Missing the Mainstream? Not Really!
In the spring of 2007 – a day or two after the horrific shooting that occurred at Virginia Tech – I had a realization: I was addicted to watching news. I wasn’t much of a TV watcher otherwise; generally when I was at home, my TV time was limited except for the occasional episode of House or Law & Order: SVU (my guilty pleasure shows). But I began my mornings with a little bit of the Today Show before heading out the door, watched the nightly news report when I got home from work, and usually stayed up to see the local news and weather at 11 pm. I had an a-ha moment as I was driving home from work one night and hearing the latest coverage of the events at V.T., that as an empath and highly sensitive person, the news was draining, depleting, and depressing me.
That night was when I stopped watching news altogether. I would occasionally check CNN’s website or the BBC website if there was something in world news I needed to know, or quickly peruse the local paper. I quickly realized that if there was something I was meant to know, it would come into my awareness – either through co-workers or friends talking about it, or through social media. I admit there were some things I have been ignorant about when it comes to news over the last few years, but I also know that I am a heck of a lot happier without it! Recently I have begun watching the Today Show on occasion as I go about answering emails in the morning, but I also generally wait until I have been up for a few hours and am into more of the “entertainment” part of the program, rather than news. And if I watch TV otherwise, I am still very selective. If I’m watching it at all, and it’s not SVU reruns, generally I’m watching the Oprah Network. 🙂
What I have noticed is this: Everything, as most of us know, is energy . . . and much of today’s media is geared towards the energy of selling. Even if you don’t see a single commercial, my personal belief you are still being “sold” something – a story, a viewpoint, an idea, a concept. So, I prefer to limit what I’m being “sold” to uplifting and empowering things (well, except for SVU, but I’m aware of what I’m getting into there 😉 ), and leave the rest behind. Life has enough ups and downs on its own, without ideas of how to feel or how to think being handed to us by mainstream media!
I invite you to consider turning off the TV and radio, and putting down the papers and magazines – or, at the least, being aware and conscious of what you view, read, and listen to on a daily basis. Don’t take everything you see or hear at face value; tune in and ask yourself, “Does this resonate as truth for me?” This one simple (or, maybe for some, not-so-simple) action will create tremendous shifts and changes in your inner and outer world. 🙂
