Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body .....

Words Rule My World

Words are my world and reading is my quiet time away from the din and the busyness of the everyday world. It also offers me a way to explore my world in new and imaginative ways. Reading is mind expanding and, for me, there is nothing quite like it.

I get lost in a book - in worlds wholly created by an author, often imagined but containing truths about life, incisively commenting about life, reproducing it in different ways, putting me in the mind of another human being, capturing my heart and soul through stories, be they fact or fiction.  I can get caught up in the words - in the thrill of falling in love or in the dull pain and numbness of divorce. I can rejoice in the happiness of the birth of a child. I can experience the power of flight or the magic of magic. I can taste a succulent pot roast as it simmers in the oven. I can feel the powerful hurt of fractured families and relationships, and confessions made about guilty deeds and crimes and affairs. I can be taken into richly re-imagined periods of history. I can time travel into a new or old life and feel how other people live in slavery, poverty, squalor, power or luxury. Words can make the mundane seem magical and the magical seem possible. 

Words and images are powerful elements in my life. Oftentimes I have taken them for granted, but through constant reading I am continually aware of how important words are and how I am fortunate to have the passion and opportunity to write - to use words and to appreciate them.

Reading has made me more empathetic, and that is a good thing in anyone's world. It has also helped me to learn to sit still for longer times, without distractions - in the quiet morning hours, in the middle of a stressful day, on a train or a bus or a plane, or before sleep at night I can quietly slip away and let the words, and the thoughts they produce, rule my world