The Therapuetic Nature of Reading

(Image via http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/committed.htm)

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

-Sir Richard Steele

Are you able to fit reading into your daily routine??? If not then I suggest you start. Reading not only enhances your intelligence (through increased vocabulary, increased attention span and exposure to new ideas) it also works as a fabulous distraction technique. In my clinical practice I often ask my client's what they do to distract themselves from their negative thoughts. Time and time again the answer I get is "read"! So there you go...turn off the TV before bed and pick up a good ole novel!

My current bedside tale is Elizabeth Gilbert's "Committed". You may recognize the author because she is also the author of the bestseller "Eat, Pray, Love". I have to admit that I was not the biggest fan of "Eat, Pray, Love". Although the subject matter seems right up my ally--a recently divorced woman on a soul searching journey, traveling around the world--it kind of bored me at points. Conversely, her newest novel "Committed" has me fascinated and psychologically absorbed in every single page.

The book discusses the history of marriage, the statistics surrounding marriage, the authors personal resistance to marriage, and most importantly the different cultural views of marriage around the world. Utterly fascinating in my opinion...although one could say that there could not be a more suitable book out there for me as a Marriage and Family Therapist and a World Traveler :).

Here is an excerpt from the book that I found interesting:

"Infatuation is the most perilous aspect of human desire. Infatuation leads to what psycholgists call "intrusive thinking"--that famously distracted state in which you cannot concentrate on anything other than the object of your obsession. Once infatuation strikes, all else--falls by the wayside as you nurse fantasies about your dearest one that quickly become repetitive, invasive, and all-consuming. Infatuation alters your brain chemistry, as though you were dousing yourself with opiates and stimulants. The brain scans and mood swings of an infatuated lover, scientists have recently discovered, look remarkably similar to the brain scans and mood swings of a cocaine addict--and not surprisingly, as it turns out, because infatuation is an addiction, with measurable chemical effects on the brain."

Yep...you heard it right, infatuation IS an addiction. So those overwhelming feelings and obsessive thoughts about your first love could have been treated like an addiction (and probably should have considering the silly and sometimes dangerous situations we put ourselves in in the name of "love").

Happy Friday!!!