What Do You Do to Enrich Your Mind?

November Journaling Challenge: Day 2
Prompt: What do you do on a regular basis to enrich your mind?

The most consistent practice I have for enriching my mind is reading. Reading is my passion, though some might call it an addiction.

Gretchen Rubin wrote in The Happiness Project, "What you enjoyed doing as a ten-year-old, or choose to do on a free Saturday afternoon, is a strong indication of your passion." Bingo!

My reading habit is rooted in the assignments I had in high school -- not only Great Expectations but also David Copperfield. Not only Huckleberry Finn, but also Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment . It's strange; I read so little fiction these days.

My usual pattern is to develop an interest in a topic and start collecting the best works I can find (and the most I can afford.)

When my interest was in haiku, for example, I amassed over 30 titles. Similar collections center on -
* poetry (Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Jane Kenyon, Donald Hall)

* art (van Gogh is my latest fascination)

* nature writing

*monastic spirituality (Thomas Merton and the Rule of St. Benedict

* World War I

I'm aware that none of this makes me smarter or even more knowledgeable than anyone else. I also know that reading is only one way of nurturing the mind. Someone has written that there are "eight intelligences." The life of the mind is only one.

I'm simply trying to be honest about my own life and to give you a brief glimpse into it.