Reading as Ritual: 5 Ways to Get Started if You’re Out of the Habit

A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people—people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book. – EB White

I’ve recently had the quiet epiphany that each and every book we come across in life carries a piece of someone’s soul.

If the soul is the deeper essence of a person, then a book is a unique expression of that individual; a doorway into their psyche at a very specific point in time. 

Within the pages of a book is the crystallised wisdom, insight, and perception that has taken years, perhaps even lifetimes, to develop.

Yet, the fact is that we live in a world of ever-increasing access to knowledge. The question is, does this reduce the value of sitting down with a book and committing to reading?

What about the rise of artificial intelligence that can answer any of our random late-night questions on a whim? Do books still have a role to play? Or are they a quaint relic from the past?

I’d argue that while some books (namely, technical ones) may be less valuable than they once were, finding and reading the right book is more important than ever.

I’m also going to show you how to get started reading again if you’re out of the habit or feeling demotivated.

Why Reading is More Important Than Ever

In a world of information overload, soul starvation, and nervous system overwhelm, reading helps to center the body, heart, and mind.

Like a single-pointed meditation, reading focuses our mind and attention in one place. It trains us to slow down, chew over ideas, and integrate deeper levels of self-knowledge.

Sure, we may have access to vast amounts of info. Social media posts, reels, shorts, videos, and even AI searches may give us a burst of dopamine and temporarily feed our craving for infotainment novelty.

But how many of those neatly packaged info-bites do you remember? How deep have they actually penetrated your psyche?

Have you put any of them into practice? If so, how many have you stuck with?

Reading is still more important than ever because it helps us to integrate words into wisdom, encouraging us to internalize and reflect on the hard-earned insight of others deeply. 

Reading helps us to dive beneath the surface and go to the root of a topic. When we read, we’re using two of our most precious and scarce commodities, time and energy, in devotion and service to higher learning.

I’m sure you’ve heard before that reading has been proven to increase intelligence, empathy, and relaxation.

But reading also has another powerful function that is more important than ever in our world’s climate: it’s a doorway to authentic soul work.

Reading helps us to come back home to our Deeper Self. 

Reading as Ritual: 5 Ways to Get Started if You’re Out of the Habit, Stuck, or Feeling Demotivated

To read intentionally and consistently is to engage in soulful ritual.

If rituals are fixed actions done often in a religious or spiritual context, reading easily fits this definition – it’s one of the easiest, most accessible, affordable, and enjoyable practices to add to your daily routine.

So, how do you craft an inner work practice that helps you come back home to your Self, work through core wounds, and deepen your self-knowledge using books as your anchor?

How do you get started when you’re feeling demotivated or stuck?

Here are some ideas, with pictures from my own life:

1. Use the power of habit stacking

If you’re out of the habit of reading or want to read more, but struggle with the temptation of scrolling through social media, going to find that half-eaten bagel with cream cheese, or any other poorly disguised avoidance strategy, use habit stacking.

Habit stacking is the technique of picking something you already do, like making a cup of coffee or fluffing up your pillows right before bed, and attaching a new habit to that action.

In this case, you might choose to read after making your tea or coffee in the morning, or right after you’ve watched your favorite TV show before bed. 

Be clear about how much time you want to dedicate to reading each day. It’s okay to read for even just a few minutes if that’s all you have time or inner space for right now.  

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about the four laws of behavior change, the first being to make it obvious. 

Creating a clear cue, like spreading books all over the house, is a great way to get back into the habit of reading more consistently, even if just for small snippets of time.

2. Shift your identity: see yourself as a reader or autodidact 

If reading as a form of self-healing is something you want to “try and do,” chances are you won’t stick with it because it’s not yet part of your identity.

However, if you begin to see yourself AS a reader or autodidact (self-taught learner), you’re much more likely to stick with this lifestyle shift in the long term, because it’s who you are, not merely something you do every now and then.

3. Choose one book as your “bible” and supplement it with a diverse range of reads

Above is a picture of my “bible” book – that is, the book I go back to again and again, usually every night before bed – and the supporting books around it that complement its wisdom.

The Tao te Ching, translated by Jonathan Star, has been with me for so many years that I’ve had to duct tape its spine to prevent it from falling apart. 

Reading this book every night before bed is a form of ritual and meditation that has helped me in so many complex, painful, and confusing situations. I treat this book as both a spiritual teacher and an intuitive guide that I flip to at random when the mood strikes.

Your choice of “bible” could be the literal Bible, the Upanishads, the Dhammapada, or other religious texts – or more spiritual or esoteric-leaning texts like A Course in Miracles, The Kybalion, etc.

The point here is to choose a book with which you will go deep and form a relationship over time, at least one year – something rare in this day and age of quick-consumption media, yet nonetheless crucial for the development and integration of wisdom.

4. Choose books that speak to your soul, throw away duty 

There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag – and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend or a movement. – Doris Lessing

Nothing kills the joy and sacred art of reading more than a “should” or “have to” – as in, “I should read this” or “I have to read that.”

No, you don’t.

In fact, it’s better if you toss these words from your vocabulary when it comes to reading.

The point here is to choose books that speak to your soul, that invite you to explore new worlds or deepen your understanding in new, exhilarating ways.

Give yourself permission to start any book you wish and stop any book at any time.

The power is in your hands to make this a joyful experience.

I love reading books that I can refer to regularly and keep in my personal library for the long term. Here’s an article I wrote about that entitled Bibliotherapy: 5 Steps to Creating Your Soul Medicine Library.

5. Candles, note-taking, and my #1 reading app: make what you read count

Okay, why candles? They immediately add an air of mystery and magic to the process of reading. I had to add them in somewhere. ;)

But let’s get to the meat and bones here: it’s fine and good to read and reflect. But what about making what you read and spend hours learning count?

You could argue that the simple act of reading by itself is what counts. I agree.

However, there’s something undeniably powerful about (1) writing down your reflections and (2) regularly revisiting and relearning from what you’ve taken time to highlight.

Step 1: Notetaking ✍️

Take notes in any way you like: via a paper journal, on the notes app on your phone, or in a Word or Google Drive document. I have an app called Bear that I use to pass and tag all my notes, keeping them organized.

Personally, I like to write out my notes digitally so that I can make them searchable and prevent them from getting lost in a pile of notebooks. 

I know of others who first write out their reflections and epiphanies by hand and then transfer them to a digital format, but I’m too impatient for that.

The point here is to record your reflections as you read. This helps you synthesize and integrate the insights better in your mind.

Step 2: Reviewing & Remembering What You’ve Read ✨

But what about revisiting what you’ve read to integrate it more deeply?

Mateo, being the innovator he is, was kind enough to introduce me to a brilliant reading app called Readwise. This is a platform where you can send all your favorite articles and posts from the internet and rediscover the wisdom of your eBook highlights. Brilliant!

So far, I’ve found that Readwise is like a gentle companion on my self-discovery and healing journey. 

Now, whenever I read books, articles, or discover inspiring quotes that speak to something deep in me, I send them to Readwise, which helps me to capture them, then brings them back when I need them most. 

As an autodidact and reader, Readwise turns my highlights and favorite bits of knowledge into a daily reminder so that I can grow in deeper insight and understanding.

From what I’m aware of, this is the first app of its kind. I’m grateful it exists because otherwise, I’d have no way of either (1) easily revisiting what I’ve read each day to integrate it better, or (2) having one simple place to collect all my favorite online reads.

Highly recommend. This is my #1 reading tool. I even went so far as to reach out to Readwise to see if they want to do an extended free trial for you if you’re interested in using this powerful tool. They said yes!

So here’s the link to remember what you read each day and save all your favorite reads in one place (60-day free trial).

What You Feed Your Mind Sustains Your Soul

In this age of information, what you feed your mind sustains your soul. The opposite is also true.

In the words of Evan Williams, the co-founder of one of the greatest social media giants, Twitter (now “X”),

The information we consume matters just as much as the food we put in our body. It affects our thinking, our behavior, how we understand our place in the world. And how we understand others.

I hope this article has helped you to see why reading is more important than ever and how to get back into it if you’ve felt stuck or demotivated.

Tell me, what is your reading ritual? What book can you recommend right now? I’d love to hear below in the comments. You never know who you may inspire. ;)