Coping with Hard to Understand Books

I love reading almost as much as dreaming. In exercising the mind and imagination, I find my body and emotions often relax. In my job as a freelance writer, I also have to read a lot for research. One of my dreams (literally) is to write a book about dreams and get the damn thing published. So, I’ve been doing a lot of research on dreaming, lucid dreaming, mythology, magic, psychology and mental health.

I have two college degrees. And for some of these books I haven’t a single clue as to what they’re talking about. This can be very frustrating. We all have times when we read something we need to know for our jobs or to repair something or whatever, and not being able to access this information is a bit like having a gold coin dangled just out reach.  If you want to learn about lucid dreams, you will eventually run into hard to understand books or websites.

Take a Breath

The first thing you need to do when dealing with hard to understand books, websites or whatever, is breathe deeply. When you feel yourself tensing up and wanting to break things in your frustration, that’s the time you need to take a deep breath. Inhale to a count of five, hold it for a count of five and exhale to a count of five.  Don't forget the exhale part.  The exhale part is important.

There are various arguments whether breathing from the diaphragm gives you more oxygen than breathing from the chest.  Just concentrating on breathing (where you see your belly rise and fall as opposed to your chest) can help clean your mind to tackle new information.

Leave It Alone

If you find yourself reading the same page over and over again and it’s still not getting through, perhaps it’s best to leave it alone a while and do something else, even for a few minutes. This gives your body and brain a chance to rest. You can then approach the subject fresh.

Read It Out Loud

Even when we are reading, our minds are easily distracted. To better concentrate on the hard to understand text, try reading it out loud. This can sometimes help you to focus your concentration and help you understand the material better.  Of course, you can only do this when it is socially appropriate.

Hope this helps.

Image of book chained to desk from Wikimedia Commons.