We should never cease to be readers; pure readers, reading not to learn, or for an ulterior motive, but for the joy of reading itself. We should know how to read and ardently desire to read and to receive, to nourish ourselves….Charles Peguy
I agree with Charles Peguy: it is good to read for no ulterior motive, but for the joy of reading. However, consciously or not, we’ll have some wonderful benefits from reading, as the history has proven it. Overall, reading books is a worthwhile activity that can have numerous positive impacts on your life. I have listed here only the most important of them, there are many others small benefits of reading.
The benefits of reading books
Life-changing perspective
Reading other people life’s stories could lead to a life-changing perspective and make you aware of other people feelings and thoughts. If you’d use to think others evaluate the same event as you do, time to find out this does not happen. People see things is a personal perspective and that might be very different from yours. A book can teach you to empathize with other’s people feelings and viewpoints and also increase cultural awarness.
Love for people
Reading novels and real-life stories, or personal blogs of people sharing their thoughts and feelings, help you to realize that even The Other is different from you, he/she has the same hesitations, frustrations, pleasures, desires, goals as you have. That the others only think and feel different but struggle with life challenges like everybody else. That moment you start to love people for what they are, for their inner self, not what they have to offer to you for.
Wisdom
It’s not only merely knowledge that we can gain from books, but wisdom also, if we go about it properly. Only few of us have friends or acquaintances that are willing to impart to us in casual conversations the understanding that life has given them, but in the books we can find philosophers or any other profound writers’ wisdom at our discretion. The best of their writings are ours the moment we choose to take them.
Expending imagination
Reading stimulates the right side of our brain and thus improves greatly our imagination. Unlike in movies, a book does not contain images, and therefore we are forced to imagine what we read. The more vivid descriptions of life, nature, people, cities, streets etc. a book contains, the more we’ll be pushed to imagine them.
Improved vocabulary and language skills
Reading exposes you to new words and ideas, which can improve your vocabulary and language skills. While in elementary school, my teacher would give us homework for every summer holiday to read a certain number of books (I really don’t remember how many) and afterwards to make a short synopsis for each book to be presented to her in September. She used to tell us that particular kind of homework will help us to improve our vocabulary and keep the brain in shape. And also to kick out imagination and expand our understanding of the world.
Keep the brain in good shape
Although there are some other ways to keep the brain in shape, reading is by far the best method. It greatly improves the ability to think abstractly and creatively and to synthesize the newly acquired information.
Improved ability to find and pursue personal and professional goals.
Develop the ability to understand and interpret complex ideas, by forcing you to focus on the plot when reading crime or thriller novels. Reading requires sustained focus and concentration, which can improve your ability to focus on ither tasks.
Help to improve your communication skills
There are so many ideas that could be an inspiration on how to break the ice when meeting a new person you’d want to impress.
Improved writing skills
I like to read the biography of famous writers and I noticed that all of them -without exception- were great readers before being great writers. Your writing skills will certainly improve if you have a habit of reading at least a chapter every day.
Reading will improve your emotional intelligence by increasing self-awarness and self-reflection and the ability to empathise. Reading allows you to experience different perspectives and emotions, which can improve your empathy level.
Relaxation and stress reduction
Reading can be a relaxing activity that can hep reduce stress level and in time improve overall well-being.
Making new friends by joining a book club where you can exchange opinions on the books you’ve been reading lately.
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