Thanks.

Blessings to you and your family!!

It’s great to hear that you’ve found an alternative for dealing with your arthritis and it’s an excellent example of how empowering reading can be.

I agree with you and others here that symptom chasing can be counter productive. Researching to find alternatives to the many pills, or surgeries etc. used in our society today, has been an answer for a problem I had with arthritis. I found cold lazer treatments for my knees and I am not using a cane to get around anymore. Praise God! He has provided us with many natural resources that are being overlooked by the medical society today. Keep your great advice coming. thanks again

Your progress is quite obvious and it’s encouraging to hear how enthused you are about it. Keep up the good work!

• open mind – at the cost of your ego (understood) {10}

• activity management – find your time! {9}

• being healthy enough to read (but you have to read for that anyway) {7}

• ability to filter bad information (again you have to read for that or so [that is why you can't depend on one book for one topic]) {8}

• good language vocabulary and skills (but reading improves it) {6}

• disliking unnecessary things (example: most video games – the #1 thing that impeded my ability to be interested at better things through reading) {9}

• having music for reading {3} [Mozart's music maybe]

• the ability to organize information as it registers in your head {10} hmm… books that help you improve reading must exist!

• ability to be at the very moment as you are reading (mindfullness = concentration + patience + what else?) {11}
(extreme rating because it means a lot to me. I focus on the very end of what I am reading when I was a child. Thanks Steve of rat race trap!)

• the interest and initiative to read {12} (extreme rating because this is very very important!)

Vin please feel free to add more because you are more experienced than me (I was born 1991.9.13). I think I have a problem with my comments being long (reminds me of a earthworm lol…)

2009 is the the best year of my life because I became more interested in reading ( the Internet is the medium I’m using most of the time)

“If you read an hour a day, one book per week, You will be an expert in your field within three years. You will be a national authority in five years, and you will be an international authority in seven years.”

I think it’s possible to develop a very advanced level of knowledge on a particular subject and be well ahead of a large majority of the population with much fewer books than this, but it’s still interesting nonetheless.

Muhammed – An open mind is a great thing to have and reading frequently definitely helps to promote it. Thanks for sharing your experience!

First of all, reading all kinds of different books (fiction, thrillers, children’s etc) has opened up my mind to a whole lot of possibilities. I’ve become more broad minded, and I can think differently, or “out of the box”.

Secondly, I can read anything that’s closest to me (cookbooks, pamphlets, ingredients’ lists … ). This is a great way to pass time, and also increase my knowledge.

Great post

Stephen – Wow, I’d love it if I could read a few books every week! One of my goals is to simplify my life, and when I do, perhaps this will be one of the outcomes.

LittleMissGrok – How unfortunate for a professor (or anyone) to say something like that! Is learning supposed to be painful? Personally, I find it to be very enjoyable and fulfilling.

Don – I’m glad you enjoyed the post! To be honest, I almost abandoned writing it half way through because I thought the message was too obvious. I’m glad I didn’t! Check back on the reading list in a few months. I have a number of great books that I didn’t include because I haven’t had the chance to read them yet.

Daphne – Thank you for the compliment about the design – that’s exactly what I was trying to accomplish with it. Yes, conventional and western medicine are one in the same for the most part. Although conventional medicine does have it’s strong points, I too prefer a natural and holistic approach. I also think it’s much more conducive to vibrant health, and in turn, the potential to get more out of life, both of which represent the primary intent of this site.