Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out: How a Minimalist Adopted this Old Hippy Saying and Instantly Improved Their Life
Coined by the American Psychologist, Timothy Leary, in the 1960’s, this phrase is often associated with his experimentation with psychedelic drugs on cognitive function. However, in his 1983 book, “Flashbacks” Leary explained the real intention for his quote:
“Turn on” means becoming sensitive to the levels of our consciousness and how we can use them for an intentional life.
“Tune in” means interacting harmoniously with the reality of the world around us.
“Drop Out” means self-reliance, not blindly following other’s views, opinions and norms.
Let me discuss how I changed my life by picking up on this old hippy mantra and how you can too.
We are typically controlled by the norms of society and live in a way we think we must do to meet them. In order to “fit in” we must follow the same path as everyone else, follow the same rules and rituals, believe in the same things. This is a part of our hard-wired human condition to survive in the safety that a group provides and produce offspring in that safe environment. We fear being outcasts.
However, we can choose to follow “The path less travelled” as the poet Robert Frost wrote, and forge our own paths. I have chosen to prioritise the environment, my wellbeing and my happiness by consciously choosing to “drop out” of certain socially accepted, but unhealthy norms, such as:
Advertising: TV, magazines and billboards were once the main mode of selling to us, but now we are at the constant mercy of advertisements specifically targeted to our personal interests through digital analytics. Our personal profile is what is being sold to advertisers, and we have become the commodity. Start by turning off your notifications.
Education: Education is evolving, and traditional schooling is changing, especially with the new lessons and techniques learned by teachers in the Covid pandemic. The internet provides a method and answer for nearly every single problem or question we have. Those who know, now share their knowledge freely through online videos and within forums and guides. It is a revolution for every class of person if they are able to access the internet. Take advantage of this free education that was once so expensive and difficult to access.
Email and instant messaging: We all pretty much need email and messaging in the modern digital era as a means of communication from our loved ones, friends and workplace. Emails often bring extra work to our lives. Choose your own time to view it. You don’t want to be stressed just before you are about to go to sleep at night because you opened up a work complaint.
Employment: I have spent most of my life in traditional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 employment, however times are changing for us all. Jobs are necessary for most of us, and they can be very enjoyable. They can also be quite draining on our health if we dislike our work, and many of us fear stepping out of our roles due to the loss of finance and friendships with colleagues. However, the traditional job is destined to change as we become better with digital technology. The expense of running a physical workplace is staggering, and companies are beginning to realise that they can reduce their locations and save by having employees working from home. This opens up a new world to us all. The same technology that large companies use is mostly available to us as well. Take back some financial control and experiment with setting up your own side-line business and start to transition to what you really want to do in life. If you decide to go out on your own, find ways to reduce your bills and expenses to help you with your initial loss of income.
Gifts: We don’t want to disappoint our loved ones by giving a mediocre present, so we go out of our way to satisfy the desires of our nearest and dearest. Unfortunately, we also contribute to further manufacturing at the expense of our environment. Most gifts eventually end up as landfill. However, if you choose to gift an exciting or inspirational experience, that memory may well last a lifetime for the receiver.
Online Shopping: If you look to validate your self-esteem, self-worth and confidence by buying stuff that will supposedly improve your life, you will be continuously looking to upgrade and keep up with fashions, or wanting new presents delivered to your door everyday. When you hand your control of how you should appear or act to external forces, they will quickly relieve you of your savings. Marketing sells goods through aspiration and making you feel that you are not good enough without their product. They will sneakily aim goods that match the image of the tribe to which you aspire to be a member of. You can recreate the same image and experience with second-hand purchases or just not fall into stereotypical images in the first place.
Social Media: Is all about making vast sums of money through advertising by encouraging your addiction to clicking. It is not really about social connection; it is about the company making money from selling you to advertisers. Advertisements are driven by getting you to click on them and be converted as a sale. Choose carefully what you click on.
The internet: It is a deep hole in which we can easily fall into and find our time frittered away on memes and trivial, distracting information. Copywriters know the psychology to suck you in and get you to read on, typically with a plethora of ads to tempt you to click on. Try and avoid the rubbish articles and only read those from informed sources. Always ignore the ads.
Turn on, tune in, drop out
So, what steps do you take to achieve freedom from these unhealthy norms?
Imagine if you could do whatever you wanted, whenever you chose. This is what many of us dream of, however it is not as realistic as we would like to think. As humans, we will always have issues, whether they be physical, mental or financial, or the difficulties our nearest and dearest may be experiencing.
However, we can simplify our lives to the point where we begin to explore Self-Actualisation. We are designed to improve our conditions, starting with our basic needs of feeding ourselves, to feeling secure and safe in our environment. When these needs are met, we look for a sense of fulfilment and knowing more of who we are. Self-actualisation is finding purpose and deepening our understanding of life. You can improve the timeframe for reaching self-actualisation by continually simplifying your needs in life and consciously choosing to want less to impress others or to fill an emotional hole. Then you create more time for self-reflection.
Turn on and be grateful for what you have.
Tune in to the world and appreciate the simpler things.
Drop out from running in the hamster wheel and getting nowhere!
Learn more about living with less and living a positive life here.