5 Ways Reading Books Can Change Your Perspective
A good book has the power to change your life. Books can open your mind to new possibilities, enlighten you with new information, and inspire you to new heights. Books allow you to view the world through someone else’s eyes. Fiction or nonfiction, reading books can change your perspective on life.
I have read several books that changed my perspective. One of those is Proof of Life by Eben Alexander. Doctor Eben Alexander is an experienced neurosurgeon. He had patients who reported near-death experiences (NDEs), but Dr. Alexander dismissed these as fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress. His viewpoint changed when he had an NDE himself. While he lay in a coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angel who showed him what life was like on the other side. Before he underwent this journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience and any belief in God, heaven, or the soul. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end, but only a transition.
Here are some of the ways that reading books can change your perspective:
Expand Our Knowledge: Reading builds knowledge. Novelist George R.R. Martin said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. A man who never reads only lives once.” Books can expose you to new information about locations, inventions, people, and historical events. No matter the genre, you can come across something you have never thought of before. The new knowledge and new understanding can change your perspective.
Ignite the Imagination: Reading books can awaken your imagination. Every book you read opens up a world of different characters, situations, locations, and plots. Reading opens your mind to the world of imagination to experience your own perspective of the story. Reading increases your own creativity, sometimes sparking other ideas in your life.
Increase Empathy: Reading improves your ability to empathize. Reading about different characters and being exposed to their thoughts and vulnerabilities makes you more empathetic in life as well. The ability to put yourself in the shoes of characters in a book makes you more open to other’s viewpoints in your everyday life. It gives you a wider perspective.
Understand the World Better: Reading can expose you to new countries, new cultures, and new ways of thinking. Reading broadens your perspective and allows you to see the world from outside your comfort zone. It makes it possible to see how people live in far-away lands, which can make you appreciate your home.
Understand ourselves (and others) better: You spend every hour of every day with yourself, so you should know your mind better than anyone, right? But with constant digital over-stimulation, endless to-do lists, and all the stresses of the modern world, it can often seem like we aren’t sure what we want or why we make the choices we do. Reading books can help. Reading can allow you to see what’s important to you by the kind of books you tend to choose. Self-help books can help you befriend your subconscious mind or understand your childhood experiences. Books about your ancestors can provide insights into your family. Fiction books can portray characters who work through internal issues that you might relate to. Reading can make you feel not so alone, especially a memoir of someone who’s been through the same thing you have.
Read a good book…it may change your perspective on life!
