I recently started reading and doing The Work laid out in Julia Cameron’s masterpiece, The Artist’s Way.
Last Sunday I got to Chapter 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity. One of the weekly exercises is Reading Deprivation.
The idea is simple and powerful. For one week I’ve stopped reading stuff like: the bajillion newsletter I’ve subscribed to; Yahoo news; Google’s RSS feed; the dozen or so Blog’s I frequent; the forums I belong to; the books on my To-Read Shelf; the, well, you get the point.
An interesting experiment.
I’ve realized just how much crap I read… that I don’t need to.
I’ve had a few small burst of creative ideas and energy.
I’ve enjoyed just staring out the window and watching the clouds scud across the sky as they turn orange, red, and purple following the setting Sun.
I’ve also been to see how I try to justify sneaking in a few ‘reads’.. "Oh! I just have to look at this e-mail to see if its important." HA!
I think I’ll do it again… next month.
Oh, and boy am I going to cancel a few subscriptions!
February 11th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Great idea! I do the same with the news. I have been on a news fast. I am amazed what a huge impact the deluge of negative energy comes form the barrage from the media. And I enjoy driving around with the radio off! There was a time I didn’t know the car could run without the radio blaring.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Too funny, Dave!
Your comment about the news is well taken.
As time has passed since Not Reading Week I’ve decided to ditch a number of ezine subs…
ah that’s better!
Lyle