Mind over Reading

Try this:

• Read this sentence silently to yourself.
  
  
• Notice that when you read, you are more likely sub-vocalizing. That is, there is a voice in your head, usually resembling your own voice, that pronounces the words as you read. I will call this our 'default voice'.
  
  
• If you don't hear the sub-vocalization, then you may be dyslexic or have some other disorder. Or, if you are speed-reading properly and rapidly, this sub-vocalization will be minimized. That is, you may only hear a couple words per sentence or something.

  

  What book clubs are reading in Seattle by brewbooks on flickr

  
  
• But this is not about speed-reading, this is about reading with normal speeds like you would when reading a good novel.

I just want to share a way to actively enhance the enjoyment of reading. You probably already do it to an extent, but let's make sure:

• Recall having read a dialog in a novel where two characters had an interesting accent, and they were of different gender.
  
  
• Have you ever noticed that you can change your inner default voice to match that of the characters? Like you will hear your inner sub-vocalizations in a totally different voice, and with the appropriate accent?

Well, it doesn't matter if you have or not. It just matters that you can! You can actively change your default voice any time you want and thus enhance your reading experience--I'm just writing this because I could not find anyone on the Web who has talked about doing this.

Like right now as I write this, I am using a very sexy female voice with a British accent. And now, I'm using a 17 year old girl voice of a singer I saw on T.V. (I hope I don't get in trouble for this.) Okay, I just threw in a Tarzan holler straight from my mind for some reason.

The point is, I just started to actively do this. (FYI: the British girl is back.) No one has ever informed me of this! That I can do this not only in dialog, but anytime I want. I can't believe I spent my whole life, settling for my stupid, boring default sub-vocalization!

It was kind of hard to do at first, because I found myself reverting back to my default voice, but now that I had a little more practice, I'm getting much betta at retaining my British gil accent, fa example. Oops, haha spelling.

Anyway, I'm having a lot more fun reading now, and excited to share another way to harness the power of our minds to enhance one more part of our lives.