What we think, becomes our world.
After years of hardships, scientific innovations and psychological studies, it is proven a that Quality of life and Happiness is more of an inside job and its close to what we think and feel than what we have and do.
Therefore, it becomes most significant to fill in our conscious and subconscious mind with utmost positive thoughts and feelings if we want to stay happy.
As they say, if you want a garden full of flowers you must always water it. Similarly, if we want to have a beautiful life which is devoid of any negativity, we must ensure the regular inputs of positive thoughts and feelings. Researches show that reading good literature proves to be unfailingly filling out minds with positivity and in-turn ensuring a happy state of being.
Following are a few reasons why reading good literature is directly proportional to happy living
1. Reduces stress levels in today’s modern lives
Reading can even relax your body by lowering your heart rate and easing the tension in your muscles. A 2009 study at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stress by up to 68%. It works better and faster than other relaxation methods, such as listening to music or drinking a hot cup of tea.
Good literature inspires our thoughts to a positive direction. There are proven neural basis of literary awareness and its benefits to cognition. It helps reduce stress as it gets our mind off the unhealthy worries and thus reduces negativity. This causes you to focus predominantly on the information you are reading. This is also known as active-meditation i.e. a meditative state achieved by doing an activity. It can release tension and increase emotional well-being because it stimulates our sub-conscious minds.
2. Gateway to subconscious mind
The conscious mind is responsible for action. It determines, directs and thinks. The subconscious mind supplies material for these determinations, is expressive and impressionable and it reacts.
Neuroscience has recognized that the subconscious controls 95% of our lives. What we read, talk and feel, is what we eventually become. Consistent reading can open the gateway to the subconscious mind and help us become more aware ourselves without even fully realizing it. The brain has immense retaining powers sub consciously. Reading activates these powers. A baby of 0-5 years can learn many languages as his sub conscious mind is very active then.
3. Increases the healing of body and mind
Anger, anxiety and stress are on the rise within us. We can chose to live differently by changing the way we think and choosing what inner qualities to cultivate. It is possible by feeding our brain with good literature, by imbibing the positivity that books offer.
Our reading journey creates a healing process inside our soul. We then tend to reflect upon our current actions. It releases us from blocked thoughts thus restricting unnecessary negative emotions that might make way in an idle mind otherwise. In a practical experiment studies have shown apparent physical and cognitive benefits in depressed patients after they enjoyed from participating in a reading group.
4. Ensures positive start to the next day
If we go to sleep with a smile on our face, we will definitely wake up with positivity like none other and experience a deep sleep with no mental disturbance. Similarly, good literature before bed empowers us to handle everything that the day has to offer with an ever smiling and never-say-die attitude.
We always carry the feeling which we get first on waking up during the day, and hence it is of utmost importance to make sure we instill positivity and peace in our brains before going to bed through some good literature.
5. Helps in dreamless/deep sleep
The more peaceful we feel, the better we sleep. If we spend some time, every day, reading text that brings peace to us and gives us a chance to smile, to ponder upon ourselves and motivates us to learn for the better, we will surely see a change in the quality of sleep we get. Good literature can do this all for us.
6. Increases inner resilience
All books teach us something, the primary one being: to always look forward in life. When we read one page, we are always more interested in the fact that what happens next, at the same time we are enjoying what we are currently reading too.
Similarly, in life, we must live the present moment to the fullest and stay prepared for anything that happens. This increases our inner resilience while making sure we enjoy the ride too. Reading everyday makes us disciplined. It gives us inner strength and hope for the future that it only gets better with the passing time.