Imagine two people in a silent room. Both of them are down, depressed. Then one tells a joke and laughter starts. You can feel the energy in a room change and lighten. The feeling of the room changes and the energy is contagious. We’ve all been in a room where someone comes in and the energy of the room brightens. Of course, there are times when the energy in the room is zapped by a certain person entering too.
Watching the news is a bit like having your energy zapped. If the world were a lovely, peaceful place, no one would watch the news because the news would be boring. “Today in the world, world peace. Everyone had three square meals and a roof over their head. With the extra time on hand, people helped one another, learned, created, and made a few new discoveries in the world of science. In the weather, a perfect 27 degrees.” CNN would need to start making things up!
The general viewing public likes to watch hardship, tragedy, and troubles—after all, it’s the stuff of stories. Because the news needs to capture viewer’s attention, the focus tends to be on floods, bombings, shootings, political intrigue, abuse of power, and other misgivings that this or that country’s leader can think of.
Take for example the weather. If the weather person came out and said, “Today it will be a sunny, warm day,” it is a bit dull. Rather, “Today there is a chance of rain.” The second one will make your animal instinct imagine and prepare for the worst and how to combat the challenge. I’ve seen it first hand. When I lived in Florida, where the weather is gorgeous most of the year, the news tends to focus on the horrible weather on the rest of the country. Watching everyone else’s bad weather was a Florida past time.
News, in and of itself is not an enemy. However, the negative stories are more emotionally compelling and in turn promote negative feelings. Many people wake in the morning, watch the news that sends out negative energy that weigh you down the rest of the day. Instead of starting the day on a negative, fill that space with positive energy.
Try a news blackout for a week. Fill the time with positive, uplifting, insightful, funny, entertainment. Or just leave the news off and see how you naturally fill the time by yourself. Look at what happens when you take a week off from reading newspapers and watching the news. Leave off from the messages that the media puts out for just one week. What discoveries do you find? How has your thinking changed? What have you missed? So much of the news focuses on trivial information or negative messages that can wear us down. Live light and be happy: turn off the news. After all, people will tell you the important news.