work out a little bit more? Train your brain-muscle.
“Do you even lift, bro?”
Well…
Whatever.
This is what I think about the woman who “usually does not have time to read back home”.
But of course she wouldn’t get the message anyways.
She was too busy listening to her own voice.
“No, no, no. That’s not what it is! Back home I have too much stuff to do. I am a very busy person and my life is very hectic. I LOVE it! You just don’t understand that… ”
I drifted off and decided to stop giving her my view on things…
Let’s just appreciate the fact that she went back to reading and assume the best, I thought to myself.
“I’m glad you started to enjoy reading books again.”, I said, excused myself, and went for a surf.
