Choose the fill

The book has spent a long time on what to take out. This chapter is about what to keep, and the answer is most of it, on one condition.

A chosen listen. A podcast you want to hear, put on at a time you've chosen, and listened to. Sat down, or on a longer walk you've set aside for it, with attention. That's not the fill. That's a thing you've decided to do, and it's as good as any other thing you've decided to do, and better than most.

With an end. A chosen listen has an episode, and the episode finishes, and the next one doesn't start on its own. Turn off the autoplay. The end of the episode is a quiet minute arriving, and it's the quiet minute in which the episode gets to become a thought, which chapter 5 said is the half of learning you've been skipping.

Radio on for a programme, off after. The kitchen radio is fine when there's something on you want to hear. Put it on for that, and when it's finished, turn it off, and cook in the quiet. The hum is the radio left on after the programme, and the difference between the two is a hand on a switch.

Television as a thing you watch. A programme you sit down for, with the room's attention, is a chosen thing. A television on in the corner while the evening happens around it is the hum, and chapter 6 said what the hum costs. Watch, or off.

Music you're listening to. Music you've chosen, that you're attending to, is a pleasure and not a fill. Music on because silence felt wrong is the fill. The same album can be either. The test is whether you'd notice if it stopped.

The test question. Before anything goes on, one question. Am I choosing this, or is this the default? If you're choosing it, put it on and enjoy it. If it's the default, leave the minute empty and see what turns up. Most people find that once they've asked the question, about a third of what they used to put on turns out to be chosen, and the other two-thirds was fill, and they miss the two-thirds less than they'd feared and enjoy the third more than they did.