......tv

Yogis,

Watch for my March Meditation invitation this week!

I’m back from a fabulous week soaking in the warmth of the sun!  Sleeping in a large tent perched on a dune at the edge of the beach.  Eating all meals in beach bars and restaurants without walls, my toes in the sand floor.  Surrounded the entire time by only the sounds of surf, the wind, birds and the night bugs.  Nothing manmade.  No music, tv, computer or live entertainment.  No distractions.

Which all meant you had only two choices…….. sit in silence immersed in the sounds and sights of nature, or actually talk to others.  Both wonderful choices that have somehow become less and less frequent in our high tech age. 

Which brings me to the TV.

Since my return the subject of the role of television in our lives keeps crossing my path.  The tv has become a fixture in our homes.  Very rarely just one of them.  Sometimes one in almost every room.  Turned on more than turned off.   Even when no one is watching……. It has become a sort of white noise.  A replacement for the crashing waves and the crickets.  A welcome distraction from our busy lives.

One friend responded to my last post on Savasana sharing that she and her husband realized that each evening as they came home exhausted from their day, the tv would go on and they would find themselves sitting in front of it.  But it suddenly became clear that it was too much noise.  They are going to consciously leave it off for their first couple of hours home to provide the space for reading, puttering or even talking. 

I was also told a story shared by a local Irish bartender that in Ireland the new trend is putting televisions into the pubs.  I have not been to Ireland but from everything I have ever heard, my vision is that pubs are the thread that weave together the community.  Where you gather, share stories and connect with others over a pint at the end of your day.  Take a moment to imagine the shift that will take place with this new technology direction.

8 years ago I went cold turkey.  No tv.  It wasn’t so much a decision as an inner voice  that whispered to me to turn it off.  Most people can’t imagine doing this, and even though they know I don’t watch they still can’t help but ask if I have seen a particular commercial or follow the newest series that has everyone addicted.  What I found in the process is that suddenly I had so much new time!  And like anything you give up, after a few months you can’t imagine going back.  I truly don’t miss it at all.

I’m not suggesting you all go as far as I did, but just to notice how often you are sitting in front of it, or can hear it in the background.  Do you turn it on without even realizing you are doing it?  Can you go even one day a week without it?  What will happen if you don’t have a distraction from your thoughts?  Oh my…….

Watching television removes us from our lives.  But I often have to wonder why we all so often crave that. 

On our trip, each place we went I left knowing several new people, all with interesting stories…….since there was nothing to distract us from being right where we were.  All of our toes together in the sand and the sound of the surf our serenade.

Still hearing the winds in my dreams,
SARAH