Take the TV Challenge

Feel like you never have enough time?

Feel like the whole world is full of horrible things?

Tired of the constant negativity beating down your door?

Not spending enough time with your family?

Need more time for chores?

Then take the TV Challenge.

Unplug your TV and pretend it doesn’t exist for 30 days. You really won’t miss it too much after a few days. You might even learn to live without it (oh the horror!). I gave up TV about 5 years ago and it has made life so much better for me. You will instantly have much more free time, a dramatic reduction in the amount of negative influence in you life, and may actually become bored if don’t have much that is meaningful going on in your life at this point.

Most people have that thing on constantly, and even when they aren’t actively watching it, it is on as background noise. So you are constantly being programmed (you do realize why the call them programs don’t you?) with ideas about what is cool, what to eat, what to buy, how to dress, what to think, who’s hot, who’s not and all the rest of it.

Want to know what the most negative source on Television is?

The News.

Aside from being heavily biased towards the one accepted way of thinking it is full of all the things that get good ratings these days, death, destruction, torture, war and famine. You know, the usually happiness. I want you to think about something that you may have never stopped to think about until this moment in your life.

Is anything you hear from these guys making your life better?

Even if you occasionally hear a useful piece of news, does it really justify the hours of being mentally beaten into a box of someone else’s choosing?

Now, I am sure that there a many who will raise the objection about keeping current on world events. I don’t accept this as a very good excuse. There is very little that is going on that is directly relevant to your day to day life. If something becomes relevant it will likely sound like gun shots in your streets and you won’t need the news to tell you.

If you need specific information like stock prices or the like then I would suggest using the internet and going directly to the information you need instead of potentially getting sucked into what Paris Hilton is currently doing to justify her being famous for absolutely no reason.

Most people won’t take this challenge because they won’t have anything else to do if they get rid of their TV. They would just be sitting there staring at the wall wondering what is on TV.

Go read a book, learn something, have a meaningful conversation with a friend, spend time with your kids, take your wife to dinner, clean out the closets, exercise, work on your own personal issues, meditate, find a hobby (no TV does not count as a hobby).

Take the challenge and see how you can make better use of your time. Give it 30 days and evaluate where you are at and how your life has changed.

You may be surprised!


Brandon Songer is a freelance writer on spiritual and philosophical topics.Higher Balance Institute offers a variety of convenient audio courses on a variety of spiritual and metaphysical topics.