FW: DailyOM: Evaluating Media - Fresh Mind

[Guest guest]

 

February

21, 2011

Evaluating Media

Fresh

Mind

It is up to us to seek out

media that empowers and informs us, and to say no to media that drains energy

and hope.

There is a

lot of information available to us at this time in history, more than ever

before, and it travels fast. We are able to learn in the blink of an eye about

something that happened halfway around the world, and it’s natural for us to

want to know what’s going on.

However,

it’s also fair to say that we don’t want to become so caught up in one way of

looking at events that we lose perspective. Often, the news comes to us in a

very fear-oriented format, and when too many of us get caught up in fear, the

balance of the whole is disrupted. It helps to remember that we have a much

greater and more positive impact on the world when we maintain our inner sense

of peace and joy.

We are aware enough to know when we are eating something that is not good for

us, because we don’t feel well after we’ve eaten it. In the same way, we can

determine for ourselves whether the sources in which our information comes are

ultimately healthful.

News

can be presented in a way that inspires us to take positive action to help the

world, or it can be presented in a way that leaves us feeling powerless and

sad. It is up to us to seek out and support media that empowers and informs us,

and to say no to media that drains our energy and our hope.

For a time, it may even be of benefit to commit to a media fast, in which we

stop taking information in for a time to give ourselves a rest. When we return

to the task of taking in and processing the information all around us, we will

come to it with a fresh mind. This will enable us to really notice how we are

affected by what we hear and see, and to make conscious choices about the

sources of information that we allow into our lives.