No news is good news
It seems to be an accepted fact that maintaining good health requires constantly guarding against or countering the effects of impure and unwholesome food, water, and air. It’s suggested we down vitamins, herbs, and special nutrients to shore up our threatened physiological bulwarks. We’re advised to flush toxic sludge from our bodies to avoid feeling puny. We’re warned that pollutants and pesticides pose a constant threat to our ability to stay bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
But considering what the mind-body connection tells us about the effects of our thoughts upon our bodies, it is surprising that we are so attentive to potential harm from every direction except our mental diet. We fear the pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables, but disregard the residue of gruesome images we take in with the news. We worry about contaminates in our foods, but overlook the contamination of our thoughts with negative pronouncements from voices of authority. We fret about the buildup of toxins in our bodies from bad air, bad water, and bad food, but don’t consider the toxic accumulations from a daily diet of bad news.
Our bodies are remarkably resilient and adaptable when it comes to what we eat, breathe, and drink. Normal healthy functioning is undermined, however, when the mind-body is kept in an uproar from excessive intake of alarming pictures, negative beliefs, and frightening ideas. A simple prescription for improving mind-body health is a news fast.
There are those who insist that it is our responsibility to "stay informed," which translates to staying tuned to a steady diet of what’s going wrong on the planet. There is a wealth of information that would confirm that many more things are going well than are going badly, but these stories rarely make the news. Somehow good news doesn’t qualify as anything we need to keep up with.
Some of the most intelligent and informed people I know do not routinely watch television, listen to radio news, or take in much more than headlines in the newspaper. By avoiding much contact with the news, they keep their minds free of disturbing images, toxic attitudes, and the barrage of fear and negativity that passes for information. Instead, they look for evidence of what is going right rather than what is going wrong. They are as picky about what they put in their heads as most people are about what they put in their mouths.
You, too, can learn to be that discriminating. You can start by detoxifying yourself with a month-long news fast. This is an ideal time. You know it will all be there when—or if—you decide to return to the all-you-can stomach buffet. In the meantime, you might find that getting mental pollutants out of your system leaves you thinking a lot clearer and feeling much better.
Avoiding the news may leave a bit of a gap in your life. Why not fill part of the time freed by your fast by becoming an observer of beliefs about avoiding or following the news? If you’re around someone who wants to discuss the news, you can either excuse yourself or change the subject by announcing that you’re on a news fast. This will most likely trigger a bombardment of beliefs about everything from being a good citizen to the hazards of "sticking your head in the sand."
You might want to keep a journal during your fast and record what you notice. How hard is it to stick with this fast? What are you afraid you’re missing? How do you feel when you aren’t getting the minimum daily requirement of disaster footage? How do you occupy your time and mind without the news? What is there to talk about without the news? Is life boring without the daily drama and trauma? Do you feel that noticing what’s going right is foolish or smart?
Return to newsletter archive list