Distraction, not religion, is the opium of the masses.
Distraction is the enemy of living my life as a practice.
Distraction serves as the band-aid to the worry and anxiety I feel when I’m not effectively taking care of my concerns in life. I know I’m heading off a cliff and it’s easier to go have a drink, or watch TV than it is to deal with the monkey on my back.
TV has been my drug (distraction) of choice. I used to have HBO many years ago and I realized that I would spend a minimum of 2 hours per night watching movies. And most of them I had seen before. When I clued into how much time I was wasting, and my weakness to resist, I canceled HBO.
Consequence to this is I missed the cultural conversations around the Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Bill Maher. Shows that I would like to watch, it’s just there are so many hours in a day and making choices sometimes means I give up stuff that provide value so that I can get or create more value somewhere else.
So don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying all TV is bad, I’m just careful about my consumption. Some shows and channels provide useful information and tasteful entertainment. I’m a fan of PBS, National Geographic, History, Arts and Entertainment to name a few. And yes I do indulge time to time in the gratuitous sex and violence shows, yet I look for the ones that also provide some useful insight into our humanity and there are several violent pictures that do that well. Crash the movie is one of them.
What are your favorite distractions?
seems surfing the net and reading blogs (with all due respect) are one of my biggest distractions. I’ve been saying for weeks that I need to declutter my workspace, and I’ve a long “to do” list here. Yet the computer sucks so much of my time… let me rephrase: I ALLOW the computer to suck up so much of my time. Emails call at me to be read, research takes me from one site to another, an inspirational message comes my way. And before I know it, it’s midnight and I’m not exactly sure what I accomplished or how I got so distracted today. But I enjoy it… same time tomorrow? ;o)
Hey Brenda, looks like we share the same distraction ! I tried many times to take better control of this “opium” but am always drawn to it and allow myself to be absorbed in surfing even when I have to complete a much needed research and at the end (like you) ask, what have I accomplished.
During my very early years, TV has been my distraction. Having realised how much it consumed me, I have made the decision eight years ago, to not have a TV in my house. I am not against TV, but prefer not to own one. On the rear occasions I feel for that type of entertainment, I go (guess where) on the net.