The Choices We Make
Despite what you might hear on the news, the greatest threats to your well being & life are not those that make the headlines. Those subjects with the most air-time are just a tiny smidgen of the mass of happenings around the world, and are chosen for broadcast by folk with a single agenda - viewings.
And to fulfill such an agenda, the strategy is simple - Sensationalism…
Some might say that particular stories are chosen to stimulate ambient stress levels, or sway political and economic culture, and there is a lot of evidence to support that, but such ideas tend to provoke greater levels of stress and fear than the news programs themselves.
As one who tries my damndest not to buy into conspiracy theories, I choose to believe that it is simply because TV programmers have understood from years of ratings that the most sensationalist, exciting, and bombarding news reports get them the best 'asses in seats’. And as rating are linked to what they can charge for advertising, that makes the bottom line obvious - profit.
It is not a sin, and it is far from being a crime, but it does change one’s understanding of what they are in the business of.
Despite how the industry presents itself, it has no lofty ideals of disseminating information, or keeping the public up to date with world wide events. It is not a news generating machine - it is a profit generating machine. No news there…
Whatever your viewpoint on all that, the reality is that there are endless stories happening all at once, and many of them are equally important and far more uplifting news items that just don’t get reported on in mass media, simply because they don’t ‘thrill’ like a good disaster does!
So if you were to turn off the news program, you aren’t actually doing a disservice to the victims of this disaster, or that genocide that is being reported, you are simply choosing whether to buy into the slice of current events that they are screening - and the subsequent adverts that they can charge for.
And let’s face it, the old question of “how do you know what’s going on in the world ?“ is a question from when the BBC ruled the airwaves - we have endless newsfeeds to choose from. Simply choose a better one…
www.positive.news || www.goodnewsnetwork.org || www.justgivemepositivenews.com || www.dailygood.org
Some articles are going to be more verifiable and reliable than others, but then major news networks are always being slandered for twisting the public’s view on things with falsehoods and opinionated slants - no one is checking their choice of what to report.
I am not validating their reporting, I am pointing to the fact that a positive mental / emotional environment is one of the best thigns you can do for yourself.
Overthinking it
Statistics strongly suggest that we love to be scared. Whether that is from the outside - in the news forms we expose ourselves to, by choice - through the TV and movies we plug into, and in ourselves - the terrifying predictions and worse case scenarios we constantly run in our own heads.
And there is definitely a correlation between the external stimulation and the internal monologue.
And both are major contributors to our ambient stress levels - which is one of the major players in modern health - or the lack of it.
Some stats show stress as more important than diet and exercise - as if you can separate such things in a realtime health study !!!
The Choices We Make
We cannot control what events are chosen as newsworthy, nor which movies are made.
We cannot influence what clothes get created, or how much the factory workers get paid.
Nor which crops are grown, organically or otherwise, or which foods get made with what ingredients.
But we don’t have to.
We only have to control one thing in the whole universe.
Which should be a massive relief, as it is, in truth the only thing that we can control.
Ourselves...
So, the subject of food expands outwards, to touch on all the things we 'feed' ourselves.
And of course, we do affect the world around us through these choices.
Supermarkets can only sell what people will buy.
And of course, we can only buy what they sell...
If you shop at supermarkets...
So don't…
We live in an age of abundance - especially where consumer items are concerned, and food is one of the only items you have to consume.
So if you don’t like what the supermarket sells, then simply go shop elsewhere.
I have found that in coming back into a supermarket once or twice a year, I have noticed that they are now selling many of the things I couldn’t buy there a year ago.
Proving that they will catch up.
It takes a while - they are only going to stock what they can make money from - such is the nature of the game.
So go where sells what you want.
Hang out with people that bring out the best in you : the person you want to be.
Ditch the rest.
That gap in your social sphere that might appear if you’re afraid of letting the current lot go, will soon be populated once again in folk that like this new, empowered you.
And if you’re still looking for news, just deliberate what you expose yourself to.
I’ll finish with a resource along these lines called the Pachamama Alliance’s.
In one of their free courses, called 'Awaken the Dreamer', they devote a full 15 minutes lifting what we might feel about the state of the world, with a simple list of organisations and people around the world who are doing incredible work to unify humanity, spread the wealth away from greedy corporations, make corrupt governments accountable, and protect the environment.
15 minutes !!! That's what news reels could be full of, but aren't - and we must question why !