I was recently inspired to go to the library by a local author, Andrew Larsen, when he was speaking at my daughter’s school. At one point during the talk he pulled out from his wallet what he called the most important card you can own – the library card. Literacy he said was about understanding and comunicating.
Literacy is power.
So , off I walked to the local library. Wow!! Not only can you read about, (my favourite area) health and fitness, but you can also surf the net, watch videos, listen to music, attend seminars and talks (most for free), borrow pedometers , and get books for your e-reader (very 21st century). There are a slew of things to do and I can’t imagine easily getting bored to death.
More importantly though, was a key thought that came to me through this experience. We associate libraries as institutions for access to knowledge & information. This of course is true. That is mental fitness; strengthening your mind. This recent experience however made me realize that the library can assist you with the health and well being that I’ve been writing about.
How? It is like the author said: literacy is power. The more you know about health, fitness, and wellness, the more you can become an active participant in your own health. When I wrote the other day in a post about becoming an active participant in your health, I hadn’t considered the library as a “how-to” option.
Ask yourself, what card would you rather have to use with more frequency. Your health card, or your library card?
I have been using the library to get books I want. These days I go online and search for the book I want and request a hold. The library brings the book or CD from anywhere in the system and calls me to tell me the book is available for pick up. I find using online search far better than looking through the shelves in the library.
The CD’s I put in my car and whenever I am travelling alone I turn on the CD. I recently listened to Dan Pink reading his book Drive. Now I am listening to the book Switch.
The introduction of Switch talks about an experiment where people attending a movie were given free popcorn and asked to stay after the movie to discuss the movie. The popcorn they were given was five days old and disgusting. Some were given a large container and others a humungous container. At the end of the movie they compared how much people ate. The people with the humungous container ate 55% more disgusting tasting popcorn than the large container. Interesting finding about how we eat. I guess if we want to eat less use smaller plates.
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Thanks for your feedback. I must read Switch, it sounds really interesting. And yes I do believe if you want to eat less use smaller plates, like they do in Japan, where there is a cluster of people living to the ripe age of 100.
You’ve inspired me to dust off mine and go exploring. We take the kids to the library often, but never go beyond the children’s section. I spent so much time there in University writing, researching and studying, I think I still subconsciously associate the library with things I didn’t necessarily enjoy.
Thanks for the feedback. When the kids were younger we too would go to the library often. Then slowly we moved to the bookstore scene not sure how or why that happened, maybe it’s because they offered coffee
I’m glad you found the post inspiring. Chat with you soon.
Isn’t it sad that we associate our university study with negative feelings. I felt mostly in my first few years at university, the profs were out to fail me not help me. There were exceptions but the spirit was not the excitment that I think learning can be.
I still remember the teachers and professors that made the learning exciting and fun.
I guess we were stretching ourselves to our limits and felt the pain. I remember one of my profs saying “We are not aware of the growth, only the pain.”