Television OFF, Creativity ON (Part 2)

After I wrote my "mission statement" yesterday promoting less TV, I attended my church's Wednesday evening service. It was all about self compassion and connecting with yourself and your "higher power" (or whatever you happen to call it - if you believe in that sort of thing). When I got home I was inspired to crack open an old meditation/mindfulness book I'd read years ago called "Peace Is Every Step," written by the amazing Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hanh (published 1991, Bantom Books). If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it. It consists of little mini-essays on how to feel more connected to the present moment.

Anyways, one of the paragraphs really hit home. It came from the section entitled "Nourishing Awareness in Each Moment" (page 13):

Watching a bad TV program, we become the TV program. We are what we feel and perceive. If we are angry, we are the anger. If we are in love, we are love. If we look at a snow-covered mountain peak, we are the mountain. We can be anything we want, so why do we open our windows to bad TV programs made by sensationalist producers in search of easy money, programs that make our hearts pound, our fists tighten, and leave us exhausted? Who allows such TV programs to be made and seen by even the very young? We do! We are too undemanding, too ready to watch whatever is on the screen, to lonely, lazy, or bored to create our own lives. We turn on the TV and leave it on, allowing someone else to guide us, shape us, and destroy us. Losing ourselves in this way is leaving our fate in the hands of others who may not be acting responsibly. We must be aware of which programs do harm to our nervous systems, minds, and hearts, and which programs benefit us.

Wow. Can't write much to follow up - he summed it up so absolutely perfectly. This inspires me to work hard to continue keeping the amount of "screen time" in my house to a minimum.