Reading Day 1 of Solitary Refinement really made me stop and think about all of the things that I allow to influence my life on a daily basis. The end of the chapter posed several interesting questions.
If any, what type of books are you reading right now? I am currently reading a spiritual rich book, but then I started thinking about the percentage of time I spend reading those types of books versus the percentage of time I spend doing other things that have an influence on me. Can 30 minutes of reading a book about God undue an hour or two of brain-rotting television? How many hours of thinking valuable, meaningful thoughts does it take to replace hours of selfish, useless thoughts? For all of the thoughts in my head, how many are prayers and how many are just meaningless regurgitations of the world around me? It is sickening to think what the percentages might be.
Questions 2 and 3 also made me think about the type of content that I allow in my brain. The questions state: “How fresh is the information that you are consuming? How nutritious is it?” These are interesting questions that I think could be rephrased, “How relevant or valuable is the content you are reading or exposing yourself to on a daily basis? Does it stimulate your mind or make it go to mush?” I may be watching a fresh, new episode of a TV show, but that doesn’t mean it will do my brain more good than picking up a 100 year-old book of prayers. I think these are important questions to ask because I know my brain does not operate at peak performance when I am not exposed to deep, challenging ideas that make me think and grow. I don’t want to waste any more of my life thinking about things that don’t matter, but I know it is not easy to change my thinking.
