A good book is like a person walking into your room and opening the curtains: At first, the light is blinding, but once you let it in, the scope of what you can see broadens considerably.
Take my friend Kaki’s book Wa — The Art of Balance. It’s a book about health, covering four pillars of our physical and mental wellbeing: eating, moving, resting, and socializing. The number one way the book helped me improve those habits was by widening my understanding of what they can mean.
Exercise is not just a 30-minute run. A healthy meal is not just rice and broccoli. If a long walk can be part of your health regimen, and buying a gift for someone can be how you connect, suddenly, working out and socializing become more accessible. There now is a path through the maze where, before, there was none — but for those new ideas to light the way, first, you must let them in.
Even the right idea can only change our mind at the right time, and then still we must open the curtains and welcome it into our lives. That, too, is a habit. You can do it every day, and with far more than just books, but only if you get out of bed. Choose action over stagnation, and remember to open the curtains.