“We live in a fast-paced world” was almost my opener, but the statement sits comfortably in the list of clichés and might earn my story a quick skip. Indeed though, we live in a fast-paced world. Each day, it appears, comes with fewer hours to utilise that we hardly have the time for leisure activities, especially for things that do not seem to impact our lives and careers in direct ways.
Full disclosure, I am very much guilty of this too. Probably the guiltiest, even. A few years ago, in my quest to spice up my daily routine, I picked up dancing from YouTube. I was bouncing on my toes and shaking my body uncontrollably, so much so that you would think I had just survived electrocution. In an exercise that best epitomises the Dunning Kruger effect, I confidently recorded myself dancing after weeks of hitting it back-to-back in training. I could not shred the video enough afterwards because I am not a fan of horror movies. My kid sister once told me that I sync well with the beat each time I dance, in the sense that opposites attract. Well, I pick my battles carefully now.
Dancing may not have worked out for me, but something else quite did. I know you curious souls cannot wait to hear it. I cannot wait either. I will tell you in a bit but allow me to digress. Have you ever imagined how knowledgeable and skilled a reincarnated person will be if they are to retain everything they experienced in their previous lives? Imagine someone who was a soldier, carpenter, CEO, musician, DANCER, computer programmer, athlete, thief, shy, bold and a genius in their previous lives. Crazy, right? I do not believe in reincarnation, by the way, but you get the picture. That hypothetical person must have birthed inventions, danced effortlessly, and had beads of sweat dropping as they raced to victory, and, if our theory stands, they can still do these things now. I know, I know; I left out the life in which he was a thief.
Science has shown that we could come close to having this experience. It is all in how the brain processes our memory of long-term events. How do you know that you have visited a place before? Or better still, how do you remember that new guy’s face? Somehow, your brain stores a picture of that new place or face in memory and pulls it out on request. Our reincarnated guy will have a gigantic picture album in his head. Science has shown that in the subconscious, the brain does not differentiate between ‘pictures’ taken through our eyes and the ones we painted in our minds ourselves. In short, we can paint similar pictures through our imagination. In the long term, the brain will trick itself into thinking we have had these experiences.
Yes! Finally, the secret to eternal life! But how do we paint beautiful and rich pictures in our minds? Look no further than…, drum rolls…, fiction. Reading fiction turns you into Leonardo Da Vinci. As you read on, you get presented with your painting brush and a gigantic colour palette to utilise. There are no rules. The only limit is your imagination. Suddenly, you can vividly see the little children playing in the village square; you can see every shade of Mr Ken’s seemingly white beards as he staggers to the local bank with his walking stick. Even though there is no sound, you can hear the song with which Ada won the music competition. Heck, you empathise with Hazel after Gus died. You are right there as it all happens. As you get sucked up -neck deep, or even drowning- in the river of a long literary masterpiece, you hone your painting skills and, consequently, broaden your album. The longer, the better.
Getting lost in fiction might be the one missing ingredient in your list of leisure activities. It is a rich experience you do not want to miss. You would be surprised at the large picture album you can leverage when you are in that creative process that begs your genius. While on that vacation, make sure to chip in a good book in your schedule. Get lost in it; see it; feel it; live it.
Are you already a bookworm?
What are some great novels you have read?
How do you make up the time to read these novels?
I would like to know and, who knows, I might tell you what worked out for me after failing at dancing.
