In my previous post I wanted to make a point on the importance of taking the high road in life. If I made that point successfully, it was only after a long detour in which I took the low road. In looking the post back over, it seems that I expressed some pretty negative views.
Well, certainly life is not all roses, so expressing negatives can be appropriate at times. But, in thinking about my writing of the previous post, it seems to me that it was brought on by a bit of negative attitude that I have developed. And, it’s time for me to deal with that.
I think one of the causes of the negative attitude is my watching Fox News for hours at a time. They talk about all the partisanship that is going on in politics, and perhaps build it up to be more of a problem than it really is. And they talk of recessionary worries, report on tragedies like the murders of people in a Wendy’s restaurant, the murder of a family in Memphis, and so on. Negative, negative, negative.
So, I am going to follow the advice of my buddy Lance Gallup and just tune it out. I’m not going to watch the news at all for a few days. And, I’ll get back into reading the fiction book I started on a few days ago (Chrichton’s State of Fear
So, if you find yourself drifting into negativism, hopefully this is a reminder that you can control a good bit of that.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s working for me. Even more reason to skip Fox - they’ve been sinking into tabloid journalism. Want stories about people throwing puppies over cliffs? Fox is the place to go. I’m really disappointed in them.
Thanks Lance. I had not really thought about the tabloid nature, but you are right. I sometimes think they are designed to make you mad, too. Why else keep an idiot like Fred Barnes on their staff?
Don’t be so hard on yourself Bruce. I have avoided tv news lately and done alot more reading on my kindle (about to start reading Camel Club series by David Baldacci) and enjoying the ipod touch OS. I am looking forward to hearing how (much) you like it
Thanks, Susan.
I am loving the Touch. Will either post on it late this week or early next week. Still trying to decide whether to jailbreak it or not. Doing so would enable me to take some screenshots, among other things. But, I am reluctant to jailbreak it so soon after purchase, and especially given that Apple releases the SDK tomorrow, so apps will become available without jailbreaking.
Anyway, I love it as it is. What a great device. I won’t keep you waiting too long on my review of it, but I am kinda leaning toward a Monday or Tuesday writeup to give me a few more days working with it.
The interesting thing, Bruce, is that in Dr. Andrew Weil’s book “8 Weeks to Optimum Health”, he discusses changes to your overall lifestyle to improve your life. Not only does he discuss interesting things like simple exercise a few times a week and how to eat slightly better, but one of the major topics he discusses is to cut out all of the news: newspapers, news on TV, news on radio, etc.
His point is that taking that all in (especially before you go to bed) just upsets you more and focuses your mind on negative thoughts or issues when you could be thinking of positive things instead. The book is interesting because the changes are gradual (small changes each week for the 8 weeks) but have a profound impact.
News companies have to put something on the news that is sensational or they can’t draw in an audience. They need viewers to get advertisers to make money, right? Well, I don’t want to hear the negative things about children getting killed all the time - it’s just depressing. Rarely do they report on something positive that happened, it’s always the bad things. I don’t need that in my life!
(I should have added this as a comment to Lance’s post, but forgot to.)
Thanks for the info Thomas, and thanks for mentioning Dr. Weil’s book. I’ll add it to my list.
Yes, watching the primaries last night, right up until bedtime, did nothing but upset me and that no doubt carried through the day. So, I am glad I know what to do about it now. I should have paid more attention to Lance’s post early on. I knew he had a good point, but just didn’t put it into practice.
Assuming that watching the news causes negative feelings in people who view it then I would have to jump to the conclusion that the people presenting this news must be suicidal. I would also think that police, fire department, ambulance workers, doctor’s and nurses must all be particularly depressed seeing problems yjat they see on a daily basis. i find most of this latter group of individuals to be pretty representative of the rest of society, some can manage it better than others.
Just a thought but I think negative feelings are created by one’s own personality. I think this way more frequently than I prefer and find it difficult to break the habit, which by the way is exactly what I think it is, a habit. Something we all have to work at changing.
Good comments, Mike. Good to hear a differing view.
I think personality certainly plays a role in producing negative attitude, as does brain chemistry, but I am convinced the environment one surrounds oneself with is a factor, too.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.