Today I've been thinking about books.
Actually, there are many days when I think about books.
As I continue to work towards minimizing belongings, one of the most difficult/growth-inducing challenges has been to find new homes for my books. Initially, I believed this difficulty was due to the fact that so many have turned away from books to embrace all the technological possibilities that are available today for readers across all genres. I started to see myself as one of the old guard. A bastion to protect books from the destructiveness of modern-day, throw-away, disposable-minded society! A caped crusader, providing sheltered residence for written works that might otherwise be forgotten in today's under-appreciative society! Cue the fanfare!
There are so many layers to my "keep the books safe" journey:
-Some books have been collected over the years with thoughts of passing them down to my children. Others were lovingly gifted to me by friends. Some books were passed on to me because I had a home for them. Yet others were purchased by me as my son and I journeyed through his assessments/diagnoses. My books are precious to me.
-I have a strong appreciation for books, particularly older storybooks. What about all those books that won't find make their way onto an electronic booklist? Are they now forever doomed to just fade into non-existence? Each writer has shared a completely unique part of themselves. If we give pause to think about that, why wouldn't we all want to protect older storybooks?
-Books provide a unique sensory experience. When I go into a bookstore, the first thing I enjoy is the smell. The logical part of my brain wants to think about mustiness and dust being breathed into my body - the appreciative bits all smile and breathe it in joyfully. And then there's the act of hooking my finger at the spine of the book to nudge the top of the book from a row of other books, and/or placing my hand into that stereotypical hand position of thumb on one side and fingers on the other in order to slide (sliiiide) a book out from beside/underneath another book or to pick up a book from another flat surface, or the flat-fingered-on-top manoeuver to slide a book closer to me. I encourage you to put your day on pause to take some time to slowly go through each of those steps - slowly - allowing yourself the luxury of living in and truly feeling those moments. Pause. Sigh happily. Now let's move on to opening the cover and feeling the coolness and/or texture of that first page - and how our brains are trained to turn pages in only a few different ways. There's so much to explore in all these seemingly simple acts.
I had to figure out how to re-home my books with the awareness that I'd never find the perfect home for each of them. It took time. It took growth. It took the idea that some of us view our books almost like our children - and the realization that they too need to be released out into the world to fulfill their purpose.
So now I'm thinking of sending the remainder of children's books to some place that will distribute them to children in other countries who don't have easy access to books. Why didn't I think of this before? My daughters are satiated with books for their children, my local library stated last summer that they're not accepting donations, I've already sent some to local places, offered to friends. Now it's just a matter of figuring out where to donate them...
Actually, there are many days when I think about books.
As I continue to work towards minimizing belongings, one of the most difficult/growth-inducing challenges has been to find new homes for my books. Initially, I believed this difficulty was due to the fact that so many have turned away from books to embrace all the technological possibilities that are available today for readers across all genres. I started to see myself as one of the old guard. A bastion to protect books from the destructiveness of modern-day, throw-away, disposable-minded society! A caped crusader, providing sheltered residence for written works that might otherwise be forgotten in today's under-appreciative society! Cue the fanfare!
There are so many layers to my "keep the books safe" journey:
-Some books have been collected over the years with thoughts of passing them down to my children. Others were lovingly gifted to me by friends. Some books were passed on to me because I had a home for them. Yet others were purchased by me as my son and I journeyed through his assessments/diagnoses. My books are precious to me.
-I have a strong appreciation for books, particularly older storybooks. What about all those books that won't find make their way onto an electronic booklist? Are they now forever doomed to just fade into non-existence? Each writer has shared a completely unique part of themselves. If we give pause to think about that, why wouldn't we all want to protect older storybooks?
-Books provide a unique sensory experience. When I go into a bookstore, the first thing I enjoy is the smell. The logical part of my brain wants to think about mustiness and dust being breathed into my body - the appreciative bits all smile and breathe it in joyfully. And then there's the act of hooking my finger at the spine of the book to nudge the top of the book from a row of other books, and/or placing my hand into that stereotypical hand position of thumb on one side and fingers on the other in order to slide (sliiiide) a book out from beside/underneath another book or to pick up a book from another flat surface, or the flat-fingered-on-top manoeuver to slide a book closer to me. I encourage you to put your day on pause to take some time to slowly go through each of those steps - slowly - allowing yourself the luxury of living in and truly feeling those moments. Pause. Sigh happily. Now let's move on to opening the cover and feeling the coolness and/or texture of that first page - and how our brains are trained to turn pages in only a few different ways. There's so much to explore in all these seemingly simple acts.
I had to figure out how to re-home my books with the awareness that I'd never find the perfect home for each of them. It took time. It took growth. It took the idea that some of us view our books almost like our children - and the realization that they too need to be released out into the world to fulfill their purpose.
So now I'm thinking of sending the remainder of children's books to some place that will distribute them to children in other countries who don't have easy access to books. Why didn't I think of this before? My daughters are satiated with books for their children, my local library stated last summer that they're not accepting donations, I've already sent some to local places, offered to friends. Now it's just a matter of figuring out where to donate them...
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