Okay, so maybe none of these things are strictly forbidden.  But a lot of them are the dreaded "woo-woo", a little too esoteric and strange for people who are busy and concerned with appearances (and miserable!) to look at where and how they find wisdom, strength, and a good recharge.  
  I read Tarot - I look at a series of randomly-drawn picture cards that are the subject of Hollywood movies, Simpsons jokes, and racist Gypsy stereotypes.  To a lot of people, I'm sure I look ridiculous.  But I've found some of the most profound wisdom (and connection with the Divine as I experience it) from those randomly-drawn picture cards.  Sometimes we have to be unafraid to look a little silly, if it gives us meaning.  And that's what today's post in the series is all about.

3. Watch tons of TV (and movies, and theatre, and read tons of comics, and books, and listen to all kinds of music, and...)

Look, I'll tell you a secret: there IS no "highbrow" or "lowbrow" entertainment.  While a book might stretch your imagination a little more than images that are all picked out for you, there's no reason you'd be better, smarter, or happier reading War and Peace than you would watching old reruns of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  

It all comes down to what's important to YOU.  I could wring more personal meaning out of a Saturday morning cartoon than a David Lynch film.  I'll prove it to you: you know Spongebob Squarepants?  The goofy yellow undersea sponge who's been around for, wow, nearly fifteen years now?  Spongebob's favorite thing in the world is his job: working as a fry cook at what's basically an underwater Burger King.  And that's because Spongebob views his job as literally the most important thing there is.  He takes joy in what he does.  He makes it creative.  He thinks that doing good work, making a good meal the way a customer wants it, is an awesome thing.  He doesn't feel that way because some corporate propaganda told him that; it's because he was that passionate from the start.  I look at that, exaggerated in the way only a kids' show can make it, and I start thinking about what could make me that passionate and proud of what I give to the world.

See how that works?  That's why it's important to stretch your horizons.  Take in as many different things, through as many different mediums, as possible.  Take in media about people of different ethnicities and sexualities and gender identities.  Learn the true story movies are supposedly based on.  Fall in love with culture, with stories, in all of its forms.  Somewhere in there is the next message you need to hear.



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