Books: More Affecting when Traveling and/or Feeling Intense?
May 29, 2008
Some people feel it necessary to brush their hair a hundred strokes before bed. Or lock the deadbolt three times. Or only eat eggs in multiples of two so as not to leave an odd number in the carton. My particular OCD tendencies are mostly centered around my books. My dream life has a lot of bookcases, maps and dimly-lit studies in it. I spend a lot of time reorganizing my books. And then there’s the categorization of them.
Which means it’s not uncommon for me to reconsider my favorite books. And as such it’s not surprising that I suddenly realized that of the 32 books I have rated as 5 stars (the highest) in my library, 20 of them were read when I was either traveling (8) or depressed/intense (12). Did I really pick better books then or was my heart open to what they had to tell me?
Almost 100% of the books that I can think of that I have an honest emotional reaction to when I think of them were read when I myself was an emotional event horizon. It almost makes me want to be sad again. Oh wait. No.
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April 3, 2008
i gave this one a lot of thought, and i can only chalk it up to something i like to think of as emotional synchronicity.
i’ve had similar experiences with music; i’m always at least minimally trying to find music i might like and that will affect or inspire me, but it seems like it only really happens when i’m exposed or vulnerable in some way.
as a corollary, when i am in this condition, i’m usually not looking for it, yet music which seems to reflect with almost eerie accuracy the very state of mind i’m in presents itself in what seems like a totally random way.
i dont think it’s just that i’m more open to the experience of truly appreciating the impact of the art (although i think that does play a role) but also that somehow, we become magnitized to the very things that will move us. and that this happens primarily when we are really open to it; in the heightened state of consciousness that accompnies trauma.
and it is hard to know if there’s a way to create this vulnerability without the concomitant distress. you mention travel, which seems like a healthy way to achieve it. lots of people try to do it with drugs…