(c) iStockPhoto/Franck-Boston

I am currently taking “Creativity Bootcamp” taught by Julia Cameron the author of The Artist’s Way. We have had several homework assignments to complete over the duration of the course. For example, morning pages, artists dates, etc. For the 2nd week our homework was “media deprivation” which meant we couldn’t expose ourselves to outside media. This meant we couldn’t watch television, go to the movies, read books, newspapers or magazine and no music with lyrics. Social networking was out too…so no Twitter, Facebook or whatever other network you used just for fun. Work related stuff was ok. You couldn’t use the assignment as an excuse to not do your day job!

I’m a pretty connected person so I thought it might be difficult to not be updating my virtual worlds on a regular basis. But it wasn’t. Not to say I haven’t been tempted but I overall have found it a calming exercise.

I did slip once and watch TV but I was out with friends having brunch at a football bar during World Cup season. So I watched 1 game. 90 minutes of television in 7 days. That’s not too bad.

I haven’t missed watching the news. I got out of the habit of watching it when I cut off my cable last year and since I got it reconnected I rarely watch it anyway.

What I missed the most was reading. To say I am an avid reader is an understatement. I usually read about 2-3 books at a time plus I have about 12 magazine subscriptions. It was really odd to just collect the mail and put the magazines in a pile. And that’s just the print stuff. I have a ton of RSS feeds I read regularly too.

For 7 days the only ideas and input I was getting was self-generated. I got a lot done. Projects I’d been putting off I started to make progress on. I found it easier to write and come up with my own ideas. I felt more connected to my own inner wants and desires the longer I was away from outside stimulus.

After this experience I will be doing media deprivation at least once a week. It really is an exercise in mindfulness and awareness.