Last week I did the ‘reading deprivation’ exercise from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The idea is that the time you spend reading can be filled with creative pursuits…or just give you the space to hear your inner voice over and above the chatter we put into our lives. Because I am a bit of a book worm, I had put this exercise off for about 2 months, then last week I decided to go for it. I had a busy week planned and thought I maybe wouldn’t miss having my nose stuck in a book as much.
WRONG! I have missed it very much. The exercise actually showed me how much I love to read, and how relaxing I find it. Instead of reading, I have found the time to clear some clutter, pick up a project I’d forgotten about from months ago, give myself a pedicure, watch a couple of movies and some crap late night tv, spent more time piddling about on the internet (NOT the purpose of the exercise), clear out the clutter in my inbox, re-arrange my office and spend more time with friends.
So from that perspective, the exercise has been good… But. The time I have missed reading the most is at night before I go to sleep. This is not (for me) a massively creative time that I could fill with fun, creative projects…it’s just ‘wind-down’ time. I tried writing, meditating, watching tv and messing about on the computer…but none of these are conducive to a good night’s kip. Writing wakes my brain up instead of relaxing it down for sleep, tv (assuming you can find a thing you want to watch) does the same, meditating…well, I do fall asleep – but I’d rather meditate earlier and stay awake for it, and as for messing about on the computer…
Well, that does waste hours of your life. But I don’t find it even slightly relaxing. Instead, I find there’s a kind of manic, obsessive quality to spending hours on the computer messing about. You go from one social media platform to the next, one video to the next, one site to the next, one game to the next. Before you know it, several hours have disappeared from your life and you are exhausted, your eyes dry and grainy, your brain overloaded with information and (in my case) you now really want to read for a bit just to calm the mind down so you can get a good night’s sleep.
So although I can’t say I have enjoyed the reading deprivation, it has been an interesting and useful exercise – for example, I now notice even more than before the time-stealing qualities of tv and internet…and I also realised even more strongly that these activities are NOT good for me. Instead of freeing up time for creative pursuits and hearing my inner voice, I have had less of both than I normally do because I’ve been watching the lobotomy box (TV) and wasting time on the internet more than I usually do.
Interesting huh? How about for you? What activities do you find you lose hours doing…and not in a good ‘oh that was fun’ way, but in a ‘what the hell was I doing for 9 hours’ way? Where does your time get spent? How much of it is spent on a virtual farm instead of outside in nature? How much vicariously in the lives of others and not in your own life? In an average week, how many hours are wasted by activities that don’t enhance your life?
If you spent those hours on something you loved doing, how much would that enhance your life? If you spent those hours having fun, how much more fun would you have in your life? If you spent those hours working on improving your life, moving into a life of purpose, passion and joy, how much progress could you make between now and Christmas?
And if you want some help, support and coaching to help you move into that life of purpose, passion and joy, don’t forget the September special offer – 20% off multiple coaching sessions booked in September. For more details, click here.
Love
Donna.x
