Using your TV time

I suppose there are many ways to reach the goal of becoming a better, more competent, and a much more knowledgeable you. One method is going through the method of putting yourself through a retreat, cleaning yourself up thoroughly on the inside, and then finding those refined states of consciousness that happen when one is very clean on the outside and on the inside. That is good and well, and it shows us what one is capable of in one sense. One is exposed to states of consciousness that one may not be at other times.

The other method, which is complementary but far more accessible and far more required in today’s commonly available experiential climate, is to use everyday experience as a guide. Perhaps Chogyam Trungpa would have called this using the manure of everyday experience. I mean using the little things in daily life that we consider our enemies or our frenemies as the very things that help us grow.

For instance, there is ever so much TV watching. The jury has already called in its decision on TV watching, especially the way TV programs are made today, with the exception of educational material and some other notable exceptions. For the most part long bouts of TV watching lead to damage to the brain’s frontal lobe. TV watchers usually slip into a hypnotic mental state where the executive decision making function of the brain is attenuated. In other words, watching TV dampens that very part of the brain that is required to decide to turn off the TV. Interesting, and I suspect that none of this is a coincidence. TV watching leads to much shorter attention spans, and as I can attest through my personal experience, to a markedly decreased ability to visualize.

I spent nearly seven months in 2011 cutting off all TV and all forms of commercial entertainment, and apart from the fact that I defended my PhD thesis and found a job during that time, I also noticed that my powers of visualization rocketed during that time. It was very clear that this was no mere coincidence, and I have since repeated this in smaller bouts, where whenever I want to visualize clearly, I simply go on a TV diet.

The thing though is that for millions, perhaps billions of people, daily TV watching is a routine. It is one of those things that many of us know is detrimental in many ways, but the state of our brains and will power muscles are not going to allow any respite from anytime soon. Are you one of those people? If so, I am about to offer up some real use of manure advice, for whatever it is worth.

I don’t think we should fret incessantly about the dangers of watching TV, but instead find all the ways in which we can use our TV time to actually make it work for us. Sure our brains get into a hypnotic state, and sure it causes all sorts of issues, but giving up TV overnight is the same as quitting smoking overnight. It may work for some people, but it may not work for you. If you do go cold turkey for a while, the odds of a severe rebound that leads to an even worse addiction are fairly large.

So what is my advice? Here’s one game changer, as an instance. Obesity is linked to increased TV viewing. Okay, how about we tackle physical exercise while watching TV? I am not talking about placing an exercise bike or treadmill in front of your TV and working out whenever you watch TV. That’s great actually, and more power to you if you find the resources to do that. I am talking about something that you can use to creep fitness back into your lives.

There are so many scene changes in today’s TV programs, and these are designed to stimulate our brains far more often than is healthy for either our attention spans or our cortisol (stress hormone) levels. Without getting into the details of why this is so, we can use these scene changes. For instance, imagine that you sit on a chair or a sofa and watch TV usually. How about each time a scene change happens, you simply raise alternate hands. Laziest exercise, but your shoulders get warmed up. How about that!

Each time there is a scene change, you could also raise alternate legs, and this gets your legs and glutes warmed up.

Now, the benefits of such meager exercise may not be apparent to you, but let me remind my readers of a recent study done by James Levine at Mayo Clinic on what is called NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). The idea herein is that even for those people who are regular gym junkies, overall health was significantly impacted when they fidgeted a lot more, and generally moved their bodies a whole lot more throughout the day.

If NEAT and Mayo Clinic’s reputation aren’t enough of an incentive for you, and if you want to be more adventurous and more active, you can up the ante on your TV program related workout. Each time there is a scene change, get up and sit down at the next scene change. How about that! That will give you plenty of exercise during a one hour TV show.

If you’re going to spend two hours watching Jerry Springer or Oprah or Ellen, okay, great, by the time you’re done with a whole morning of watching daytime TV, you’ll be seriously hungry for lunch if you try the getting up and sitting down again, for every scene change. Imagine that. You have, without any exercise equipment, converted your TV watching experience, into the equivalent of a calorie burn fest, simply by getting up and sitting back down again.

Now, the hypnotic state that we all get into while watching the TV may or may not be conducive to alert brain activity, given how determined you are to make change. The buck stops at your level of determination to make change. The thing though is that from a state of being completely passive, it is difficult to appreciate the mindset of someone who is proactive and who wants to learn and grow. But it is easier to appreciate the state of being slightly less passive.

In other words, let us say you’re sitting on the couch and watching Oprah. You really don’t want to get up and move, even though some deep part of yourself knows that the sedentary lifestyle and the empty headed TV watching are indeed hastening your path to the cemetery or crematorium. What then? You’re stuck in this state of feeling utterly and completely helpless. What next?

Now take your attention back to Oprah’s show. She has a guest on, and the topic being discussed is some sort of empowerment. Okay fine. You can follow the topic, and you learn more about the views of Oprah and the guest. That is good and well. How about you do just one more thing/think. Just keep note of the central topic, and check whether what they are talking about is related to the central topic or not. They’re talking about empowerment, plain enough. How is what they are talking about related to empowerment? Just keep that question in mind each time you hear them talk.

Just doing this one thing will give the entire show a different perspective. Ordinarily the TV watching mind starts out with the idea of watching Oprah, not with the idea of learning about this or that topic. The show is the primary thing here, and the lead up to it, the music, the entire marketing effort that brings it into your living room and life, but not necessarily the message. Usually inveterate TV watchers don’t sit down to learn this or that, but they sit down because of the comfort of the whole experience.

Well, here’s where we can make small changes. Remember the common saying – nothing ever grows in the comfort zone. Well the saying is common because it is true. That being said, one does not have to start to do dramatically uncomfortable things here and now. Instead, you can start out with something that adds only the tiniest shade of discomfort. In fact in your experience it won’t feel like discomfort, but like an odd novel thing that you’re doing while in the comfort zone.

So, while watching Oprah, or whatever other daytime talk show you’re watching, try to tie in the thoughts that are spouted by whoever is currently talking on TV with the central theme of the show. That’s step one. Get comfortable doing this, until you find it easy to start a show, and then memorize the topic being discussed, and then relate everything that is being said, in one way or another, to this central topic.

You see, the moment you do this, you will find that entire show becomes a delight, in one sense, even more so than you think it is right now. The reason? Our brains are geared to look for meaning, and to focus, and when you provide just one central strand through any show you’re watching, you use the brain according to its natural strengths, and that makes it a lot more efficient and hence your entire experience becomes a lot more efficient.

This idea of making such small changes, both physical and mental, while involved in your current lifestyle, is certainly not new, but it is severely underused. Most of us want to complete this show we’re watching now, and then make those dramatic changes that we’re surely going to make tomorrow. The thing is, tomorrow never comes. It is always this moment that holds all the power that you’re ever going to have access to, and now is where all the action can be taken anyway.

Here’s something else you can do. Let’s say you watch one of those forensic detection shows that are so common nowadays (Law and Order, Cold Case, CSI, etc). Here’s a way to use that to improve yourself. Again, for physical fitness, you can stick with the idea of making some movement each time there is a scene change. If that is too frequent for your energy levels, move each time a certain character comes on screen. Each time the protagonist shows up on screen, stand up and give him or her a military salute. Sure it’ll feel silly, but who cares! You’re free to do whatever you want to, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone. Or here’s something else you can do. Let’s say the show you see has three main characters. For the first main character, simply stand up from your usual sitting position. As long as that character is on screen, you stay standing up. You can sit back down the moment the character goes off screen. If it helps, imagine that that character is also your first grade teacher, and you were taught to stand up when she walked into the classroom. That’ll help move it along.

For the second main character, raise both hands so that your palms are facing the floor and your arms are parallel to the ground. Hold them like that for a second and then move them back to your waist. Repeat this as long as the second main character is on screen.

For the third main character, lift alternate legs so that you’re marching in place. Just that much. A slow, gentle march, or a brisk march, depending on how you’re feeling. It doesn’t really matter as long as you keep going while the character is on screen.

Let’s say all three main characters are on screen. Uh oh – now you’re in trouble. You’re going to stand up for the first character, raise your arms in front of you for the second, and march in place for the third, as long as they are on screen.

It’s a great physical workout, don’t you agree.

Now, for a mental workout, start doing this. Apart from following the show, pick one word. Let’s say you take the word ‘and’ and you count throughout the show how many times it is uttered. Simply that. Just doing that makes you alert, and it adds some purpose to your TV watching, and as you follow the show, and the story unfold, you will find that at some point, either your counting takes over, and you’re losing track of the story, or that the story takes over and you’ve lost count of the number. Not an issue. Simply pick up the counting where you last remember it clearly, and keep tracking the story as well. If you drop the story, then try and figure out the story while counting the ands in the background.

The idea here is that you’re training your brain to do two activities at the same time, and I guarantee that this will not just enhance your overall brain function, but also start giving a different complexion to the TV show. The moment you mind activates the counting part of it, you’re no longer exclusively the passive TV watcher, and that itself signals a shift in your mental activities.

There are so many other things that we can do while watching TV. Even in the most brain deadening of TV programs, you have characters of this or that stripe. So, how about you do this, to develop the powers of visualization and to improve your spatial skills. When you’re watching a show, any show, simply put yourself in the shoes of one person on the screen, and imagine what they would be seeing, visually. Put yourself in their physical position. If you’re watching a talk show for instance, put yourself in the shoes of the guest and imagine what the host looks like from up close, and imagine what the audience looks like. Imagine the sound of the entire room, imagine being at the center of it, imagine the perfume that the host is wearing, and imagine what your hearing is like in that place. This is all still the sensory world.

You can stretch this further if you put yourself in the mind of the guest and understand what they are there for, and start to assume their world view. What questions would they be expecting, and how would they react to any given question? What sort of relationship do they have with the host? Can you, in their shoes, read the body language of the host up close?

The possibilities are endless, if you begin to investigate the learning that can be had even in the most boring and brain deadening of circumstances. The key is to simply be open to it, and to move only a step or two at a time.