I debated this morning: yet another sunset photo or yet another rain chain pic?
No worries — you’ll get the rain chain photo later this week, I feel sure. (Was that a collective sigh of relief? Thought so!)
I mentioned yesterday that I’m having fun working on this new novel. It’s really quite refreshing, getting to do research and chalking it up as progress in the writing column. Part of what I’ve been doing involves this great big ancient Sanskrit dictionary. The book smells like university libraries. It feels good to sit in the leather chair in the sun with this heavy book in my lap. It does feel more important, as I mulled over earlier this week.
My mother (yes, that was her) castigated me in the comments of my post (probably rightly so) for saying that I sometimes feel less intelligent than I once was. Well, tracing these words reminds me of studying back in college. I feel the rush of discovery, the fascination — I can practically feel my neurons buzzing to make new connections. I want to sit and read the dictionary all day. Which, now that I think of it, some of my high school cohorts snidely accused me of doing.
The other thing? It’s relaxing. I have proof, even. This article in MarieClaire cites a study that shows even six minutes of reading reduces stress levels by 68%. And, you know, if it’s in MarieClaire, it must be true. (They also helpfully translate, for the non-mathmatically inclined, that this is over two-thirds.)
The natural medicine types contend that our society is so chock-full of stress that we should be doing all we can to diffuse stress. They say that, even if we think our own lives aren’t particularly stressful, that we’re so surrounded by it that we cannot escape its impact on us.
Are you with me here? Turns out reading is healthy! Just like exercising and eating veggies!
I feel so vindicated.