Throw away your TV!

This is more or less the speech I gave at Toastmasters last week.

I'd rather go online than watch TV.

It's nearly two years since I moved into a flat on my own without a television.  I can honestly say there has not been one minute when I missed it.

What I've loved is the extra time it's given me to pursue my own interests, especially online.  I love the immediacy of the internet - I think of a question and within minutes I have an array of answers.  They don't always agree with each other, but that's OK, I can read them all, I can make up my own mind.  I'm constantly amazed by the scope too.  Think of a subject and someone, somewhere will have put something about it online.

I've discovered a vast treasure of information on subjects that interest me, like sustainability and self-development, cellular biology, natural health and even honey bees. 

Permaculture

One line of research will often spark another.  Something will be mentioned in passing, and I'll think, 'oh, I'd like to know more about that …' and I can, because I'm online.  So I open another window, and another row of tabs; I can have several windows waiting to be read and yes - hours can pass that way!  But they're really interesting hours, and I'm learning all the time.

Compassion in World Farming

To me, the internet stimulates thought and enquiry that way.

TV, however, deadens the mind.

Television dulls the senses, mesmerises, anaesthetises.

Have you ever caught yourself, in the middle of an advert break, wondering why you're still sitting there while they shout at you?  I always used to mute the ads, they'd drive me crazy.

Of course, these are fairly sweeping generalisations.  With all these things, it totally depends on how you use them.  One person may be very selective about what they watch on TV, while another may be a lot less discriminating about what they look at online.

But it seems to me that the internet offers almost infinite choice.  You can 'veg out' and just view things on YouTube or on the TV channels' websites if you want to.  I've watched the odd nature documentary like that, and I confess I am re-watching that fab satire of the 90s, 'Drop the Dead Donkey', via 4OD.  The internet offers more though: you can interact, you can read other people's views following articles, you can put your own view, you can meet people.

TV merely comes at you and makes profit for corporations.

A few weeks ago I took a step further and put myself on Facebook.  I admit to start with I was a bit scared of it, so I put myself on with a false name and a false moustache.  Joking aside, as I began to find out what it was really all about, I've been blown away by the possibilities.  It's not just a way of connecting people, it seems to me it is a great facility to escalate change and good in the world.  I have found out about even more campaigns, charities, communities, ethical businesses and individuals who are actively creating a new way of being in the world since I've been on Facebook.  And wow am I feeling connected!  It's so lovely to 'meet' people on forums, feeling you already have so much in common.  I have already made some friends from around the world that way.

We can all be heroes

Contrary to what people believe before they go on Facebook (me included!) you are also totally in control of what others can see, and there are layers to that control, it's very sophisticated. 

So - I'd rather go online than watch TV.

When I watch TV, the news is fed to me, homogenised, filtered.  Online I can find news websites I trust, I can contrast several different sites, I can read the comments that people post after the news.

On TV the news is almost entirely negative.  I have found so much to be positive about online.  So many people and organisations daring to do differently, to operate from the heart instead of for profit.  So much you just don't hear about via conventional media.

On TV entertainment is fed to me.  On the internet I can search for things that specifically interest me.

Women Waking the World

In front of the TV I'm passive (unless you call dialling in to keep Ann Widdecombe dancing for another week 'getting actively involved').  Online I can interact, I can feel involved, I can participate.  I can make contacts.

Online I can feel connected.

Yes Group Norwich

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Allowing Emotions

This morning I woke in the pale grey with an idea I believed to be an inspiration. I propped myself on one elbow, switched on the light and made quick notes. I felt happy because I believed I was in the flow, allowing inspiration to flow through me. I felt good, sure that I was being inspired along the lines of my life purpose. I had the intention of acting on that inspiration today and putting my idea into practice.

A little later an innocent comment from someone triggered a reaction in me, a constriction and painful surge of emotions that felt like my big happy bubble had just burst. I suddenly thought that my idea would be seen as silly, ridiculous even. I felt in advance feelings of humiliation and shame. I imagined others' judgements of me, being associated with such a silly idea. I started to think that no-one else would want to be associated with my idea. My whole core felt hurt and diminished.

I tried very hard not to let the person who made the remark know what was happening inside me (we were on the phone, but even so, you can hear a lot in tone, or silence), because I knew immediately that this huge reaction was all about my own stuff, and not about his. After the phone call I allowed the emotions to wash over me, feeling awful, but trying at the same time to observe and learn.

Eventually, after a stream of gloomy thoughts, I began to pick myself up again. I thought, 'OK, perhaps I have to change the idea a little. But I don't have to abandon it altogether.'

Then I checked into Facebook. I've heard a lot about synchronicity. It's amazing, and funny, once this stuff starts to flow. Now I'm really getting it! I love the way Facebook allows the Universe to make seemingly random events happen right on the button.

This quote came up from Tao of the Giraffe, one of my favourite Facebook feeds:

"What other people think of you is none of your business."

And a little later, this video popped up from We Can All Be Heroes :



I very much enjoyed the whole scene, and the commentary, but especially the narrator's summing up at the end.


I'm beginning to access a detachment that allows me to feel the emotions as they occur, but not to be swamped by them or act on them in a way that will just cause more pain. It's not easy, but I'm motivated because it's better than being a slave to my painful emotions. I was helped very much in this regard by listening to Gary Zukav and Linda Francis yesterday evening in an interview in the Healing with the Masters series, and watching little videos on their website Seat of the Soul Institute. Another case of good timing? It would certainly seem so.

I'm laughing at myself now. I hope soon I'll be able to laugh even as I observe myself going through another bubble-bursting episode, sure that it will give me the opportunity to reduce the power that the painful emotions have over me. Or will that make people think I'm crazy? Ha ha, I don't care!

And the idea … ? Well, I'm still feeling a little shy about it, but I'm definitely working on it.

Music and Connecting

Music has an infinite capacity to move us, to tears as well as to joy. Connecting with others to create something stimulates hope, strengthening a belief in our ability to affect the world around us: it's easier and more things are possible when we work together.

So connecting to make music is one of the most fundamental, soul-enhancing, life-affirming activities we have available. My lack of natural ability in this area is an occasional source of disappointment to me, but I love seeing others doing it (and I have a little plan hatching which may change my relationship to music, too).

Playing For Change are an inspiration. They've brought together artists from all around the world. Now they are building music schools. Just listening to their music and watching their videos is a joy-generating experience, which is why I'm offering one of my favourites here, and I've created a music page to present more.

Enjoy!