Boy oh boy did I feel targeted by this-in a good way! It was like a mini examination of conscience of sorts. I love reading and speaking (I was an English teacher after all!) and I’ve long known the temptation to talk too much, whether in conversation with God or others, is one I am prone too. I so appreciate some of your suggestions for practicing a sort of verbal prudence. When we moved last year, my husband and I decided to get rid of television from our home. We can still watch movies and The Great British Bake Off on laptops, but the temptation to revert to TV/movies has been such a blessing for us and for our children. So that’s one “fast” I can’t recommend enough to others
All of this! Especially the TV--we don't have one either and it's a game changer for sure. I have a post percolating on that topic but don't want it to feel judgy or unkind, so I'm trying to strike the right angle and tone... but we're right there with you on being blessed by that decision.
And all the rest--talking (especially about myself) at the wrong time or too much, listening to music just to fill the silence, reading junk just for the sake of distracting myself... allllll of these lil virtue posts are aggressively directed at me, too ;)
I would love to read that post-it is such a tough topic to approach and one that, like smartphones, we are all a bit hypocritical when we talk about it because most of us aren’t total luddites/have some level of unhealthy relationship with technology. And with verbal prudence in general I don’t think our society helps with practicing it-self promotion/influencer culture, the endless scroll, and what our phones do to our mental chemistry-it’s really hard to step outside that framework
Yes! I'm hoping it will come together soon... but it might be in the spring semester/season, just with how things are looking in my drafts right now. I want to cover the physical experience of not having a TV, which is that our living room is physically oriented // arranged for community, not just for shared consumption... I also want to talk about the backgrounds James and I came from that made "no TV" not seem like the silliest decision ever... framing it in terms of not giving yourself the opportunity to give in to temptation by not putting the temptation there... but as you say, there are so many other areas where I/we don't do this, so it's hard to feel like it's not just a preachy, self-righteous, otherwise-oblivious lecture!
Boy oh boy did I feel targeted by this-in a good way! It was like a mini examination of conscience of sorts. I love reading and speaking (I was an English teacher after all!) and I’ve long known the temptation to talk too much, whether in conversation with God or others, is one I am prone too. I so appreciate some of your suggestions for practicing a sort of verbal prudence. When we moved last year, my husband and I decided to get rid of television from our home. We can still watch movies and The Great British Bake Off on laptops, but the temptation to revert to TV/movies has been such a blessing for us and for our children. So that’s one “fast” I can’t recommend enough to others
All of this! Especially the TV--we don't have one either and it's a game changer for sure. I have a post percolating on that topic but don't want it to feel judgy or unkind, so I'm trying to strike the right angle and tone... but we're right there with you on being blessed by that decision.
And all the rest--talking (especially about myself) at the wrong time or too much, listening to music just to fill the silence, reading junk just for the sake of distracting myself... allllll of these lil virtue posts are aggressively directed at me, too ;)
I would love to read that post-it is such a tough topic to approach and one that, like smartphones, we are all a bit hypocritical when we talk about it because most of us aren’t total luddites/have some level of unhealthy relationship with technology. And with verbal prudence in general I don’t think our society helps with practicing it-self promotion/influencer culture, the endless scroll, and what our phones do to our mental chemistry-it’s really hard to step outside that framework
Yes! I'm hoping it will come together soon... but it might be in the spring semester/season, just with how things are looking in my drafts right now. I want to cover the physical experience of not having a TV, which is that our living room is physically oriented // arranged for community, not just for shared consumption... I also want to talk about the backgrounds James and I came from that made "no TV" not seem like the silliest decision ever... framing it in terms of not giving yourself the opportunity to give in to temptation by not putting the temptation there... but as you say, there are so many other areas where I/we don't do this, so it's hard to feel like it's not just a preachy, self-righteous, otherwise-oblivious lecture!
Very wise advice!
It is very wise but hard to practice.