WHY I READ A LOT

Reading is a way of learning new things and exercising one's emotions. I cannot go through a room without reading something, magazine covers, labels, mail lying around, whatever is available. I read in the bathroom (and am driven to read product labels if there is nothing else around to be read), at the table while eating (since I am frequently alone), waiting in doctor's offices; there is no end to where, when, and how long I read. Normally, I believe I read anything I can get my eyes on but I now find that is not always true. I am more selective than that. I tend to read political stuff that supports my views (once I have decided what they are).

What I have recently come to realize is that reading can be like my mother's soothing hand and comfort on my forehead; it can be an emotional down, tension, to be relieved by resolution of a problem or misunderstanding, and then back up to finish a climax to a 'feel-good' conclusion. It can answer painful needs, filling in knowledge and experiential gaps, those when I struggles with feelings of helplessness and loss of control of my life.

Reading, whether in a book, magazine or on the computer can mentally transport me to wonderful places where my body is not threatened by Montezuma's revenge and my budget can remain intact, such as it is. Email can leave me laughing hysterically (belly laughs kick in endorphins...that's good!) or people write to affirm that they think it is good that I am alive and on this earth....how good can life get?

Reading can make me think I am young again, in my head (at least in my memories and fantasies) and even in my body when I read some torrid, emotional stuff. The term 'sublimation', borrowed from Freud, doesn't say enough to clarify the broad expanse of effect. Some heady passages can make physical responses, the activity of which may have been in the past, but is never forgotten by the brain or body.

Reading stirs thoughts, solidifies opinions, answers dilemmas and creates new puzzles. It can cure boredom and create it, as well. Sometimes it is a soporific, at other times an insomnia producer. It connects me to friends at great distances and, the ease with which reading email is possible to send and read responses has kept me in touch with friends with whom I would long ago have lost contact if left to letters, phone calls or visits.

Reading allows me to bring back feelings of warmth as I read Mother's Day and other greeting cards from those adults who were once my children, a lifetime ago. Cards and notes keep my mother near me though she has been gone from life for more than 20 years. Reading does a lot that pictures also do. If a writer is good, my mind fills in all the blanks with those written images. Really good writers not only picture the time, place and people involved, but capture facial expressions, relationships, and behaviors in powerful ways. It is like, "You Were There."
Indeed, by reading I am there, in every way, but with the luxury of remaining in the safety, warmth and comfort of my own home and I don't have to pack and carry my own luggage!