Books banned!

I've put my glasses away for the week.
That's right - the specs have been banned, as have all books!

I'm in the midst of a self-imposed 'Reading Deprivation'.
And yes, if I think about it too much I feel sick to my stomach.

You see, I'm a seeker. And wisdom literature is where I go to when I want answers.  In fact the kind of reading I do is borderline stalking. I get infatuated with wanting to understand the stuff that goes on in my life and any uncanny synchronistic goose bump moment can be the catalyst. And then I'm off! The quest begins and I follow my intuition to the 'right' book, the 'right' words, the 'answer' until revelation is found.

This is how I live. This is how I cope. If you've seen my blog Seeker & Sage you'll know what I mean. So to take a week off is, well, freaking me out a little.


I first read about Reading Deprivation about two months ago in Julia Cameron's fantastic book The Artist's Way. It's a book about discovering and recovering your creativity. All the exercises and wisdom behind them are geared to freeing ones creativity.

I love it! I love the way she writes. I love what she says about writing being a spiritual act. I love reading her inspiring words and gaining more insight into who I am. I love learning and growing in creativity.





 

It is during Week 4, on page 87 that she drops the bomb - ..."No reading? That's right : no reading."
Her analogy - "words are like tranquilisers" - and if we take in too many, too much, we get clogged up. We fill ourselves up with other people's words and ideas, leaving little time or space for our own inner voice - for our own creative sparks to shine.






And be warned : if we take our week of no reading seriously, we will not cheat by flicking casually through a magazine, nor will we fill up the space with other meaningless distractions. Think : no extra TV watching or catching up on missed movies; no deliberately sought long phone calls or squeezing in outings with friends; no radio as our new companion.

No, I have taken Julia Cameron and her words quite seriously to the point where I'm also not using my iPod! This may seem extreme, but the fact that I have about 40 hours of audio books on there just goes to show that I am indeed an info addict, and for this week to work its magic I had to be completely 'clean'.

Today is Day 4, and so far so good.  Although...It is weird going to bed and not reading myself to sleep. And I have to stop myself from reaching for a book (and the web) when the urge to seek strikes. And yes it feels strange going for a walk with no one talking in my ears. But I am slowly settling in to the silence and I'm excited about what it may bring.