Just never stop reading.
Take a break from your life and step into another world. The mini vacation will do you good.
As I sit with my coffee and juice, croissant looking out at the sea I find myself happy to be taking a break from daily routine. My sister has moved to a beautiful seaside town in Spain and I now have a place to go to reset, to calm my churning mind, to listen to the waves and let them wash over me, replenishing me like a balm that calms my soul.
All that before 9am. It’s a good start to the day. Breaking up my routine always helps me gain perspective and remember my life is good and how fortunate I am.
And, today, as I sit by the sea reading more beautiful words from Elif Shafak1 (here’s her Substack) I am struck by the importance of reading. Her stories wind around in circles and spirals that come together into moving pieces of art. I am always entranced into a different way of thinking, another view on the world, transported away from myself. And that is oh so valuable.
I think it is like a form of meditation, a mini vacation from my churning mind. And oh what I learn along the way.
In one of my previous lives I attended a boarding school in Memphis, Tennessee, all somewhat arranged through a family friend who taught there. I would often stay with her on weekends when we often had fabulous conversations over dinner and wine. Edythe was a Fulbright Fellow2 who had traveled the world (she met my parents when we were stationed in Paraguay where my father worked for the embassy) with lots of stories of her life living all over the world. I loved hearing them and being treated as an adult, even though I was a somewhat clueless senior in high school.
We kept in touch and around the time I was graduating from university I found myself visiting with Edythe again. I was feeling unsure about my future. What should I do next? I wanted a break from studying, but wanted to keep learning. What if I never went back to school? Maybe I should just continue directly and enroll in grad school.
How thankful I am for Edythe’s words then. They were something like this.
Just don’t ever stop reading. You’ll be fine. You’ll always learn.
Edythe Tessen - teacher and friend
I remember the sigh my whole body went through as I let those words sink in. Keep reading and I will be okay. Alright, that I can do. That I have done. I’m sixty now (around the age Edythe was when I was hanging out with her) and still reading, still learning, still loving the power of words to take me away from myself and teach me new perspectives.
So let’s listen to Edythe and never stop reading.
Part of my inspiration to go ahead and post these words came when I watched the video, Why We Can’t Focus, by Jared Henderson. Highly recommend.
I am a yoga and mindfulness teacher both online and in Basel, Switzerland. If you would like to be in touch, know that I offer a free yoga class each week on a donation basis.
Paid subscribers also have access to Monday Mindfulness, a weekly online gathering where we talk about living mindfully and do a brief meditation together. I’d love to hear from you.
If you don’t know her you should. The Forty Rules of Love and The Island of Missing Trees are a great place to start. I have linked to Better World Books where you can find new and used books to be sent worldwide (usually free shipping, even to me here in Switzerland). And they donate a book for every book you purchase!
The Fulbright Program provides participants-chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.