In general, I stay away from the ugliest news. I get my headlines from the internet and from the newspaper, then I read the “good ones.” You know, good items like the firefighter who caught the baby that was thrown from the burning building. Anything that looks like someone is helping someone or has a happy ending.
Sure, I admit it. Like you, I am sometimes drawn to a train wreck, like the horrible storms that hit the Midwest in February 2008. But there are also good stories in them sometimes. Like the baby who was thrown 300 feet by a tornado and barely had a scratch. Isn’t that good news?
The point is, there are a lot of horrible things to look at, empty and hear, so I try to get away from them as much as I can. This behavior suits my “happy at all costs!” model. As I always say, if you are at least not trying to be happy, then you are not doing it right.
If you think there is only bad news, think again. The reason something is newsworthy is that it is different from the norm. Do you think the hosts of the evening news are going to go to the camera, smile and say, “Today everything was really quiet and everyone is happy the latest news from Breda“? Certainly not. But most of what happens each day is just your old life. A bank robbery or a school shooting is something extraordinary.
Receipts listened to and CD from Christiane Northrup, M.D. She cited a study that concluded that simply watching someone do a good job boosts the immune system. Just seeing Mother Teresa in action makes you healthier! You can imagine? Why aren’t we all watching Mother Teresa movies or hanging out in the Salvation Army?
And what does that tell you about seeing the bad and the ugly? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
There is one good thing I can think of about hearing or seeing unpleasant news. Our ability to illuminate those who need it with light and energy. By actively thinking about the stimulus and sending energy into a situation, we have the power to change it, or at least improve it.
For example, if you see a story on the news about a kidnapping, you can focus your thoughts on the victim and her family, wishing them peace and love. Oh sure this sounds like hippie-dippy, flower-power, woo-woo, but you know it works.
Try it soon. Pick a story and see what kind of change you can make by simply concentrating your thoughts and energy. The rest of the instructions include permanent present and positive. Skip words like I won’t, can’t, won’t, etc. In the kidnapping example, you might convey thoughts like, “This family is at peace. The child is with his family. Love rests in all of them.” Nothing brings happiness like “present and positive.”
In the meantime, keep an eye on what you are seeing. Good news, bad news, fun things? You have the opportunity to choose. Don’t worry if you’re not looking, missing out, or somehow not contributing enough to the worry. All that worry is not going to be enough. It is positive thinking and energy that will bring improvements.
Just think, if we can get 80% of people to exchange their positive thoughts all over the world, what kind of world could we live in? Valley once newscasters would SMILE and say, “Everyone is happy today!”
