"Tune in. Turn on. Drop out."
You may have heard this short declaration, especially if you were around in the late 1960's. It was a phrase popularized by Timothy Leary, a 'psychedelic philosopher', by his own accord, who encouraged young people to question authority, be creative and do psychedelic drugs. We've since learned that the first two of those things are valuable, and the third is potentially valuable but can also be harmful. "Tune in, turn on, drop out," has always appealed to me in its own way. I've slightly altered the definition to fit my own life with my own meaning. Leary may have come up with the saying, but that doesn't mean we can't rethink it for our own benefit. Here's how I think you can use, "Tune in, turn on, drop out," to your advantage without getting into unnecessary trouble with authority or changing your fragile brain chemistry with potentially harmful drugs. In other words, these are just three tips to improve your livelihood and level of focus and mindfulness right now.
Tune in = get focused.
Get tuned in; figure out what it is you want and need to do, and do it. I recently wrote about New Years resolutions and how you shouldn't try to do something, you should just do it. Tuning in means getting your priorities in check and accomplishing today's tasks-at-hand without distractions. A great way to do this is through meditation and daily mindfulness practice.
Get tuned in; figure out what it is you want and need to do, and do it. I recently wrote about New Years resolutions and how you shouldn't try to do something, you should just do it. Tuning in means getting your priorities in check and accomplishing today's tasks-at-hand without distractions. A great way to do this is through meditation and daily mindfulness practice.
Turn on = get excited.
As you start to focus in on what you feel are the important priorities in your life, you'll find yourself getting enthusiastic. Good! That's because you've found something you really care about, and you want to do well at it. Don't get carried away with your enthusiasm; remember to keep a Zen attitude of non-attachment to outcomes. 'Turning on' is a way of getting excited so you can focus your energy into be productive and working on the parts of your life you want to cultivate, rather than the ones you've been told to cultivate or have been blindly cultivating out of habit. Tuning in lets you rethink your situation, turning on lets you get excited about reinventing that situation, and then comes dropping out...
If you have a job you can't stand, do something about it. If you can't quit smoking or can't stop eating crappy food, do something about it. Many people interpret 'dropping out' as a negative thing, but what it really means in this case is moving on, away from negative habits and circumstances. They say old habits die hard; dropping out means confronting your old habits so you can move to an improved level of consciousness and living.
Dropping out also means abandoning attachments. Try not to let your personal sense of happiness and self-worth hang in the balance of external achievements. Instead, find peace within. You'll find your world will improve as much as you're willing to have a relaxed, open attitude about it.
(All photos courtesy of the generous thousands of photographers on Flickr who've allowed their work to be shared, copyright-free, via the Creative Commons license. Click on the photos to go to their Flickr pages and see more of their stuff.)
(All photos courtesy of the generous thousands of photographers on Flickr who've allowed their work to be shared, copyright-free, via the Creative Commons license. Click on the photos to go to their Flickr pages and see more of their stuff.)
