How to Deal With the News—Part II
Dear friends,
I’m afraid the world news has not gotten a lot better since my post of last week. I wrote about hearing the news, but being less affected by it, which starts with being less affected with the minor things around us every day. Practice makes perfect, and there is actually no causality between external circumstances and how you feel. This is infinitely easier to see in the minor ways, so start there and move up the scale over time. We can become more rooted in ourselves and less buffeted by the people or circumstances around us.
But there is another aspect to the news: Read less of it! You might consider going on a news fast for a few days. It cleanses the soul. There is no harm in missing a few days; I promise the world will still be there at the end of your fast. Try it and see what it feels like as an experiment. To a fair extent news is just gossip. That is, stories about things/places/people we are not likely to interact with or have any influence over.
I am not suggesting walling oneself off. I consider myself fairly well-read and knowledgeable about what is going on in the world. But to use a food image: while you may not be on a super-strict diet, you need not eat absolutely everything that crosses in front of you. I read the headlines and choose an article here and there to go a bit deeper.
There is an attraction to such things, in the same way that one cannot resist looking at a car accident you might pass on the highway. It is hard for me to believe that such situations are something we actually need to know about, yet it is common to crane the neck to see what happened.
And in a sense that too is fine. But with the news there is a real cost. We take our inner peace and state of consciousness too lightly and for granted, in my opinion. We know that eating whatever happens to look good at the moment is probably not the right idea, and a little voice often comes into our heads and says, “Maybe not, or at least not right now.” Where is that voice when we consume information that happens to pass in front of us? Agitating and disturbing news (again, that we can do nothing about) damages our consciousness in the same way that bad food damages the body. Sure, have a sweet once in a while, but a steady diet of sweets is not recommended. Make what you consume mentally a conscious choice rather than a habit. I know of folks who have something like CNN on all day long, or check their news feed every ten minutes. I suspect they’d all be better off reaching for an uplifting book from time to time instead. How about doing what my wife does? She starts every day with good news (that’s news too, no?!). Perhaps go here to balance the rest: Good News Network
May we each treat our minds and hearts at least as well as we treat our bodies, for ultimately we are children of Spirit and not of matter. We must care for the bodily temple as well as the mental temple.
Blessings,
David G., manager
for the Gang at East West