Stephen King Quote on the Relationship Between Reading and Writing

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.  Simple as that.”

Stephen King

Beyond the Quote (343/365)

What happens when you read? Your eyes scan, decode, and lift symbols off pages and implants the information contained into your brain. It’s essentially the same process that a computer follows when it downloads new software/ updates. And as it’s true with computers, the information that’s downloaded/ implanted into our minds may either contain updates/improvements or infections/malware. This is why, just as you have to be very careful with what you download onto your computer, you have to be just as careful (if not more) about what you download into your brain.

If you’ve ever downloaded a spammy or malicious program, you know how damaging, frustrating, and time-consuming it can be to undo. Especially when it slows the function of your entire machine to a crawl to the point where even opening the internet becomes an entire task unto itself. Because at that point, doing anything—even downloading the right anti-spam/ clean-up software—becomes time-intensive and frustrating! And many times, that’s not the only thing it will cost you. Pay this fee to fix it now and then pay this fee monthly to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Ugh.

…And that’s assuming that you’re even doing something about it! In retrospect, I can’t believe how long I’ve waited to get my computer fixed at times. I can vividly remember pulling my hair and suffering from an almost non-functioning computer—for weeks and months at a time—simply because I felt I was too busy to fix it. Which I laugh about now because apparently I had the time to wait around and pull my hair? This is how it is with our minds in more ways than you might want to admit.

For so many of us, our minds are NOT operating at their full capacity—not even close. Many of our minds are so infected with spam, mind-viruses, and malicious thought processes that they just creep and crawl and spin in circles (like that annoying spinning wheel that your mouse turns into when your computer is thinking). And what’s more, is that many of us have gotten used to it! It gets to a certain point where you might feel like it’s either pull your hair out or accept it for what it is. And, if we’re being real, accepting it is a hell of a lot less painful than pulling hair. And so it goes…

…You continue reading/downloading spam and allowing the mind-viruses and malicious thought processes to run ramped while you just surrender and accept its functioning abilities for what they are.

But, of course, you know deep down (or not so deep down) that you can do better. And every now and again you get a glimpse at what an upgraded, clean, clear thought processing machine looks like and you’re reminded. And you’re captivated by the speed at which it computes. And you’re absolutely mesmerized by its ability to focus and complete tasks. And it makes you wonder what the heck is wrong with your device all over again. And it makes you want to swap yours out for theirs. But, unlike the computer that you feel might be outdated and beyond repair—trading and swapping isn’t an option for our brains.

It’s just you and the same mind-machine that you’ve had since day 1. There is only downloading and cleaning (or not). The brain you have is the brain you’ve got. There’s taking care of your machine so that your machine can then take care of you or there’s not giving two cares about your machine and letting it not give two cares about you. It works in reciprocity—just like your computer.

Eventually, I finally sat down to take care of my computer and cleaned it, debugged it, and refreshed it. And I haven’t pulled my hair since. It works great. Go figure. And until you sit down to take care of your mind machine, you’ll probably continue pulling your hair, too.

If you’re stuck with a problem, download mind updates from books. If your mind is feeling spammed and cloudy—cut out gossipy, dramatic, spammy download sources. Rather than spend an excessive amount of time on social media and passively consuming media—seek out wholesome, quality, deep experiences. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and like you can’t handle any more mental processes—delete what’s unnecessary from your life, simplify, minimize, meditate and spend more time in nature. And if you want to best understand the inner workings of your mind, so as to determine how to best take care of it, write.

For, what happens when you write? Writing is the process of lifting ideas from your mind, translating them into symbols, and implanting that information onto pages—it’s literally the process of decoding your mind! And as it is with any situation of improvement, understanding the current status is always in the first step. After all, how can you improve that which you don’t understand? How can you move forward if you don’t know where you are? How can you know what program to download (or delete) if you don’t know what the underlying problem is?

Decode, download, and delete accordingly. Or, continue pulling your hair out. This one is on you. It’s as simple as that.

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