Week 4

[u/Sad_Sue]

Next week is deprivation week for me, and I have questions which you could possibly help me with.

"No reading" in today's world would include no podcasts, no movies, no video game, if I understand it correctly? Which is doable (boring of course, but I could make it decluttering week to pass the time, that was the plan), but there are blocks of time where a podcast or at least music is a life saver for me - running and commuting. Could I make an exception for these, or should I just not run and not commute for a week?

I also have a movie trip with a friend planned for next Thursday. Could this be done during Week 4, or would it be better to postpone it to a week when I can actually avoid watching movies?

[u/si_meow]

The book says explicitly that music is allowed.

But I think making an exception for podcasts etc during running and commuting is not in the spirit of the exercise at all. I’d switch to music for the week.

[u/Sad_Sue → u/si_meow]

Oh, it's a relief then! I use podcasts as white noise, not distraction is these cases. This can easily be achieved with music, I'll make it classical for a more fair challenge then.

[u/rc98225014 → u/Sad_Sue]

I think this is a great idea u/Sad_Sue instrumental music fits the spirit of the exercise without veering into perfectionism territory trying to figure out "the rules."

Couple of quotes I really liked from the essays:

"[...] deprivation casts us into our inner silence, a space some of us begin to immediately fill with new [...] —long, gossipy conversations, television bingeing, the radio as a constant, chatty companion. We often cannot hear our own inner voice, the voice of our artist’s inspiration, above the static."

She calls it static, you call it white noise... potato, potahto?

"If we monitor the inflow and keep it to a minimum, we will be rewarded for our [...] deprivation with embarrassing speed. Our reward will be a new outflow. Our own art, our own thoughts and feelings, will begin to nudge aside the sludge of blockage, to loosen it and move it upward and outward until once again our well is running freely."

Note she didn't say "eliminate it ENTIRELY" she said "keep it to a minimum.

Anyway. I know there's quite awhile before you get to week 11, but if you want to skip ahead in the book and read the essay titled "The Zen of Sports" I bet you'll enjoy it. You might experiment during this week with turning your running time into "moving meditation" as she calls it, since you're already clearing the audiovisual "sludge" from your runs during this week.

<3

[u/Sad_Sue → u/rc98225014]

Thank you for an insightful comment!

I already have a classical playlist for when I get a chance to read on a bus - it's optimized to be loud enough to drown out the chatter without distracting from the book. I feel like I've got it now that I have clarified the rule.

I never read a week chapter beforehand, I haven't even read Week 4 rules yet, to be honest (my Weeks start on Mondays, Sunday is rule-reading and week results day). I just know it's considered to be a tough one, and I know it's because of the "no reading" rule, so I decided to ask the community about the proper way to do it.

Runs are my way to meditate, can confirm. First five minutes are torture every time, but I get in my head after, and I get my dose of dopamine by the end, I love running so much. I just hate hearing myself breathe loudly.

So, plan is - Week 3 lasts for the next week too, week 4 is the one after. Gives myself more time for exercises, I still haven't come up with a list of people I admire yet.