Take a Break from TV to See What Arises

In my childhood, our family ate dinner with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley reporting the news.

My assigned task was to hurdle the pet gate to turn the living room set to its nuclear noise level before racing back, re-hurdling, and finding my seat at the white Formica table (to eat in silence as we played out a family dysfunction). In later years, dinner and the news played out with the set on a pole in the kitchen. No hurdling required.

My soul felt tortured. I had no choice but to be subservient to the demands of my authoritarian father, to eat without connecting, and to leave the table in tears when I’d been yelled at asking for the ketchup to be passed.

Then I led a checkered television history of my own, years including Days of our Lives, The Match Game, Password, Phil Donahue, and Dr. Phil, with limited television news along the way, and no TV during dinner, unless we agreed to eat with a show in the family room for serious comfort and joy.

Television and I had a long, complex history.

Then we broke up.

Two and a half years ago, five months separated, and moving from a furnished spot to an unfurnished rental in town, I decide not to have a television for awhile to see how that will be. I imagine I’ll get into gardening, have more time to read, see what life opens up.

Two days later, I feel anxious at 7:45 p.m. as the time draws near for American Idol. I call a new neighbor to inquire.

I have an odd question to ask. I wonder if you watch American Idol?

No, we don’t.

Oh, thank you. I’ve been watching it, and I don’t have a tv here, so I thought if you did watch it, maybe I could join you. I guess it’s time to give it up.

Let the withdrawal begin.

It actually goes smoothly, aided by the new, awesome man in my life, Ben, who is at home in the unplugged world.

I learn to see the tips of crocus and to notice that the trout lilies we saw on a hike also grow in my own back yard. I put birdseed on the stump outside my kitchen window each morning, pausing by the sink to see who dines.

And I find my soul healing along the way.

Then one of my sons tells me about Hulu.com.

I’ve heard about Glee, I miss Desperate Housewives, I check on Grey’s Anatomy. Television shows on my laptop!

Then my soul’s purpose becomes clear–Joy on Your Shoulders ™: Dream, Believe, Inspire.

In honor of spreading joy, I offer some thoughts for you to ponder:

* Consider your television habits, the conscious ones and the unconscious ones. Are you choosing wisely? Are you zoning out?

* Ask yourself if you use TV to escape from feeling something that wants to be felt and healed in you or with another. Is it time to reach out to someone? To write a letter?

* Is it time to walk with a friend or alone? Go to bed earlier?

* Is it time for you to nurture your soul through sitting quietly in a darkened room with a candle? Is it time for you to muse in the tub?

* Could you take out that pad of sketch paper or your sewing machine, giving yourself a creative play time?