Over the last few days I have been glued to Britain’s Got Talent (I voted for Susan Boyle and Stavros Flatterly) and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. However, as enjoyable and fun as it all was, my own disciplined routine and creative pursuits went out of the window. As I admired each act for their hard work, skill and determination a little voice in the back of my head kept saying something along the lines of: “Why don’t you turn the telly off, remove your bottom from the sofa and get back to work on your own ambitions?”

So I have decided, as an experiment, to abandon television for the next month and do other things instead. To facilitate this move I have pulled out the cable between my Sky box and the TV and given it to my boyfriend to hide away at his house. (There is not a TV aerial at my flat so watching terrestrial television is not an option.)

Although I do not spend hours and hours staring mindlessly at the goggle box it does hijack some of the activities I intend to do. I have always been inspired by a blog I read a few years ago written by Dr John Briffa where he completely unplugged his television and found that it was much easier to get up in the morning and get his writing done. I have often mentioned this strategy in my Lead The Life talks but have never felt that such drastic action was necessary for me – until BGT this week!

At the moment I am not active enough and need to do more writing. I struggle to get up in morning and have observed that channel surfing of an evening is a very good way to stay up past one’s bed time.

I practice Buddhism and spend some time chanting every morning and evening; but in the last few weeks my evening prayers have frequently taken second place to lolling on the sofa watching Desperate Housewives, Britain’s Next Top Model, Neighbours (yes I admit to having watched and enjoyed it for many years and since moving to Channel Five it is available for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper) and the endless re-runs of Friends and Sex and The City. Thanks to +1 hour channels the latter two shows seem to be broadcast at any time in the evening and even though I have seen all the episodes over and over again, I still can’t resist watching a few minutes more. When I do finally find the off button on the remote my altruistic desires and yearning for enlightenment have somewhat waned and I end up paying lip service to what should be a profound celebration of my Buddhahood and higher self!

What am I hoping to gain from this experiment? I’m hoping that I will get more sleep, an easier get-up in the morning leading to more creative and physical activity and a re-discovery of life beyond the sofa. Let’s see what happens. I’m going to write weekly posts during June and let you know.

PS – to read John Briffa’s blog mentioned above, click here.