How I Finished Reading a 1300–Page Book with a Damn–Near–Daily Habit
I’ve owned Osho’s Book of Secrets since 2011 when I first became slightly interested in mindfulness. At the time, I read some of the shorter books on the subject, but this book was massive at over 1300 pages. I never got too deep into it, until 2016 when I started to read a little bit at a time. I continued reading the book for a few more years.
I spent a lot of time reading on my deck while my dogs watched the surrounding wildlife and suburb-life.
And let me tell you, this book has helped me with some mindset shifts.For years, I’ve dealt with serious emotional issues on and off. But I made the decision to try to get better on my own, with no professional help.
Troubleshooting those issues on my own has been my life for years. Writing journal after journal and reading book after book. Making change after change, a little bit at a time. I finally feel like I’m to a point where I’m ready to talk about it and share what I’ve learned along the way.
The Book of Secrets helped shift my perspective and challenge me to think about things in a completely different way—most of the time!
Words have an incredible power, and a lot of the words in this book really did it for me.
When something in the book didn’t work for me, I moved on to continue reading and find something else that did work for me.
One of my favorite short quotes from the book is the following:
“When joy arises, become it.” —Osho
So, it took me well over two years to read one book… and I say that’s a-okay.
How I read the book—slowly and steadily over time—became a lesson in and of itself.
It was a lesson how to successfully sustain a habit and see something through.
Reading a bit of the Book of Secrets became a habit—not something that I did every single day, but something I did damn-near-daily.
It varied, and that was fine. Slow progress was still progress.
I would read, mark up the pages, fold the corners, take photos of the text that affected me the most, then later transcribe those words for frequent reference. Now, I read these quotes all the time. I turned it into somewhat of an art project as well; I draw artsy backgrounds on my tablet and add quotes to them.
It became a creatively fulfilling process which spiraled off into other inspirations and projects.
Along the way, I found my flow. I found my voice.
My understanding deepened.
My mind expanded.
My trust in uncertainty grew stronger.
My “my-ness” dimmed, but my inner light brightened.
When I decided to read this book, I had no idea that *this* is where the process would take me. But, here we are.
The process of reading and studying the Book of Secrets has been an enjoyable and insightful endeavour.
I didn’t have a perfect reading habit, but I had a reading habit.
I did it consistently enough to actually finish reading the book. All 1300+ pages.
It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter exactly how many pages you read each day, as long as you make a steady effort over time.
So, you can start today if you want to!
Do you have a reading habit, or would you like to have one? Or are you more curious about my insights from years of studying mindfulness? Let me know in the comments below!
