News-fasting is Healthy

The other morning my mother-in-law phoned me at 6 am (she knows I like to get up at 4 am and read, meditate or write) to ask me how the wildfire was. What fire? She said…”the one in your part of town”. We live in the country among sage brush, miniature cacti and pine beetle (dead) trees so summer fires aren’t uncommon.

Anyway, I looked outside and saw a bit of smoke but knew we weren’t in immediate risk of evacuation. We chatted some more, I thanked her and then checked out the details on the internet. The wildfire was about 10 km away and they had plenty of firefighters and helicopters working on it, so I didn’t plan any further.

As you know sensational, bad news sells. In fact, we are bombarded by sad, violent or depressing news for 87% of our day. Not just from the paper and TV, but from other well-meaning friends and family. When I started news-fasting about 15 years ago I was concerned about keeping up with the current events and being able to contribute to an intelligent conversation. But bad news travels quickly.

I challenge you to not watch or read news for a week and notice how quickly the news gets back to you. Then it is your choice of finding out more details–or not.

I remember feeling sick as I watched the twin towers coming down on 911, and on boxing day in 2004, listening to people screaming as they hung onto tree branches during the tsunami in Thailand. I didn’t need to see that repeated every hour on the hour to be more informed. Once is enough.

I use this same philosophy for living with my husband’s dementia. I am fully aware of the pain and challenges of being a carer, but I choose to focus on what it great about my life. I like to use this analogy. When I am sitting in a room, I look around at all of the solid objects–chairs, table, lamps etc. Then I look at the space around those solid objects. The desk, table and lamps (which take up little room) are the aggravations and challenges of dementia; the ABUNDANT space represents what is great about my life..physically healthy husband, great family & friends, comfortable home and remembering I’m not the one dealing with a dying brain.

Let me know how you feel when you spend more time noticing the space instead of the solid objects. And whether you feel happier and more optimistic when you reduce your exposure to news that sells.