End of no-reading week

As I mentioned on Monday, I've been doing a no-reading week. I finished yesterday, after 6 days (not quite a full week, but I felt like I'd gained all the benefits I was going to get from it by then), and although I'm glad it's over, it's been quite a powerful experience, and definitely worth doing.

The first two days were very easy, and I didn't miss reading at all, although by the third day I was feeling a little bored - not through lack of other stuff to do, but simply because I was missing catching up with the few sites that I visit regularly. On the plus side, I've had a lot of new insights, and have definitely released more inner resistance. I've spent a lot of time writing, which in itself seems to encourage new movement forward. I've also been more productive than usual, using the extra time that I would have spent reading to do various things that I didn't feel like I had time for before. I also feel a lot less cluttered, mentally.

For anyone who spends a lot of time reading books, magazines, surfing the net etc, and feels like they maybe spend a bit too much time on these activities, or they do it in a compulsive way, or sho simply feels like some mental de-cluttering, I'd definitely recommend taking a break for a few days (and also from watching TV/movies and listening to the radio, if you do those things, which I generally don't). I don't think I want to do another full 7 days any time soon, but I'll probably do a day or two each week on a regular basis.

For more about the idea behind doing a no-reading week, see 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron.