Blog Post # 5: Reading as Thinking

When I read, I try to visualize what I am reading. If the text includes different personalities, it is a lot easier to see because it is like developing characters to cast in a movie. When I listen to the words, if they do not make sense, I would read it again until I can make sense of it. If it is something abstract, I would look online for someone else’s interpretation in order to get a better understanding.  It is easier to develop a relationship with characters in a text than with something abstract. Sometimes I imagine myself in the characters' shoes and what I would have done or if I had experienced something similar.

I like reading texts that evoke emotion and those that are thought-provoking. Sometimes the thoughts can ignite knowledge and generate feelings. I remember reading this book, ‘Limitless Mind’ by Jo Boaler. There was a story in the book about Henry Fraser who was paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident. Today he paints with his mouth. What he said sometime after the accident was so profound that it made me cry. When someone asked him if he ever felt, “Why me?” He said, “I get to wake up every day and do a job I love, I get to be challenged to push myself in many ways on many levels, and I am always learning, always moving forwards. Not many people can say that and when I look at my life this way, I consider myself very lucky…………always look at what you can do, not what you can’t.”


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