How Watching Television Affects Us
Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 5:56PM How Much Television Do You Watch?
We Interrupt this Programming for a Special Message . . . a Look at Television
I decided to go on a "no TV diet" for a week.
Normally, as the days get shorter I can find myself watching more and more junk food TV. Last week, I started a "no TV diet" and have been free of TV for seven days. Do you know that in the U.S. the average person watches 4.5 hours or more of TV a day?
In a yoga class a couple weeks ago my teacher read a quote during relaxation pose: "watching TV is like painting black paint over your third eye." Our third eye is our chakra center for intuition and clarity. Her words echoed in my mind and got my attention. I don't want to hinder my intuition or my thinking.
This started an internal dialogue about my TV habits and I asked myself the question: Is what I'm watching on TV what I want to fill my mind with? The answer was a resounding no.
When we watch TV we go into a passive trance-like state where our subconscious mind soaks up everything we see and hear with little, if any, discernment. Have you ever noticed that once you turn on the TV it's hard to turn it off even if there is nothing you really want to watch? Have you noticed that you'll find yourself channel surfing and settling for the best of the worst?
Some of the detrimental effects of TV that have been studied include: TV increasing the risk of depression, dampening creativity, reducing the power of imagination, decreasing attention span, and increasing our waistlines. TV also robs us of our time. Yikes, none of this is good.
If you have ever gone on a diet, and who hasn't, why not go on a "no TV diet"? You could aim for a few days, a week, or longer and see how it goes. If you find yourself feeling restless check out this article on things to do instead of watching TV. This is your life and you get to choose how to live it.
I don't plan to stay on the" no TV diet" forever, but for now I've noticed a new bounce in my step. When I do watch TV I plan on being a lot more mindful about what and how much I watch.
We often live on auto-pilot failing to realize that every day we can start anew. This is why it behooves us to stop what we are doing and evaluate how we use our sweet time. We can make conscious life-affirming choices starting today.
Choose wisely and have fun.
This was written by my friend Lisa Guyman, Owner of Inner Sanctum.
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