Media is designed to cause and stir emotion. If an ad campaign, movie, tv show, or news broadcast doesn’t stir up emotions in you, it’s not likely you will talk about it to other people (which further promotes their advertising cycle), let alone remember it. Also, it’s well known that people react far stronger to negative emotions than positive; it’s a sad fact but we seem pretty hardwired for the negative over positive, as a subconscious way of protecting ourselves. Therefore you will find that most media is designed to instill some level of fear, FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out!
This is usually done by scaremongering; making you fear the worst and causing you to dream up worries that don’t yet exist. It is also done by encouraging you to compare yourself to others, making you feel inadequate and thus encouraging you to act impulsively to feel better; to buy into whatever it is their are selling; be it a product or lifestyle or to control how you see yourself against others.
Negative media sells. Think about the last episode of Corrie, Eastenders, or even Home and Away. There is always a tragedy of sorts. I often wonder how many natural disasters they can get away with in these shows, repeated over and over! But they do, and people keep talking about them as though they were real. People love tragedy. Even the best movies, they all have a tragedy in there somewhere. It’s part of the story of life.
In 2017 I went to Peru, to live with some Shamans in the Amazon. Here we worked with Ayahuasca, a plant medicine that allows you to work with your spirit. Part of the dieta, or preperation, for working with your spirit was to abstain from all negative people and all forms of media.
It was the first time I had heard of such a request and it seemed odd to me. However, when they explained that negative energy lowers your energy and positive energy raises your energy, it made some sense.
Have you ever noticed how negative people zap your energy and drain you? You will have noticed then how happy, vibrant, positive people make you feel energized and excited? This is the same principle.
Negative energy, negative people, and negative messaging causes your mood, emotions, energy to be low. When we operate at these lower levels of energy or vibrations for long periods of time it can actually weaken our immune system and make the body more susceptible to dis-ease. When we operate in fear our immune systems lower and inflammation increases. We eat food which is not good for us, for comfort, which also causes inflammation and our organs work overtime pumping and dumping stress hormones into our systems.
Since my travels in 2017 I decided to avoid all unnecessary media. Going forward, I would choose what to allow in to my conscious mind, to the best of my ability. I no longer watch the news, I’m more selective about the TV and films I watch, I no longer read magazines or allow articles that don’t resonate with me, to enter my body or mind. For me I am now fully aware of how negative media affects my mood, humor, emotions and I feel it’s not healthy.
I remember these personal choices caused some discomfort in other people. It was interesting to watch how my choices seemed to make other people judge me, when in fact they were the ones judging themselves by my choice.
My Mum used to say to me ‘How will you know what’s going on in the world? It’s important to watch the news and knows whats happening!’. Other people I have met, who live in fear of not knowing what’s happening in the world, would say the same to me. My answer to them? ‘I have no need to watch the news or keep up to date with current affairs because I will always hear what I need to from others’. And, it’s true. I seem to just get the highlights, and people will always always always tell me what’s going on!
More recently with the COVID/ Corona situation I hadn’t heard much about it. It seemed to have come out of nowhere. One day I heard it being talked about, a few days later I heard more people talking about it and within a week it was in Ireland and a few days later we were all on lockdown. It all happened so fast. But, yet again, I didn’t have to watch the news to know.
I will admit since the start of this whole situation I have watched the news a little, however I noticed that every time I watched TV I felt fearful, so I stopped. I haven’t missed a thing. I am aware of the precautions I need to take. I am aware that we are on lockdown and I am aware of the current situation. Knowing what the death toll is every day, to me, does not make me feel better. Knowing that there are X amount of new cases does not make me feel better, and I feel it would be far more beneficial if the press released a statement saying that YES, there are X amount of new cases… but how many of them are actively unwell and how many of them have actively recovered and are fine?! They don’t tell you that, do they?
The point of what I am saying is this. Having the radio or news on in the background all day, everyday, is not going to make you feel better. You cannot and do not have control over what’s happening in the world. you can have compassion and care for others, but allowing that to create fear in you is not helpful for you, or others around you. Talking about things fearfully, does not help others. Talking about things with love and gratitude over the parts you do have control over, inspires others to do the same. You have full control over the care you take of yourself and respect you have for others. What you do encourages and inspires others to be the same.
The Dalai Lama said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’.
It’s hard to feel you can do anything while at home, separated from your family, friends and loved ones. You may think.. How can I help? But you can. You can raise your vibrations by not listening to the media, I promise you that people will tell you what’s going on… or at least the important parts! If you don’t believe me… try it for a week and see! If you really cannot avoid this, then limit your exposure to it to perhaps once a day to catch up.
Have gratitude for the small things to come out of this situation; more time at home, a slower pace of life, time with your kids, more time to walk in nature etc. You can raise your vibrations by focusing on this moment, and avoiding daydreaming about fearful things which have not happened yet.
Most people are unable to predict the future and spend alot of time worrying about things that haven’t happen, practice mindfulness and present awareness to keep you out of future worries.
By raising your vibrations and remaining calm and positive, focusing on gratitude, you will act as a tuning fork for others who need that in their lives. Not only will you help others by being the messenger of good news, rather than doom. You will also boost your immunity and in turn, you will help others to boost their immunity. There is alot you can do, simply by feeling as much gratitude as you can every day.
