You Are What You Read!

On Monday Sophie, her grandma and I strolled along Main Street and stopped in The Book Table for some browsing. Sophie wanted to show her grandma some things in the children's area upstairs, so I curled up in the self-help section, which I feel is a great place to spend a few moments, soaking up the warm fuzzy words which are suppose to improve your life.

I instantly grabbed The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and after perusing each section, determined my love language is physical touch - with some words of affirmation. I could not find Steve's love language, nothing mentioned fungi, but I realized that all those times I'm hugging him and invading his personal space is because of my needs, not his.

After Chapman I turned to one of my favorites, Leo Buscaglia. I was introduced to Leo's book, Living, Loving and Learning when it was required reading for an education class in college. Leo is to me what Jesus is to millions. I take his words as divined by God. He speaks of living life fully, grasping the moment and as a bonus, he promotes the hugging of all - the man speaks my love language! Leo passed away is 1998 and yep, sometimes I send my prayers his way.

There was also a book divulging the secrets of happy persons. I don't remember what I read, probably something about finding one's passion in life - great advice!

I would love to buy all these books and more in the self-help section, but I am pretty discriminating when it comes to purchasing books. I recently bought, The Tibetan Book of the Dead because I felt it is something I would be proud to display in my personal library and it's a book that requires great thought when reading. Now, after buying this book, I found Howie Mandel's autobiography at the library and I inhaled it while still on the first page of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. I laughed out loud at the antics described by Mandel and empathized as he relayed his struggles of dealing with OCD. Loved the book. When I finished the book, I found myself rather half-heartedly returning to my more intellectual read.

I do believe you are what you read and I do believe that as in all things, one should sample from the great menus offered. Read books that feed your mind, expand your horizons and make your emotions surge. Sample from menus of which you would not normally imbibe. Visit the dessert section, taste from the appetizers and go ahead, sip the wine. It's all good and the lasting effect - instead of a wider girth, a broader view of the world.