We live in an age of information overload. At any moment, you can choose to find out what is happening pretty much anywhere in the world. Do you try to keep up on it all? Do you keep tabs on the latest political controversy, the local news, what happenned on Game of Thrones and what’s going on in your Twitter feed?
If so, I have a radical idea for you:
Don’t.
Don’t try to keep up with it all because you can’t. It changes too fast. Plus, what kinds of imagery are you seeing and hearing if you’re keeping up on all those sources of information? For your own well being – don’t try to keep up with it all.
Instead choose what you let enter your mind.
A few years ago, I decided to stop watching the news. I did this because in my quest to know what was going on, I was finding out about a lot of negativity. I was letting my brain see that there was a robbery in the next city over and that there was a murder in a local suburb. Often times I would see those things right before bed and then those images would bounce around in my brain all night. I was exposing myself to negative events that were happening, that I likely didn’t have the power to change, and it was only hurting me by making me more fearful.
Though I no longer watch the news, when something really big is going on, I still find out about it. I hear about it on the radio or see it on social media, and I don’t need the evening news to keep me up to date. My brain became a more positive and friendly place for my consciousness when I stopped exposing myself to those negative images, ideas and happenings.
Try avoiding TV news for a week and see how it goes. Think of it as a positivity diet for your brain. See if you like protecting your mind.
Similarly, I no longer watch movies or TV that have excessive violence or gore. Just like a little child, I will cover my eyes when I’m seeing something that I don’t want to remain an image in my brain. I do this because once you see something, you can’t unsee it. Your mind can go back to those images at any time.
Not that long ago I watched the show Westworld on HBO. People were raving about what an awesome show it was. I began watching and found it to be really entertaining. As I progressed through the episodes, they got more violent and had more imagery that I found hard to watch. While I enjoyed the show, some of what I saw on it would play in my head for weeks after. I decided the entertainment value wasn’t worth it. I’m choosing not to watch the next season.
Have you ever experienced this? Can you think back to the first really scary movie you saw? Do you still have those images in your brain? Even if you don’t, I bet you can still feel the fear from those moments. Or maybe you’ve seen things more recently that you wish you could rewind and take out of your brain.
My point with all this is to simply tell you that you control what you see.
If you want your brain to be more positive, if you want less anxiety, if you want less fear in your life, consider what images you’re feeding your brain.
You get to choose. Choose calm, choose peace, choose positivity.
Your mind will thank you.
These days I try to fill my brain with positive thoughts and messages to combat the negativity I encounter in day to day life.
How about you? How do you keep a positive frame of mind?
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