A Filtered Life
Prison life is filtered to focus on what has real meaning – what would your life be like if it was filtered in this way?
What are the benefits of Prison Life?
The film, “The Shawshank Redemption” sparked my curiosity about life in prison – more specifically, the benefits of how life is lived in prison. Although there are many downsides (I probably don’t need to list those), the main benefit is the (enforced) simplification of one’s existence.
In prison, life is filtered for you; your maintenance work (making the bed, keeping the “apartment” clean) is minimal because the trappings of life are simplified and filtered to narrow focus on what really matters for survival. Distractions are minimal and, again, filtered – for example, you may have some photos to remind you of the people that matter to you, or a small collection of books on topics that are important to you, but less important people or information are filtered out and therefore don’t distract you.
Your news is filtered; your food is filtered; your time is structured (and filtered) to encompass only necessary activities. As a result, you have plenty of time to pursue interests of importance to you without distractions from sources of a less-important nature. Indeed, many prisoners leave prison with university degrees and new career opportunities. Prisoners are able to filter out many of the distractions we experience as a result of our freedom and (seemingly) boundless choices.
In other words, life in prison is filtered to include only what really matters to a person.
What would you do?
Imagine that you are given the benefits of this prison filtering: your home life is simplified to include only the necessary chores and relationships that really matter to you; extraneous trappings of luxury are filtered out; distractions are filtered out so that you only pursue interests that you find meaning in; you are free to study, learn, and grow in ways that truly interest you and feed your mental energy; your food intake is managed to provide substantative healthy nutrition; your exercise routine is regimented, disciplined and maintains your physical energy; your activities are filtered so your priority is to engage in activities with people and activities that give your life meaning and maintain your emotional energy.
Of course, the biggest issue most people would have with a life mirroring that of prisoners is the external imposition of filters – who has the right to decide how YOUR life should be structured or what is important to YOU?
What if YOU chose your filters? What if YOU discovered what you value, what gives you meaning, what truly matters to you and organised your life in a way that allowed you to focus on thriving in important areas whilst filtering out distractions?
What is stopping you filtering your life in this way?
At Think Gray, we can help – our mission is to help YOU to create the conditions in your life to empower flourishing.
