De-Cluttering Your Life: The Low Information Diet
Thus far, the focus of this blog has been to maintain and improve our physical health. Many of us associate health solely based on our physical well being. We are mistaken, as health encompasses all of our being. Including what goes on up stairs.
Clutter invades our brains like mosquitoes invade standing water in the beginning of summer. This clutter can come from internet, radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, pretty much any information distribution source on planet earth.
What clutter does to us
Adding clutter in the form of information has many negative impacts on our lives.
We stress about the death of a community member in which we had no affiliation. We worry about a sports team who's success and failures are completely outside of our control.
Too much information leads to uncertainty. Uncertainty about who we are as individuals and a distraction from what is truly important in our lives.
Is watching an hour of the evening news more important than having an hour long conversation with a close friend or family member? Is reading the New York Times from cover to cover going make us a better person than we were before we read it?
Information that is outside of our influence simply deters us and invents problems that we have no control over.
Impacts of the news
We are told to keep up with what is happening in the world because we have the communication systems in place to do it. 24 hour news stations and updating news websites give us up to the minute news coverage of the cat that is stuck in a tree in Central Park.
Just because we have these resources available, does not mean that we should utilize them.
I understand that their is a cultural stigma associated with catching up on the news. Reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee and watching the evening news with Katie Curic (?) are examples.
Our culture makes us feel as though in order to be a contributing member of society we need to know everything that is going on in the world. Most of us pay more attention to the new health care policy, Sandra Bullock's personal life and how many gray hairs Barrack Obama has than we do our families or our own personal sanity.
My Problem
I used to be an information addict. I would read 3 to 4 non-fiction books at one time, read the New York Times, National Geographic, countless blogs and listen to podcasts' like they would disappear tomorrow.
I would fill my brain with so much information that I did not have the capacity or where-with-all to do the things that I most enjoyed. I honestly did not even know what they were. I felt that every waking moment had to be filled with reading something or doing something productive.
I never took the time to sit and think or talk with myself about the problems that were plaguing my life. I was caught in a washing machine of information and my brain was the quarter that fell out of a pocket and was clanking around inside.
I never thought that the kind of life I was living was having a negative impact on my health until I read the 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. He brought to light the idea of a "Low information Diet".
Tim Ferris recommends going on a 1 week media fast. No TV, non-music radio, newspapers, magazines. Only 1 hour of TV watching before bed or an hour of fiction reading.
How I Changed
I took this challenge about a month ago and never stopped.
I no longer read the paper or watch the news and I have canceled all of my magazine subscriptions.
Each Friday I go to a local coffee shop. And for 2 hours or less, I will read blogs, catch up on a little news, what ever my little heart desires.
Only for two hours though. This forces me to follow blogs that I truly care about and catch up on information that I find important.
Other than those two hours, I focus my energy and time on areas of my life that I deem important and that have positive impacts on my life. Such as day dreaming, meditating, reading fiction (sometimes nonfiction), spending time in nature, watching baseball and writing for this blog 
. Oh, and school work. Even though that is often a necessity rather than a choice.
I have come to the realization that time is our most precious and intimate resource. How we spend our time is a direct reflection of who we are.
Many people may view this belief as selfish.That's OK. Although selfishness can be a bad thing, in some areas of life we must be selfish.
Our time, for instance, is an area in which selfish practices should be used daily. We are only given one life. Being selfish with our time should be expected.
I have a new view of time. I see time as money. The more time I have to do the things that I truly want to do is worth far more to me than any material possession that I can buy.
Final Thoughts
We add clutter to our lives in the form of information in the name of productivity. This clutter all to often takes over our lives and we forget who we are as people.
I leave you now with the words of Marcus Aurelius:
"If you seek tranquility, do less."
Ryan
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April 8th, 2010 - 21:33
It’s a good article but even yourself as a packer fan. Was extremely passionate about the cardinals game. That’s what makes that sport, every packer fan, whether it was a passionate fan or didn’t care THAT much was pissed after they lost to the cardinals.. If your not upset when they lose then its like saying your not happy when they win. Its part of a sport. It like your a part of them. Their representing your state. Its like if your team were to lose a varsity sport, the team would be upset if they lost, but if they won the team would be happy. What I’m trying to say is its just a part of you. I agree with the news. I hate the news cause all it is is depressin. And I think I should take credit from Marcus Aurelius. Cause he is the man
April 9th, 2010 - 00:53
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!
April 9th, 2010 - 06:44
Patty,
Yes I am a Packer and fan and yes the Cardinals playoff game was very passionate. But unlike you I didn’t lock myself in my room and cry for half an hour… I tried to not let a game in which the outcome was completely outside of my influence affect me beyond game time.
“Its part of a sport, its like your a part of them, they represent your state”
I guess that comment pretty much sums up why I included sports in my article. I am not bashing watching sports. Sports are a worldwide past time that almost all people have some affiliation. As far as allowing sports to represent our state of mind, that is a down fall of many people when it comes to sports.
I understand following a team and supporting them throughout a season, but to allow their wins and loses to affect your mood and outlook on life is juvenile. Its a game, it is not life or death. We have absolutely zero control on how many home runs Ryan Bruan will hit or how many touchdown passes Aaron Rodgers throws. Why let that have an affect on our lives?
Dude, you know me and how I used to act in high school after winning and losing. Looking back I really see how immature I was and how much stress, worry and pressure I put on sports. I’ve grown up.
I’m not proposing that we all stop watching sports. Shit, one of my favorite spring time activities is to listen the Brewers baseball team on the radio. My goal was to bring to light the idea of adding unwanted stress to our lives. Whether that comes from information overload, news or sports. I wanted to bring the idea of simplification being a good thing in our lives, rather than a bad thing.
The news is depressing. That should be reason enough not to watch/read it.
And yes you do deserve credit for telling me to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Great man, great book.
Thanks for the comments Pat
Ryan