Zublog

Last week Oprah Winfrey issued a challenge on her show – asking “What Can You Live Without?”  The people who took the challenge for her television program gave up the things they seemed to be addicted to – mostly technologies like cell phones, video games, and the internet.  It was an interesting social experiment that got to the heart of just how much time we loose to these ‘modern conveniences’.  And, how these things are keeping us from connecting with our families, loved ones and our community.

What stuck me was that these people, like many people, use these devices to fill up their time because they don’t know how else to use it. We’ve become such a scheduled society that we don’t know what to do with ourselves when there isn’t something demanding our attention. We’ve lost our sense of creative play, our sense of adventure, our ability to reconnect with the world immediately around us.

So here is Zufall’s challenge to go along with Oprah’s. When you ask yourself what can I live without – ask if a schedule is one of those things. Try giving up control of every minute of everyday.  Try not having a plan. Try giving up expectation and just roll the dice!  I think you’ll find that just like giving up technological time-suckers, giving up on a schedule, once in a while, will bring you closer to your family, friends and community.

          http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090506-tows-live-without-challenge

Tim can become quite addicted to indecision.  It seems lately that he defers an awful lot of decisions to the dice.  On our most recent trip, he allowed the dice to pick which route to take, he lets blue decide if we would stay another night or carry on, if we would hike or bike, if we would stop at the Blue Heron Winery or not and even which of the two campfire dinners we would have.  odds and we ate pre-packaged curry.Sometimes it’s just easier. And, I think there is less fear of the consequences if blue decides.  No blame. Mind you, we did manage to make a few decisions on our own, like that we would splurge on a nice accommodation in Cannon Beach, funny how I never seem to have any problem deciding to spend money!