Create the future #5: Why we need to read more novels to become nicer human beings, one page at a time
Good morning friends!
Today, we talk about… BOOKS! 🤩
Good morning you wonderful beings! 🌿☀️💦 I hope you are feeling well, safe and happy. Here in Goa, the rather relentless monsoon gave us a break for the last two days, and honoured us with phenomenal, worship-worthy sunsets. All I can tell you: There is hope on the horizon - quite literally - if we choose to look for it. #lookupnotback
Today’s topic is closest to my heart: Let’s talk about books! 🤸♀️
For me, books are nothing but magic. Their words come alive through the act of reading, and tell each reader a unique story. No book is ever the same for any two people - every reader has a subjective experience of any given book. Think about it: It us to us to decide which page to open and start reading, and yet, the entire story, from beginning to end, is already there, waiting in perfect simultaneity for us to immerse ourselves into. Who we are in our core that very moment decides what the book will mean to us. That is why our relationship with books is so intimate: They manage to connect with our true inner worlds irregardless of who we pretend to be in real life. 🙏
We create an invisible bond between our souls and the books we chose to let into our lives.
It is no surprise that now science can prove that reading makes us better people (indulging in novels can make us more empathetic), widens our horizon (or how else do you travel in time and space just with the help of a few pages?), and, maybe most importantly, allows us to dive into a fictional world that stimulates our imagination with the magic of, well, words. So how can reading help us to create a better tomorrow?
Reading fiction might save the world.
Harvard Business Review (HBR) wrote in a paper titled “The case for reading fiction” that immersing ourselves into a novel “is an effective way to enhance the brain’s ability to keep an open mind while processing information, a necessary skill for effective decision-making” and concludes that “if we want better thinkers, we have to build better readers.”
Hear, hear - in the world in which we are living today, we need better thinkers, greater innovators and empathetic souls more than ever! Therefore, I have compiled three compelling reasons to ditch your self-help books for a while, and explore the worlds of Elizabeth Bennet, Atticus Finch or Harry Potter* instead.
“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Benefit #1: Reading novels improves our skills to build and maintain social relationships.
Being able to understand what other people are feeling is critical for building social relationships. So even though reading is a solitary activity, it can improve not only our IQs, but also our EQs! Often, interpersonal relationships don't go exactly the way we want them to. So how can we become more accepting of it? You know the answer: reading fiction - and understanding that the key lies in the characters.
My BFF Aristotle already said that when we watch a tragedy, two emotions predominate: 1. pity (for the character), and 2. fear (for yourself). Without necessarily even noticing, we imagine what it would be like to be the story’s hero, identity with them, and compare their reactions to situations with how we responded in the past, or imagine we might in the future. When they are in danger, our hearts start to race. We might even gasp, cry, or scream (“Don’t do it!”). And yet, we read with the luxury of knowing that none of this is actually happening to us.
To say it in different words: Reading fiction produces a simulated reality that run in our minds (just as computer simulations run on the computer) that can help us explore ideas of change, complex emotions and the unknown - from the safety of our bed, couch or hammock. 🤖
Some of the many more benefits of reading.
Source: National Reading Campaign, Canada
Benefit #2: Reading novels allows us to step out of our own head, widens our horizon, and lets us see the world from another person’s point of view. And it makes us nicer people, too! 💖
Rita Carter, a writer, broadcaster and journalist who specialises in the workings of the human brain, gives this fascinating TED talk about what reading fiction (in her opinion, the most important genre) does to the grey matter inside our heads. It is a slightly long-ish talk (15 minutes), but believe me: if you are into books, this is truly worth a watch. 🤓
Benefit #3: Reading novels creates muscle memory - quite literally.
Researchers at Emory University discovered that reading creates new pathways in the brain, not just in the left temporal cortex, where language is processed, but also in areas that control physical movement. That’s what makes reading feel so real: If you’re reading about a character overcoming his or her fears, for example, you are actually activating the brain’s neurons associated with bravery. Think of it like the muscle memory you develop through exercise. As you read, your brain makes connections, and those connections remain (at least for a while) even after you put the book away.
As Gregory Berns, the neuroscientist who headed the study, explained, “We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may also be happening biologically.” So if your next goal is to finally do what you always dreamt of but always have been too afraid to, you know what you’ve got to do next: Read about it - and then do it. 🤓📚
By learning more about how reading fiction can help people to become better versions of themselves, I have started my own little project ‘Shelf Indulgence’.
The idea behind Shelf Indulgence is simple: Books have the power to heal. Often, we find ourselves stuck with a limiting or unresolved idea in our heads, and sometimes all it takes is a different perspective to break out of it. The right novel read at the right time under the guidance of a bibliotherapist (me 🤗), can do exactly that in an intimate, non-invasive and personal manner. How does a fictional character deal with a similar situation that we are facing in the real world? What can we learn from his or her behaviour, and apply it in our own lives?
Research has shown that literary fiction enhances our ability to empathise with others; to put ourselves into another’s shoes; to become more intuitive about other people’s feelings (as well as our own); and to self-reflect on our problems as we read about and empathise with a fictional character who is facing similar problems. So instead of going to a pharmacy, our readers enter a bookstore to pick up their customised ‘novel cure’ prescription - books as medicine, without any risk of overdosing! 📚 I will soon share more on this website… stay tuned.
Remember:
We lose ourselves in books - but we find ourselves there, too.
This week’s challenge: Read 30 minutes every single day.
Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are - a thought so apt for the current times we live in... To strengthen our reading muscles, and get our minds back to focus again on actual pages instead of screens, let’s start by building the habit of getting into a regular groove. Half an hour is a brilliant duration to start (and you can’t give any excuses that you don’t have the time for it 😉).
So grab a nice cup of coffee, create yourself a nice reading space, kick out partners, pets and mental perturbations, put away your phone (really, put it faaaaaaaaar away), and dive without distractions into an exciting new adventure that plays out between your ears. I’ve curated this 31 minute playlist on Spotify that creates a lovely reading atmosphere and the perfect timeline for you. Enjoy! ☀️
🎼 IJRs Shelf Indulgence - Classic Reading Music 🎼
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/43QPLDwdRYeTlpzje9F1Im?si=AKwOT5BwQcODS7Xd2Dtgdw
Let me know how it goes! If you need any book recommendations, help in finding your reading pattern, or just want to chat about your last read, you know where to find me. 🤗 Also feel free to share what you are currently reading in the comments below - I would love to be inspired by you! 💖 I wish you a wonderful day ahead. Until next Tuesday! ☀️
With love from Goa,
Isabelle 🌿
*Apparently 3 of the most famous fictional characters in the world.
