News Stories Unworthy of My Time and Energy
Choices abound. I chose to include this concept in my work (see what I did there?) because we humans make choices and decisions all day every day. Habitually, however, we do so without much awareness of what we’re doing or why we’re doing it, which leads to chronic dissatisfaction. I want to cut back on drinking, but I keep accepting invitations from my friends…to drink. Ugh. I don’t really love or hate my job, I just kind of fell into it. Meh. This is the 73rd time I’ve opened the refrigerator. Today. WTF? Feel the dissatisfaction.
Choices are expenditures. They are investments of our most valuable resources as humans: time and energy. Unless today is our last day of Life, each of us has the exact same amount of time to spend even though our energy reserves vary wildly depending upon our individual circumstances at any given moment. Yet regardless of how much time or energy we have to spend, the more conscious we are about how we spend it the more satisfied we will feel as we live our lives. And we all know that more of us feeling more satisfied more of the time helps everything. Feel the satisfaction.
The mechanics of making satisfying choices are simple: align with what’s wanted and feel — yes feel — your way through what shows up. You know me, conscious politics practitioner: I want to live in a multi-racial, multi-cultural, compassion-infused, high-functioning America that works for everyone. On the political landscape, then, I feel satisfied/good/right/calm/motivated when I make investments of time and energy that align with this desire. I feel satisfied supporting policies, programs, and legislation that extend rights to more people because that’s a lot about compassion. Ditto for policies, programs, and legislation that encourage transparency in government because that’s very much about trust and trust makes things work for everyone. Ditto for policies, programs, and legislation that reduce poverty because nobody functions at a high level when they are steeped in trying to survive. You get the idea.
Now. The massive ecosystem we call mainstream media in America from which most of us derive most of our news and information most of the time is, on the whole and in case you hadn’t noticed, not a conscious pursuit. It floods we the people with endless streams and chunks and bits of data, an incessant flow of breaking news, ongoing news, other information, and gobs and tons of opinion. It’s what shows up, 24/7. We conscious politics practitioners, however, know to sift and sort through it, keeping only what satisfies, for all the reasons: the law of attraction is always on; intentions matter; choices abound; we are all connected; listen to inspiration. It’s one way we remain conscious in a sea of unconsciousness.
All that matters is that you are clear about the kind of society in which you want to live and that you make investments of time and energy that satisfy you in your heart space.
I noticed I had some extra time last week because mainstream news, information, and opinion seemed chock full of a lot of stories that leave me feeling incredibly dissatisfied in a multitude of ways such that I no longer choose to invest in them. For example:
I do not invest my precious time and energy in news and information about covid/the pandemic. What began in March, 2020 as a bona fide emergency with which to contend has morphed into something else: a made-in-America issue that itself is a symptom of the abject refusal of broad swaths of Americans to abide by well-established, scientifically-based U.S. public health protocols for pandemic mitigation. That’s the only reason the issue persists in December, 2021 as more than another illness to “manage.” It’s why we have variants, new cases, and tumult. If your issue is with public health policy, fair enough. Me too. But this is not the way to address public health reform. Meanwhile, no amount of going on and on about this symptom of an issue will solve this issue. Ever. Next?
I do not invest my precious time and energy in news and information about inflation right now (and likely for another several months) because I believe that it, too, is merely a symptom — here at home and globally — of the pandemic itself. Maybe it’s being made worse for the reasons stated above and then, what? We’re arguing about a symptom of a symptom? I’m far more interested in root causes of things anyway so no, no thank you.
I do not invest my precious time and energy in news and information about the issue commonly known as abortion because I do not believe its opponents are, by and large, talking about abortion. I believe they’re talking about political power and I simply cannot countenance the rank disingenuousness, untruth, bad faith, and hypocrisy that saturates what passes for discourse about it. No healthy society would. (For extra credit or just plain fun, search online for “White men who oppose abortion except for girlfriends and mistresses.”)
I do not invest my precious time and energy in news and information about school shootings because of how abhorrent it is that I just said “school shootings” like it’s no big deal. In fact, yes, fact, gun violence in America is itself a choice. It’s a collective one we’ve made and re-made as a society time and again. It’s antithetical to the safe, secure, peace-loving American society in which I intend to live so as long as everyone is down for continuing to choose gun violence as a normal part of life, leave me out of it.
To be sure and as usual, none of this is about me. Yes, my severely-curtailed-due-to-space opinions and observations about these and other issues are what drive me to make choices about where to invest my precious political time and energy in ways that satisfy me. It matters not, however, whether the choices you make of where to invest your precious political time and energy match mine. All that matters is that you are clear about the kind of society in which you want to live and that you make investments of time and energy that satisfy you in your heart space. Yeah. Like that. Uh huh. Right there.
If we happen to make all or some of the same choices, fantastic. If we don’t, fantastic. Either way, let’s at least stop spewing more ugh, meh, and WTF into the ethers.
I like this post so much. Allowing mainstream and social media to drive us—crazy, apart, to distraction…you name it—is just so counterproductive. Literally.
FTW, hgu, hem