I'm actually not referring to anything in particular, but I'm willing to bet that your mind was able to instantly jump to something from the news last week. Now let me ask you: was it good news or bad news that sprang to mind?
The fact is, there are a million things out there all vying for our attention. A million issues. A million causes. A million stories. And a million headlines. It can quickly become very numbing. Especially when so many of them are negative.
The thing I want to remind you about is that we always get to choose where we look. Choosing not to look at depressing or enraging headlines doesn't mean that you're condoning things or that you're allowing things to continue. First and foremost, it means that you're choosing to own your life by owning your attention and deciding where to direct your focus.
We all have options, focus on the bad news and spring into action to do something about it; focus on the bad news and get angry and depressed about it.
Maybe even re-post the bad news while adding in your angry/depressed $0.02. This is not helpful at all. Reposting doesn't help the situation and drags you and others down in the process.
Another option, see the bad news but focus on kittens and puppies instead. This is much less depressing, but not very productive.
Choose to focus on the things that really matter to you and throw yourself into them. Who's with me on the last option?
Did my Facebook timeline inspire this post? Every time I open it, there's a mix of: bad news, puppies, kittens, earnest causes and family updates.
ReplyDeleteNo, just the sheer volume of news that is demanding our attention. I agree too many puppies, kittens and great causes to get behind. Sometimes it seems over or under whelming :-)
ReplyDeleteI try not to watch the news but it can be embarrassing - "didn't you know about . . .?" On those occasions I just think about all the ads I haven't watched.
ReplyDelete