Calm · 10 min
Find a small pocketfor reading
Ten minutes in a day you already have: the bus, the waiting room, the kettle. Keep a book where the pocket is.
Most people who say they have no time to read have several small pockets of time in a day. This practice is about finding one and keeping a book in it.
The steps
Four small steps,in your own time.
Think through yesterday and find one place where you waited: a bus, a car park, a queue, a waiting room, the minutes before bed.
Choose a book that is easy to pick up and put down: short stories, essays, poems, or a novel you are enjoying.
Keep it where the pocket is: in your bag, the car, by the bed.
Next time the pocket opens, read instead of reaching for the phone. A page counts.
The reason
Why it helps
Reading a book asks for a kind of steady attention that most of the day breaks up. Ten minutes in a story or an idea is a small holiday from your own thoughts. And having a book in the bag changes waiting from wasted time to something you look forward to.
A gentle variation
If concentration is low, choose something short: a poem, a page of a cookbook, a picture book with good words.
WE · TRIBE
Try itwith someone.
Ask someone what they are reading, and borrow it when they finish. Or start a two-person book club: one book, one cup of tea when you are both done.
Try it today
Find one pocket of waiting in your day, and put a book there today.
More like this
More from VIVE Calm,for real days.
Calm · 10 min
Ten pages instead of the phone
At bedtime, charge the phone outside the bedroom and read ten pages of a paper book by a low lamp.
Calm · 15 min
Read aloud to someone
A chapter, a poem, a page of the paper, read out loud to a child, a partner or someone who is unwell.
Calm · 3 min
Keep one poem in your pocket
Copy out one short poem you like, keep it in your pocket or phone case, and read it once a day this week.