How to Create a Powerful Daily Reading Practice (Patreon)

Today we're discussing the power of having a strong daily reading practice. And I will walk you through how I structure the reading portion of my personal morning routine.

We will be leveraging Tolstoy's A Calendar of Wisdom to demonstrate the four stages of a mindful reading practice that will set you up for a great day.

In addition to discussing the writings of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Emerson, Thoreau, Aurelius, and Melville, we will also talk about how Virginia Woolf approached her reading of great literature.

Topics of discussion include: divine reading, theatre of the mind, the threefold present, mindfulness in suffering, keeping the habit of athletic activity, and much more.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 a powerful morning reading practice
• 2:00 on staying consistent with your habits
• 7:00 how I structure readings of scripture
• 8:00 my meditative reading of Moby Dick
• 9:00 reading imaginative literature scripturally
• 10:00 speed-reading vs subvocalisation
• 11:00 on rereading resonant passages
• 12:00 theatre of the mind & simple contemplation
• 13:00 imagination, empathy, applying the senses
• 14:00 threefold present & eternity in the text
• 16:00 mindfulness in our everyday lives
• 17:00 future as string of present moments
• 19:00 good material for the reading practice
• 20:00 from Aurelius to Rilke & Tolstoy
• 22:00 how the practice differs from reading
• 24:00 how Virginia Woolf read great literature
• 25:00 why I love reading difficult books
• 26:00 reading as conversation & act of love
• 27:00 the ease and joy of the daily practice
• 28:00 the four steps of my reading practice
• 32:00 practice walkthrough with Tolstoy
• 33:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage One
• 39:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage Two
• 45:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage Three
• 48:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage Four
• 52:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage Five
• 56:00 Tolstoy’s Wisdom: Passage Six
• 59:00 let us know about your practices 

Questions for You:

1) Have you followed a specific reading practice before? 

2) What habits and routines have you found to significantly improve your life? 

Please let us know if you try the practice outlined here, and what you make of the wisdom Tolstoy curated for his calendar.

Happy reading, folks!