How do I get engrossed?

Time to graduate from reading to writing.

I find that the ablilty waxes and wains. You might want to read some light fluffy stuff to keep you in the habit of reading. At some point, you’ll get engrossed again. Trust me.

Try different subjects to read about. I find my interests change depending on my mood. And I cross all the spectrum of what’s out there at times. And I like to listen to music while I read.

It’s not something you get. It’s something you become.

I agree with @keobooks, “You might want to read some light fluffy stuff to keep you in the habit of reading.” I try to keep a Janet Evanovich or a Robert B. Parker on hand to ‘cleanse’ my mental palette. I literally have antique history books 5–6” thick that I read, and afterwards I need a fluff, and a pop-fiction before I can read about anything that took place more than a year ago.

And I agree with @Adirondackwannabe. Pick up an interesting biography. Or true fiction. Or fiction if that’s not your usual choice.

Has your medium changed? Paper to digital? That could be the problem in and of itself.

I find sometimes it takes a nail bitter where I can’t wait to turn the page to get to the next part to get me back into my reading habit. There days for me its been all about text books and I have to say I can’t wait to have a good nail bitter book again.

You, like most of us these days, are losing the ability to focus your attention. It’s a modern problem, the result of living in a distraction-rich environment. Because you’ve become accustomed to the stimulation of monitoring several streams of input, your attention never resting for long on any one thing, when you do try to focus and keep your attention engaged on a single target it feels not stimulating enough. Your attention keeps looking for more.

You can change that with practice. Meditation helps, especially breath meditation. This involves sitting quietly in a place without too many external distractions (your internal distractions will be more than enough to deal with). Keep your attention focused on the in-and-out of your breath. Count each inhalation and each exhalation until you get to 10, then start over at one. Your attention will rebel at this task, like a bronco that’s been saddled for the first time. It will find the breath extremely unappealing as a target. It will be constantly dropping the breath and going to hang out with your thoughts. When you see that this has happened (you’ll know because you will have lost the count), just gently disengage your attention from the thoughts and bring it back to the counting. Over and over again. Try to relax into the breath, the way you relax into the sound of the surf at the beach. See if you can do this for 15 minutes or so every day.

Psychologists studying meditators consistently find that they have a much easier time with the kind of absorption you’re trying to find, not just in reading, but in all areas of your life.

Well. Since I asked this question, I’ve started and almost finished a 300-page-novel. I have about twenty pages left. Maybe I just had to put it into words?

@talljasperman Interesting idea.

@creative1 I feel for you. Hope you’re done with those text books soon.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Thanks, interesting. Is that just something native speakers know, or is there a rule?

@keobooks and @ibstubro That may have been part of the problem. I tried quite a few “difficult” books in a row. I may need to remind myself to choose a fluffy book once in a while.

@Adirondackwannabe The music helped drown out my thoughts, I think. Thanks.

@thorninmud You’re right – I’ve also noticed I have trouble watching an entire movie as opposed to an episode of something or other on TV. I do the breathing technique you’re describing once in a while, when I’m trying to calm myself. I hope I have the self-discipline to do this every day, but I’ll try, definitely. Thank you.