Today's episode I strip away the noise of constant media consumption to uncover the profound effects on our brains and well-being. My own venture into a TV-free week revealed a trove of benefits, from deeper sleep to a mind free of clutter.
I'll cover how everything we consume shapes our perceptions, subtly influencing everything from our beliefs to those pesky song lyrics stuck on repeat. As I reflect on the wisdom of the iconic Prince regarding content censorship, we'll also confront the captivating designs of technology that often monopolize our attention.
This episode is a reminder of the crucial role of self-care and mindfulness in the contemporary whirlwind of life.
I share intimate moments of rest found in the simplicity of watching a candle dance or simply being in one place and paying attention to that opportunity to mend, rejuvenate, and forge a deeper connection with self. Take this invitation to explore the art of subtraction in your daily life—finding beauty in pausing, breathing, and simply being.
Today's episode I strip away the noise of constant media consumption to uncover the profound effects on our brains and well-being. My own venture into a TV-free week revealed a trove of benefits, from deeper sleep to a mind free of clutter.
I'll cover how everything we consume shapes our perceptions, subtly influencing everything from our beliefs to those pesky song lyrics stuck on repeat. As I reflect on the wisdom of the iconic Prince regarding content censorship, we'll also confront the captivating designs of technology that often monopolize our attention.
This episode is a reminder of the crucial role of self-care and mindfulness in the contemporary whirlwind of life.
I share intimate moments of rest found in the simplicity of watching a candle dance or simply being in one place and paying attention to that opportunity to mend, rejuvenate, and forge a deeper connection with self. Take this invitation to explore the art of subtraction in your daily life—finding beauty in pausing, breathing, and simply being.
what is up? Hello there, my name is jessica patching bunch, you can call me jpb, and this is brain body resilience. This is a podcast dedicated to growth, human development and stressing a little bit less so you can go ahead and live a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Brain Body Resilience Podcast. I'm your host, jpb, and this is episode number 179. Today we're talking no TV, because your brain is always collecting information, creating your perception, and it becomes part of you. So a little background. Today's episode comes from a thing that I saw on the interwebs because where else do we see things anymore and from my own experiment in my life.
Speaker 2:
Currently, my husband and I decided to take last week and not watch TV at all, and we usually eat in the living room and watch a little something before bed, and I'd been feeling like we needed a better sleep routine for a while. But it's easier just to sit down and look at the TV after doing all of the other things in the day, so we ended up watching TV until we go to sleep and that is not great for sleep quality and I know that, and it's so much easier to just continue doing that. The other thing is that we have been watching a great show, but real high anxiety, very stressful and violent, and getting the sympathetic nervous system riled up is the opposite of what we want. Going to bed. The other thing that I've noticed is that we wake up, not we I have. The thing that I have noticed is that I wake up with like song lyrics just on repeat in my head. They just are stuck there. Then I just wake up immediately singing these songs to myself in my head, which tells me my head is just full, singing these songs to myself in my head, which tells me my head is just full, it's at capacity, full of all the things that I am consuming and I need to create some space.
Speaker 2:
And so we decided to go for a week without TV and I thought it would be kind of difficult because I don't know, that's because we watch a lot of TV. A lot is relative, but it's frequent. Because we watch a lot of TV, a lot is relative but it's frequent. So I thought maybe I would miss it. But it was great and I didn't miss it at all. It was a lovely unplug and I'm going to keep going in that direction. Not forever, and it's not like a strict no TV rule of any kind, but just much less of that. For sure, we'd like to use screen time to start winding down, to cope from boredom and discomfort, to distract ourselves, and it works for all of that. And all of that is still there when we turn off the TV and to add to it, then we're just overstimulated.
Speaker 2:
The other thing that made me decide to push pause on the screens and add much more intention was a clip of Prince the other day talking about the need for censorship of content. Obviously, I saw it the other day. Prince is no longer with us, so he was not saying this the other day and it is still very relevant now. He was talking about the need for censorship of content available. He said with this point what you watch becomes a part of you, like scary movies or those serial killer shows and podcasts everybody loves. Maybe you like them, maybe they don't affect you and you're not scared by them, maybe they're interesting, but that thing is now part of you. Do you remember what they said? Do you remember what they looked like? That now lives in you as a memory, as part of you, and I don't know about censorship, but I do know that the people who make those shows and apps and all of the brilliant smart technology that we have do so with one goal, and that's to keep you engaged, and not engaged in your life, but engaged with that thing, that screen. There are neuropsychologists and neuroscientists who help inform the building of these things, people who understand how the brain works and how it becomes attached and engaged with things, and how addiction works in the brain. And their whole job is to make sure that these things are good not good for us, but to make sure that the product they have for you is so stimulating that you stay engaged. And that's a little detour to my thoughts on that. And that's a little detour to my thoughts on that. And at the same time, we are all responsible for ourselves. As grown people, it is our own responsibility to make decisions and care for ourselves. But, yes, the content you consume movies, music, tv, books, this podcast, the people you surround yourself with these all become a part of you. They help shape your perspective on life, how to live it, where you exist in it, how you exist in it, how you feel your beliefs about it and I've done episodes on this before and I've talked about this. Your diet is not just what you eat. Everything that you consume with all of your senses helps create you and your experience in this life, and all of that contributes to the ways you choose to care for yourself and the ways that you live in the world.
Speaker 2:
I have this song stuck in my head one of the songs I had mentioned previously that I really like and it talks about having a shit boss who doesn't pay you and how we are taught to go to school so that we could get a good job, and so we did, and that doesn't seem to really matter at all. And writing out these notes, I realized that it sounds like this is a terrible song, but it's super catchy and I love it. And I started paying attention to how much I repeat the lyrics in my head. The words just get stuck on repeat and I kept saying over and over again I've got a shitty boss who doesn't pay me. I don't love my job, but those things aren't true. Who doesn't pay me? I don't love my job, but those things aren't true. And if that's what I'm focused on, that's what I can see, so all of those things can exist. I don't. I don't love my day job, but, um, it's a good job. And when my energy and attention are spent on how much I don't love my job and not on solutions like, okay, what can I do about this, do I want to do something about this? How can I make this better If I can change my job right now. If I can't change my job right now, how do I make it feel better? I cannot do those things. If I'm focused on how much it sucks, I'm not thinking about how to do any of that, or even appreciating the really good parts of it. And so all of that to say.
Speaker 2:
Your brain is a collector of information and the information it looks for is dependent on what you pay attention to, the information you react to, the information that you spend your energy on. This is all telling your brain that this is relevant information and to seek out more of that. So, when we're watching a bunch of shit that scares us, or social media that makes us feel like our life isn't good enough, or we're listening to music that talks about how everything sucks, these are the things creating our perspective and contributing to our experience. These are the things that we are feeding ourselves to grow with, and so my challenge to you is to pay attention to what you are watching, reading, listening to things that you are consuming that are helping create you, and then ask yourself if these things are helping you feel safe and secure and confident, or insert other desirable contribution that you would like it to make, or if these things are that you are taking in are adding fear, worry, feelings of lack. And even if it's neither of those, are these activities helping you get where you want to be? That's kind of where I the question I had with the TV experiment are they helping you get the shit you want to do done? Because you are the only person who can change where your attention and focus are directed.
Speaker 2:
And so far I'm super happy with my experiment to focus on the things outside of screens.
Speaker 2:
And suddenly I have so much more time to dedicate to my nervous system hygiene and my sleep hygiene and reading all the articles I save to read and all of the other things on a very long to do list.
Speaker 2:
And also, with that, I want to be very clear and sure to say that this is not a tool to be more productive and squeeze something into every moment. I have also spent this time, these beautiful little, precious moments, staring at candle flames, listening to music and spacing out, just laying there, resting and giving my system a chance to repair and restore, creating space, pressing pause, and so I encourage you to look at where maybe you can subtract something and then not fill that space up immediately, but just leave. Leave a little space just to be, just to press pause, just to breathe, just to notice. All right, that is all I've got for today. Thank you so much for being here. If you enjoyed this episode, please do share it with a friend so that they also might enjoy or find it useful. Until next time, I am wishing you a beautiful week, peace.