Sydney Maco

Our minds are like ultra-absorbent sponges, they can soak vast amounts of information in for their relatively compact size. The volume of information that’s being hurled at our brains in today’s society is phenomenal. Never in the history of mankind has so much information been generated, stored and consumed. And just like a sponge, our brains can accumulate many germs during daily use.
With the increase in the volume of information flying around in our daily lives, the amount of noise our brains have to deal with has increased proportionally. Noise as in unsolicited phone calls, junk mail, spam email, credit card offers in the mail, in your face advertising, over sensationalised coverage of trivial stories in the media, multi-buy savings in the supermarket, store loyalty programs, advertising included with bank statements, department store sales, toys bundled with kids meals, real-estate marketing disguised as entertainment.
We’ve come to realise that the availability of excessive food can lead to food centred addictions, eating disorders and obesity. Information - the food that the brain feeds on can have a similar effect on our brains.
You really need to make a conscious decision to reject or eliminate certain sources of information in today’s society. A person plodding along in life on auto pilot would end up consuming a smorgasbord of nutritionally poor brain food, some of which is addictive.
Addictions can be formed by anything that overloads the senses and gives an apparent sense of pleasure with little or no effort. Overstimulating our brains repeatedly only leads to a higher threshold which now much be reached to attain the same level of stimulation. Of course there are certain personality types which are more susceptible to forming addictions.
We are all addicts in some way, some are addicted to travel, some to the internet, others to shopping, gossip (often disguised as catching up with friends), computer games, doing up the car, attaining the ultimate home theater system, photography, the latest gadgets, porn, dining out, tracking our investment portfolio, clubbing, cigarettes, the latest thriller, make-up, nails, pokies, wine tasting, all you can eat buffets, handbags and shoes, romance novels, diamonds and gold, latte, designer brands (even undies where the waistband shows), dominos pizza, crosswords, sudoku, fantasy roleplay games, the specials in the latest catalogue, the gym, drinks after work, rss feeds, blogs, ebay, facebook, second life, and many more yet to be conceived. In our try-before-you-buy society, it’s even getting to the point where people are becoming addicted to first dates and all the warm feelings associated.
I propose that a regular brain detox is necessary in order to have a peaceful and harmonious existence. The objective is to get you back in balance, and in control of what information your brain feeds on.
Think of how you spend your time, almost as if you had to account for every hour in the day, over the course of a week. Now think of what new and exciting things you can start doing if you had an extra 2-3 hours per day. Watching television is probably the most widely addictive source of information with years of conditioning. The internet is set to replace that in the years ahead.
We’ve all had those moments where there is a black out at night and we don’t know what to do. We find the torch, light a candle, and just sit there wondering what to do with ourselves. Soon we start a conversation with the other people in the house, no more internet, television, radio, etc. Some of our most deepest and meaningful conversations are had with others during this time, something that is sadly lost in our society today.
Election campaigns, and Christmas time are probably the best times to undertake a brain detox, since there is so much mis-information going around. Just like your regular dietary detox, you’ll need to refrain from certain brain foods (TV, Internet, Newspapers, etc), and increase your intake of others (conversation with others, read the classics, explore nature).
After doing this for a month, you will feel a sense of freedom never before experienced. A higher level of consciousness is inevitable. You are now back in control, free from all the manipulation scattered throughout the media and what modern society has to “offer”. It really is an “offer” that society makes, as compelling as it may be, it pales in comparison once you attain this state. A state where you can truly get to know yourself and others (seeing through the facade), a state where the creator will reveal himself to you.