It’s early in the year yet, but Awaken Your Genius, by Ozan Varol, may turn out to be, for me, the best nonfiction read of 2023.
I just had the pleasure of reading this book, which is not so much a pleasure-reading experience as it is eye-opening, even mind-opening, though it’s also a pleasure to read. It’s one of those books that you want to have a printed copy of (I usually read ebooks, and first read this one that way, but I plan to get a printed copy now), to scribble notes in, journal about, and go back to again and again. It has exercises to follow, self-questioning, the kinds of things that make you want to journal, and I nearly reviewed this on my journaling blog instead of here. But I find that it’s especially relevant to creatives, because people who endeavor to be creative tend to do this self-searching already. In a sense we’re primed for it. But this book is for everyone. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t get something of value from reading it.
I tend to think, as the author seems to as well, that everyone is a creative person, and that’s exactly the part of oneself this book is meant to get to, that creative core that is in fact one’s true self, the part of a person that is their essence and moves through this world making a life, possibly making a difference in some way, in their own life if not in others’ lives as well, the part of a person that holds meaning as essential. One’s genius.
I won’t do a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, because I really think it’s best to read the book rather than have an outline fed to you, and there would be so much to say about it, well, you might as well read the book. But some things I took away from the book, just off the top of my head are as follows:
- We tend to place too much value on others’ opinions, and even on our own opinions, when curiosity and an unmade-up mind tend to serve us better. Having a fixed point of view is limiting.
- Reading an entire article rather than its click-bait headline can be a subversive act.
- It’s often better to read the research than the “news” about it.
- Social media, while it has its uses, is more of a distraction and attention sink than anything else. (I knew that, but this reinforced it yet again for me.)
- Even something that seems universally good and helpful can in certain circumstances or with certain individuals be problematic. (One example he uses is meditation and some research about its occasional dark side that came out in 2020.)
Those are just a few thoughts off the top of my mind about the book, and those only have to do with it as relates to my experience of the news media and social media in general. As for my own life, the book offers ways of looking inside one’s own thoughts, desires, ambitions, and making more sense of them, getting to one’s essence. I plan to go through it again, and do all or most of the exercises, the self-questioning.
This is a book for anyone of any age, and I love that the author points out how long it can take sometimes to find one’s true direction, and even how one can go through many different true directions in a lifetime, one after another. We’re never finished living, after all, until we’ve taken our last breath. I’m 66, and I have to say, this book made me feel young and ready to look at myself more clearly so that I can navigate a path forward with more self-knowledge. For the same reasons, if I knew a teenager I wanted to buy a gift for, I’d get them this book.