We brought something from Israel back home and that is Shabbat. Usually, when we travel to exotic unique locations, we tend to take something back. It might be interior inspiration from Stockholm or clothing tips from Tokyo or even some unique cultural thing that we didn't know existed, like Shabbat from Israel.
Please, let us explain. And you'll see why this is such a great thing to apply in your lives as well!
Shabbat?
Yes, yes, the Shabbat! When we arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, we heard on Friday that they celebrate (every week) the Jewish resting day from Friday 17.00 till Saturday 17.00. According to Wikipedia; “Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities, often with great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day.”. This means they all stop and chill. They all come together to enjoy each other companies, eat a good lovely diner without distractions from the smartphone and other screens. No work, all play. Sounds good!
We are not Jewish and hardly religious, but we do love some old traditions and some cultural aspects of religion. Especially when you can apply it in these modern times to make life better now. And let's be honest here for a second; the screen has become a very dominant force in our lives and it is causing harm to our relationships, productivity, and focus.
How we applied Shabbat in our lives
It's Friday 17.00, our smartphones are turned off, the television and all other electronic distractions are turned off. We then go to the supermarket together (a nice 20 min walk) and buy ourselves a great evening meal. Something completely new is the preference!
After a nice walk and talk, we cook together and then dine for a couple of hours. This alone is so peaceful and good for the soul!
So no Youtube, no Netflix, no social media, no radio, no screens. Just quality time with your family (or friends) without distractions. We played some cards, enjoyed a good book, meditated for 20 minutes, let our thoughts run freely, and even found some time and energy (finally) to throw each other around in the bedroom. The perfect evening you might say! 🙂
What about Saturday?
We didn't have an alarm clock, so we slept as long as needed (which was very nice for a change!). After waking up slowly, we had a nice little breakfast together, went out for a big 1.5-hour workout, and took a good hour to shower, shave, groom, and dress up. We felt like a million bucks!
We then visited some family members, played some badminton, talked a whole bunch about life, travel, philosophy, business, and the coming future. Our family was also inspired by not having distractions/screens around, and they truly loved the idea of getting together on a Friday evening to relax, dine, and really talk to each other. It was the perfect 24 hours for us. We even kinda hated the moment at 17.00 when we turned our phones on again. It was like you turned ‘the screaming, panicking, wild world' back on. I guess 6 days a week of that is more than enough.
So, you might not be religious, but the implementation of a 24-hour no-screen offtime-day is brilliant. It will reset your focus, bring peace to your mind, will improve your relationship and it will feel like you in control of your time, focus, and especially your screen-addiction.
Try it!
More Travel Inspiration: Our 20+ favorite pictures of our trip to Jeruzalem!
And you might like: Our 20+ favorite pictures of our trip to Tel Aviv!
Nothing exciting happens staring at screens all day, book a flight and hotel today, and live a little!
