Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The scarecrow would be happier if he didn't have a brain to think...

Why does being at home on the backyard deck or in front of the television set always seem like “the” place to be? We’ve painted the scene two billion times before, ice cold beverage in the right hand, something to nibble on a fingertip away, lighter looser clothing, legs stretched, arms free of anything heavy and the heart rate beats at a much slower pace.



No wonder folks in far away places label us fat and lazy American’s; day-cation, stay-cation or ten minute powerhouse catnap, what seems like a simple mental getaway isn’t always accepted in other places of play. Especially at work…every job has the employee who doesn’t recognize a good ole fashioned letting down of the hair.



Created is a reason to frown, get down, walk away or sway…it’s as if we have to explain.



Put away the medical journals and short stories in Readers Digest, British author Eckhart Tolle rescues your purpose of slowing by putting the accent on thinking. Ever wonder why you put such little thought in spending hundreds if not thousands on a summer runaway? Wow! The new patio set costs this much? I want it! Gas prices are what? It doesn’t matter; we need it to ease on down the road.



The thought of not thinking fuels your summertime presentation.



How often do you hit the video store, rush home to watch the flick only to fall a sleep six minutes into it? The very moment you brain realizes it doesn’t have to think…pain bodies are no longer required to rush to the scene of a stress filled mental accident.



Alcohol earned the nicknamed spirit for a reason…once you’ve entered a state of less thinking…your spirit of being is lifted to a higher level of rest or play. Warning: Too much alcohol will not create more space to think; instead you’ll become spaced out.



The average sixty year old American spends fifteen of those years watching TV. Thanks to HDTV the numbers will probably increase. Science has proven, the “longer” the screen, the more focused you become on the presentation increasing your number of hours watching. But hey! That’s ok! Our thoughts are thinking! But is it healthy to reach the point of temporarily freeing yourself from….yourself?



Nope…your mind is an imposter. It allows you to think you aren’t thinking when in reality it’s playing out the roles of every character portrayed on the long screen. It’s doing what you don’t want to do…think. Your mind is absorbing the storyline like baby oil on dry skin. Sitcoms, game shows, Hollywood updates, music videos and news all have tiny straws connected to them sucking up uncontrollable amounts of what little you have left.



Heightened is your susceptibility…and that’s where advertisers and the government want you. You can be and will be manipulated to buy or think exactly the way you’ve been trained to be. Your thoughts are your thoughts but now you’ve been coaxed. Suddenly I hear Darth Vader breathing heavy, “Come to the dark side.”



Watching television allows you to fall below the thought process line. Researchers claim it’s no different than drugs or alcohol. You get what’s required, a stimulated mind but at what prices?



In Julian Cameron’s book The Vein of Gold she challenges readers to live a week of deprivation, “Step away from People Magazine, Better Homes and Garden, US Weekly and yes even the local newspaper.” American’s are nosey! We feel incredible when our lives are being compared to others. Actor Gary Busey looks like a quack! Wow! Glad its not me! I can now look and feel great! Ryan Seacrest on the other hand never looks out of place….ohhhh back to the blah blah blah’s.



Study the movies you fork out ten bucks to see. The most affective are those you can relate with and 99.9% of them always feature a jerk, dork or a deer. Seeing their down fall is your up swing.



The six o’clock news banks on your nosiness…crime, traffic accidents, fires, bad, bad and more bad, that’s perfectly ok, it has nothing to do with you, so you feel good. It’s a cheap high but if you get too much of it, buy stock in Lowes and Home Depot you’ll need a thousand shovels to dig all those holes.



But what if you don’t watch TV and yet you still get caught falling a sleep during important neighborhood conversations? Do we pump up the caffeine volume? The only reason why this stuff isn’t illegal or sharply taxed is because too many lawmakers require its presence in their life.



I interviewed a doctor yesterday for a radio show who absolutely loved the idea that we can’t stop pouring coffee and power drinks into our system. He laughed when I asked, “Do you think we have a problem?” His laugh wasn’t about our non-thinking habit of not thinking about better ways to break away but rather, the more we drink, the more money he’s going to make trying to get us off an adrenalin addiction. “If you do this, the headaches and high blood pressure will go away.” We bob our heads up and down, walk away embarrassed only to leap back on the junk two weeks deep into the forest.



Cha ching! The only reason why doctors want you to eat healthy is because morally that’s what they went to school for. Outside those four walls at the office they bask in your non-thinking way knowing the mortgage is always going to be paid. Ouch!



If you’re hitting the backyard deck at dusk, take the time to create better ways to rest the thought process…your thinker is a stinker and needs to be un-gassed. Read, write, paint or for goodness sakes share conversation face to face. If television is your main squeeze of relaxation, it’s too easy to shout, “Get a quick fix!” Tivo or DVR shows you’d never watch with a friend but when you’re alone a little Earth, HGTV and cooking shows stimulate just enough energy for your next thought to yawn the yawn while grasping a few winks of sleep. Once reenergized, take what you’ve watched and put it to work. Redesign your landscape while putting value in loving all living things.



Oh…the doctor who can’t wait to bank on your addiction to caffeine…he did saying something worth thinking, “High blood pressure doesn’t require drugs to free it from your life. With a little thought and proper thoughtless rest…there’ll be tremendous amounts of little or no stress.”



The very second his words touched my ears I leaned over to his place of standing, “Dude, um…you keep talking like this and drug companies aren’t going to finance your vacation with the family to Disney.”



He laughed while walking away…no insurance required or co-pay. No dime or dollar or several reasons to follow. My thoughts are free…which is why I invite you to steal my art.



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

No comments:

Post a Comment