I think, therefore I am.
I do, therefore I matter.
I feel, therefore I exist.
I read, therefore I heal.
Reading is therapeutic. Reading heals the soul. Often times, books are our best friends. What cannot be vocalized can actually be found in some author’s writing. I have personally experienced instances where a writer was able to give a definition and reasoning to one of my ideas, which had occurred a long time back, but one which I vividly remember. I read poetry, non-fiction, fiction, journal articles, and scientific essays, to name a few. I feel like my soul catches fire when I read something inspiring. I get awed, I feel wondrous about life and existence, and all my existential crises melt away. I feel a sense of satisfaction and contentment after reading a book. Books and written material are formally used for therapeutic purposes in what is called Bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy is a type of creative arts therapy that involves storytelling or the reading of specific texts with the purpose of healing. Bibliotherapy is many a time used in combination with writing therapy.
Language is unique to human beings and has the potential to transform lives. Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a butterfly. By the same token, I say with certitude that just when the psychologically wounded person thinks his/her life is over, give him/her a book and watch them come back to life like a phoenix. Language has the power to impact and without language, even if there was code language, life would be without any element of ‘life.’ It would be plain, pale and dry, unlike language which makes the world lively, bright and enriching.
Through writing therapy, we can access our unconscious thoughts, feelings, ideas and intentions. One form is called the Stream of Consciousness method of writing where the writer writes without any censor, giving form to thoughts without any regard to rawness, meaning and content. The term Stream of Consciousness refers to a person's thoughts and conscious reactions to events, perceived as a continuous flow. The term was coined by William James in his seminal work “Principles of Psychology” (1890). It is also a literary style wherein a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue. James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Marcel Proust are some of the notable early exponents.
Next time you are feeling low or dejected and there is no one around to seek help from, go to the internet, a bookstore or a library, pick up a book and read. You are bound to feel uplifted and much better than you were before. You will find that sometimes, books change people. Other times, book chapters do; and occasionally paragraphs, sentences, and even a single word can change your life if you let it affect your physiology positively. I would strongly recommend the following books and poems to uplift your spirit, and impact you spiritually, namely,
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr Brian Weiss
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind Body Medicine by Deepak Chopra
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Your path to healing your soul has only begun!
About the Author
Samhita K is a doctoral scholar of Psychology, a published poet, writer, English and French teacher, researcher, and psychologist. She is a musicophile, Francophile and Russophile. She is a seeker of spirituality and is deeply passionate about Transpersonal Psychology. She is the author of the short story “The Russian Manuscript” available on amazon.com. Samhita has been the Featured Poet at a cafe called Urban Solace Cafe for the Soul, which was the 262nd edition of the Longest Running Poetry Event in India. This event is also featured in the Limca Book of World Records. Her hobbies include reading, creative writing, music, sports, motorcycle riding and transcendental meditation. You can follow her on Instagram on two usernames namely, transpersonal.vera and thefacesoftheself.
