After a brief interlude, I’m returning to “How to train a wild elephant.” A few weeks back, the activity of the week was a media fast. For one week, I was not to take in any media. This included news media, social media and entertainment. I was not to listen to the radio, an Ipod or CDs. I was not to watch TV, films or videos. No surfing the Internet, tweeting or posting.
Complete disclosure: I failed epically. And I knew I would. My writing is on the internet and supported by social media. I’d like to say it’s my bread and butter but it’s more like a butter substitution, hold the bread. Anyway, I knew I’d write so I set myself up to fail. And obviously realizing I had nothing to report made me drift off in passiveness. Still, there is something to be learned about the concept. So, I’m back on it.
When I was in grad school, the internet wasn’t invented. I remember one of my journalism professors describing it. He talked about how he read five newspapers a day but in the near feature, computers would replace newspapers. Computer programming would provide a system for reading news. At this point in my career, we were using WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) computers. I couldn’t fathom how computers would deliver news. And my growing concern was how would it know what news I wanted to read.
Fast forward 20+ years. The media bombards us with news. Whether it’s on TV stations or internet channels, there is 24/7 access to news. News junkies, culture mavens, and the growing ADD afflicted can’t get enough of it. The increased need for additional stimulation has folks watching televisions, playing Ipad games and texting people simultaneously. We want it all… right now.
The discovery section of the “How to train” book makes some solid points about a media fast or at least a change of diet.
For the first two hundred thousand years of human history, we were only exposed to the news (and the suffering) of those immediately around us in our tribes and villages. We saw birth, sickness, death and wars, but on a limited scale. Only in the last forty years or so has the news media poured the suffering of the entire world – wars, natural disasters, torture, starvation – into our ears and eyes every day, day after day. This suffering that we are helpless to fix accumulates in our mind and heart, and makes us suffer in turn. When the mind and heart become too full of pictures of violence, destruction, and pain, we must make time to empty ourselves.
I remember during the days following 9/11 a friend of mine couldn’t sleep. She was constantly watching the news coverage and chatting online about it. Her fixation was taking a toil. I had to coax her out to spend time with the 3-D people. It’s not healthy to shroud yourself in tragedy especially when you are helpless to change any of it.
FINAL WORDS: A steady diet of negative news makes the mind ill. Give the mind the good medicine of silence, beauty, and loving friendship.
Or in the wise words of my mother from days gone by, “It’s a beautiful day. Go outside and play.”
Next week’s exercise, endeavor to look at things and people with loving eyes. Notice any changes that occur in your eyes, face, body, heart/mind, visual field, and focus when you remember to look with loving eyes.