Every day we read or hear about all the terrible things that are going on in the world. I’m not even going to name them here because they are too depressing.
Journalists and news reporters spend their waking moments trying to find the biggest scoop and it has to be before anybody else.
A scoop is always bad news. People are morbidly fascinated with bad news. Don’t ask me why. Nobody wants to read that millions of people used their toasters without getting killed or that 93 000 flights safely took off and landed today.
A family friend explained the phenomena of news to me which makes so much sense! Hundreds of years ago people lived in small villages and didn’t often travel far. All the news they heard came from their own village. If a neighbour’s house burnt down, you and your other neighbours would rally together and help to rebuild their house. News was important because it created community.
These days, we hear news every half hour on the radio, any time on our computer screens, on every pole on main roads, tweets every few minutes or seconds, Facebook updates. We are so informed!
The downside to this phenomena is that we feel helpless. When we hear about and see pictures of starving, scared, homeless people in a war zone in Syria, we feel so terrible and there is NOTHING we can do. Yes, we can sign a petition online or send some money but it doesn’t help our feeling of helplessness. And then comes the hopelessness….. We start to believe that the world is in a terrible state and there is no hope for the future. It can even affect our health.
The answer is to cut the news out of your life. You won’t be ignorant, you will still be able to take part in conversations by contributing your knowledge. There’s plenty of news that you will happen to hear via conversations or when taking a drive somewhere. You don’t need to read the entire article related to a headline, you can gauge what is going on.
Just stop reading the news and you will actually begin to relax more and have more hope for the world. Start looking out for deeds or news that inspires you. Look up pictures and videos of people helping other people, random acts of kindness that restore faith in humanity. You will find more meaning that way.
Yes there are people suffering but you don’t have to suffer along with them, that’s not your role (thank G-d).
If you see a recycling collector digging in the dustbins, instead of feeling sad and hopeless for his plight, rather send a little prayer his way, that he may find some treasure today. Give where you can, be kind and bring light into the world in the way only YOU can.
May you only have good news.
Eve
******************************
Here’s some links to good news sites:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-news/
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/
Journalists and news reporters spend their waking moments trying to find the biggest scoop and it has to be before anybody else.
A scoop is always bad news. People are morbidly fascinated with bad news. Don’t ask me why. Nobody wants to read that millions of people used their toasters without getting killed or that 93 000 flights safely took off and landed today.
A family friend explained the phenomena of news to me which makes so much sense! Hundreds of years ago people lived in small villages and didn’t often travel far. All the news they heard came from their own village. If a neighbour’s house burnt down, you and your other neighbours would rally together and help to rebuild their house. News was important because it created community.
These days, we hear news every half hour on the radio, any time on our computer screens, on every pole on main roads, tweets every few minutes or seconds, Facebook updates. We are so informed!
The downside to this phenomena is that we feel helpless. When we hear about and see pictures of starving, scared, homeless people in a war zone in Syria, we feel so terrible and there is NOTHING we can do. Yes, we can sign a petition online or send some money but it doesn’t help our feeling of helplessness. And then comes the hopelessness….. We start to believe that the world is in a terrible state and there is no hope for the future. It can even affect our health.
The answer is to cut the news out of your life. You won’t be ignorant, you will still be able to take part in conversations by contributing your knowledge. There’s plenty of news that you will happen to hear via conversations or when taking a drive somewhere. You don’t need to read the entire article related to a headline, you can gauge what is going on.
Just stop reading the news and you will actually begin to relax more and have more hope for the world. Start looking out for deeds or news that inspires you. Look up pictures and videos of people helping other people, random acts of kindness that restore faith in humanity. You will find more meaning that way.
Yes there are people suffering but you don’t have to suffer along with them, that’s not your role (thank G-d).
If you see a recycling collector digging in the dustbins, instead of feeling sad and hopeless for his plight, rather send a little prayer his way, that he may find some treasure today. Give where you can, be kind and bring light into the world in the way only YOU can.
May you only have good news.
Eve
******************************
Here’s some links to good news sites:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-news/
http://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/