Giving up Television to Save your Soul

[Paul]

OK, I guess my post was a little long and rambling. I tend to do that, and I'm trying to overcome this bad habit. Sorry.

The point is, all the reasons talked about here for giving up TV are very good and logical. From these same reasons, it follows that we should also give up many other forms of entertainment. It's not a question of finding "good" entertainment, the desire to be entertained all the time is the problem.

So perhaps it might be good to talk about alternatives to TV that don't present the same problems.

[JoyfulMother]

Reading isn't as much of a problem lately, but I haven't let myself go to the library very much.  I have only checked out books about nutrition as I want to figure out the best way to feed a large family nutritiously on a budget.

I am still spending too much time on line & not enough in prayer.  My goal for May is to say the Rosary daily.  Did OK for 3 days last week, terrible this week.  Went to confession today & Father told me to resolve to NEVER for the rest of my life, go to bed without praying one decade of the Rosary.  When I have 1 decade down pat, add another.

I need to - instead of looking for entertainment - figure out a schedule for my housework.  Father very gently chided me that my house is messy (he was over for dinner last week) and that I really need to do better.

I will pray for you & please pray for me.

Let's keep up this discussion about the purpose of recreation & entertainment.

[MidnightSun12]

I am still spending too much time on line & not enough in prayer.  My goal for May is to say the Rosary daily.  Did OK for 3 days last week, terrible this week.  Went to confession today & Father told me to resolve to NEVER for the rest of my life, go to bed without praying one decade of the Rosary.  When I have 1 decade down pat, add another.

JoyfulMother, I struggle with idleness and I find that when it comes time to pray the rosary my tendency to procrastinate gets so much harder to overcome.  It must be because the devil knows how powerful the rosary is and wants desperately to keep us from praying even 1 decade!

I find it helps to do a short prayer for motivation when struggling with the desire to put off praying the rosary.  Maybe this can help you as well! 

[Paul]

I am still spending too much time on line & not enough in prayer.  My goal for May is to say the Rosary daily.  Did OK for 3 days last week, terrible this week.  Went to confession today & Father told me to resolve to NEVER for the rest of my life, go to bed without praying one decade of the Rosary.  When I have 1 decade down pat, add another.

What a good idea! I'm trying to get into the daily Rosary too, and that sounds like a good method.

I'm trying to stick to using the Internet to download writings of the saints and email a few specific people. Right now, I spend more time online than I do reading pious books. I always say I'm too tired to read pious books or pray the Rosary, and then I waste hours reading some guy's opinion on some obscure point of doctrine. I love prayer, but I just don't do it enough.

I need to - instead of looking for entertainment - figure out a schedule for my housework.  Father very gently chided me that my house is messy (he was over for dinner last week) and that I really need to do better.

At least your house is neat enough to invite your priest over! I have way too much stuff, and I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get rid of some of it.

I will pray for you & please pray for me.

Will do. Thanks for praying for me.

Let's keep up this discussion about the purpose of recreation & entertainment.

I think this quote sums it up:

"We must need occasionally to relax the mind, and the body requires some recreation also. Cassian relates how Saint John the Evangelist was found by a certain hunter amusing himself by caressing a partridge, which sat upon his wrist. The hunter asked how a man of his mental powers could find time for so trifling an occupation. In reply, Saint John asked why he did not always carry his bow strung? The man answered, Because, if always bent, the bow would lose it's spring when really wanted. "Do not marvel then", the Apostle replied, "if I slacken my mental efforts from time to time, and recreate myself, in order to return more vigorously to contemplation." It is a great mistake to be so strict as to grudge any recreation either to others or one's self."

St. Francis de Sales

Sadly, most of what we call "recreation" really isn't, since it tires the mind even more than mental labor. Things like TV, novels, the Internet, and video games. Since I'm an actuary, I need to get off the mental activity treadmill more than I would otherwise.

[Shin]

It's a good feeling to read these recent posts.

I was thinking of life a moment ago as a constant pruning away. A constant divesting of superficials, nonessentials, harmfuls..

I keep remembering a quote, 'Man was not made for these'. . . 'Man was not made for these.'

And I keep thinking of the sharpness of the pruning blade, snipping away at the nonessentials. A painful feeling, but a relief when what should be gone is gone.

And then a person and live a healthy life, a life as he was meant to live, and flourish.

A simple life.

[Paul]

I was thinking of life a moment ago as a constant pruning away. A constant divesting of superficials, nonessentials, harmfuls..

Yes, it really is, isn't it? Sometimes it scares me; I wonder, how far will it go? Hopefully it will go so far as to make me forget all my self-love and live fully within God's will. But each next step scares me. It's hard to give up my own will. The thought makes me sad, fearful, angry... But I know I have to do it, that I don't even like being attached to things of this world, and that experience has shown how much happier I am the more I let go. I want to, but I can't seem to want to enough to actually do it.

[odhiambo]

I was thinking of life a moment ago as a constant pruning away. A constant divesting of superficials, nonessentials, harmfuls..

Yes, it really is, isn't it? Sometimes it scares me; I wonder, how far will it go? Hopefully it will go so far as to make me forget all my self-love and live fully within God's will. But each next step scares me. It's hard to give up my own will. The thought makes me sad, fearful, angry... But I know I have to do it, that I don't even like being attached to things of this world, and that experience has shown how much happier I am the more I let go. I want to, but I can't seem to want to enough to actually do it.

This world and the world to come are two enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.
Pope St. Clement I


If we keep this quote in mind, we will end up doing the right thing.
I also find that when I am greatly tempted, and I bring Jesus into the picture, the choice is much easier.
I tell myself I am doing it for Him. " For You Jesus!" I tell Him.
Can you imagine deliberately turning your back on Jesus after that?

[Shin]

That's a very inspiring quote odhiambo. Deo gratias! 

[Paul]

I was thinking of life a moment ago as a constant pruning away. A constant divesting of superficials, nonessentials, harmfuls..

Yes, it really is, isn't it? Sometimes it scares me; I wonder, how far will it go? Hopefully it will go so far as to make me forget all my self-love and live fully within God's will. But each next step scares me. It's hard to give up my own will. The thought makes me sad, fearful, angry... But I know I have to do it, that I don't even like being attached to things of this world, and that experience has shown how much happier I am the more I let go. I want to, but I can't seem to want to enough to actually do it.

This world and the world to come are two enemies. We cannot therefore be friends to both; but we must decide which we will forsake and which we will enjoy.
Pope St. Clement I


If we keep this quote in mind, we will end up doing the right thing.
I also find that when I am greatly tempted, and I bring Jesus into the picture, the choice is much easier.
I tell myself I am doing it for Him. " For You Jesus!" I tell Him.
Can you imagine deliberately turning your back on Jesus after that?

Yes, "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4). We all love the world too much.

I'm finding the Rosary helpful in this. I'm getting into a habit of a daily 15-decade Rosary during my commute. It helps to say, "May it be done to me according to Your word" with Mary, and "Yet not my will but Thine be done" with Jesus, for example.

[Paul]

I fell yet again. I just read an online news source about something Pope Francis said that I find extremely disagreeable. Then I went through a really bad temptation.

I'm trying to limit my Internet use to email, quick searches (example: my most recent one was how to get a brown scapular blessed), and buying and downloading pious books. I'm trying to get into Liturgy of the Hours as a substitute, but I'm not as successful as I want to be, even though I see more and more that I need to give up nonessential uses of the Internet.

[Shin]

Hope these quotes help my friend!

'Consider every day that you are then for the first time beginning; and always act with the same fervor as on the first day you began.'

St. Anthony of Padua

'If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.'

St. Charles Borromeo

'This is the mark of Christianity -- however much a man toils, and however many righteousnesses he performs, to feel that he has done nothing, and in fasting to say, "This is not fasting," and in praying, "This is not prayer," and in perseverance at prayer, "I have shown no perseverance; I am only just beginning to practice and to take pains"; and even if he is righteous before God, he should say, "I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but only make a beginning every day."'

St. Macarius the Great

For what it's worth..

Every day is a new day.

The night before during the examination of conscience, in the evening I think about what challenges I will face tomorrow, and what to do differently and how to work on things better. Thinking through last night and making resolutions to change -- I thought how to change my thoughts and feelings in the face of each temptation, digging deeper into the reasons for my failings or my lack of will to face head on what must be done.

And if I need more steel, or more encouragement, I have to remember, God help me, to read words of that inspire me in these ways to help, whether it be encouragement of God's love and reward in Heaven, or of Hell, and the fewness of the saved and the need to live holily for one's own sake and all in one's responsibility.

I know the prayers and encouragement of our little family here are helping so greatly each of us move further along, and build up new virtues so as to overcome old faults.

It's a priceless gift from God that we have been able to read of the saints, and learn from them, so far -- and can make these beginnings, poor sinners that we are. God help us! So far to go. 

Deo gratias et Mariae Semper Virgini. Thanks be to God, Our Lady the Blessed Virgin, and all the Archangels, Angels and Saints, and Holy souls, and may God rest the holy souls.

 

[Shin]

Be strong! Keep fighting the good fight!   

[JoyfulMother]

I have been off the internet the past 3 or 4 days at least, but, unfortunately, I replaced it with almost non-stop novel reading. 

That was actually MORE time consuming than the internet.

Quickly checking e-mails, this forum, & a couple of my favorite blogs today, then getting off.  Going to drop the books off in the drop box and not more trips to the library for now.

I think I use these things as an escape or entertainment.  I need to pray for more light to get to the root of this problem or I will constantly be replacing one bad habit with another instead of growing in virtue & grace.

Pray for me!

[Shin]

Praying! Pray for me too!

We need to provide good grist for the mill of our minds, and then our thoughts will learn to love the virtues and dwell upon them, I am hoping.

[Paul]

I'm starting to get into bicycling, and taking the time to ride my bike has made me more aware of all the things at home that compete for my time. I want to get in more time with the Bible, so I have had to look at what I can cut from my schedule to make time for bike riding and still have time for Bible reading and study.

If I cut out my Internet time (except for email, this forum, and the occasional search for pious books to download or buy), I can have more time for the Bible.

It's not that I haven't learned a lot about the faith online (today marks two and a half years since my conversion), it's that I'm getting to the point where the time would be far better spent doing just about anything else. I find all kinds of opinions, and then I'm no better off than when I started; sometimes, I've been led astray by a bad opinion. For me, it's now as much of a waste of time as spending the same amount of time watching TV!

I wanted to share this with you all because I find it helpful to think of all the things that compete for my limited time. The fact is, I don't have time for Internet surfing, not if I want to do what I need to do. Not only do I need to study the Bible and ride my bike, but I also need to do a bunch of little things to take care of my mother, clean out my house for an upcoming church rummage sale, and have enough time left to take care of my pets without sacrificing sleep.

I don't have time for Internet surfing, and yet I'm so addicted, I make time.

[Shin]

I'd recommend purchasing hardcopies of the original Douai Rheims, which has about the most extensive commentary along with the Bible out there, for study. That along with something like the Lapide's commentary make for good sit down reading.

I've taken out the bike too! 

If you like noting particular passages for later, a notebook to write down their locations and subject can help too.

Prayers for your mother!