NO News is GREAT News for Our Health!
You can improve your health, feel more energetic and have a more positive mindset by turning off the TV and radio, and disconnecting from the Internet for even just one day.
Ever try a news blackout? If not, I want to challenge you to disconnect and tune into your body. As I know you already know, we live in a constant 24-7 environment where information is readily available — too available — and a self-imposed information break would do most of us a lot of good.
Personally, I like to have a periodic information break every few months. In fact, when I do it, I go for a week at a time without the news and you know what? It’s downright liberating! I’m a news junkie, I like to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on but here’s what I’ve noticed:
- When I’m so focused on what’s going on in the outside world, I lose track of what’s happening inside, in my body. I’m less tuned into to what my body needs.
- Too much focus on the news, especially these days, tends to make me anxious and edgy.
- When I take a break from the news and too much over-stimulation, my body relaxes and my mind quiets
- When I’m in a news blackout, I eat quietly, I chew more slowly, I enjoy my food more fully
- My life and health are improved!
Simply put, extracting yourself from the media and Internet fray, even for a short time, is a powerful way for you to tune in and practice better health.
My husband is on a business trip for a few weeks and although I really miss him, I’m using the time to practice my news blackout. No NPR (the source of most of my news), no checking the New York Times online and limited Internet access (I can’t totally give it up but I am limiting my time on Twitter this week). I’m quietly listening to music, being in silence and reading for pleasure. It’s like a mini-vacation without the beach (and cost effective too!).
Can you see the possibility for a news blackout? How soon could you do it, for how long and how do you think it could help you?
Filed under: Anxiety, Information overload, Relaxation
I’ve been thinking about something like this for a long time. I don’t think that I’m a news junkie, but I’m definitely an internet fiend–I can spend hours reading statuses on Facebook and the message boards on some of the other social networking sites I belong to. Then I wonder where my time went and why I’m tired or hungry or whatever. It’s overwhelming to be so connected, and I think we could all use a break. I have to be connected at work, but I can commit to disconnect myself from the internet this week.
I actually do this 24/7. Of course I can’t shut off the media outside my home office but I can do it here. The only news I’m interested in is empowering and inspiring news, so I have a self-imposed filter just always set up in my mind. If I see a tweet about negative news, I ignore it, or if someone sends enough of that kind of thing, I unfollow.
I don’t read newspapers or current event magazines. I don’t read any of that on the internet. I do still watch occasional tv but choose specific programs that either make me laugh or draw me into their sci fi world for an hour.
I get media moments from friends who are into all that, so if anything really important happens I need to know about, I’ll find out from them
I’m really so much happier without all the bad news that the media convinces us is global truth.
If someone from another planet researched us by watching tv or listening to the average commercial radio station or reading the average newspaper, they’d think we’re a mix of violent freaks who fight and create drama in our lives all the time – and passive victims who live in constant fear. But is that really true? No way!
Yeah, this is why I don’t watch the news. It’s a much more beautiful world without it.
Love & Light,
Brenda
[...] up momentum and starting to whiz by, doesn’t it? Wendy Battles of Healthy Endeavors is using some quiet time this week to reconnect with herself and “just be.” She’s setting some boundaries and [...]
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