Fatigue from the news blues

Every day we’re inundated with news from around the world, much of it alarming and frightening. So many commercials and newscasts portray images of tragic events and seemingly hopeless situations. How many times have you said (or heard someone else say) “I can’t watch this.”

Often we feel so helpless and powerless in the face of AIDS in Africa or an oil spill in Louisiana or the plight of the seals. And truthfully, most of us cannot singlehandedly change many of the world’s problems.

When we feel hopeless about the future of our planet we tend to focus on only the negative events in the media and in our world. We often miss what’s hopeful and beautiful.

The most important thing we can do is address our own state of mind and recognize its importance and effect on the world around us, our immediate world, our circle of influence.

When we begin to embrace the idea of a thought created reality we’re able to notice where our thinking is taking us. We can see in ourselves and others that we can improve the quality of our feeling and moment-to-moment experience by changing our perspective, by tapping into our inner resources of compassion and wisdom. From this more neutral place we’re able to see the world with more clarity and creativity, both the harsh and the beautiful. We can see the possibilities and recognize what we can do.

What we can do is contribute money or clothing to worthy causes. We can volunteer our time to help with fundraisers or charity events. We can advocate for women in middle-eastern countries and write letters to Members of Parliament or the U.N. to make our voices heard.

There are many heartwarming stories of courage and creative solutions that have come from people who’ve been touched by a need. Young people who’ve raised money and awareness that changed lives, that brought water and desperately needed medications to remote areas in Africa. Talented professionals who, through documentaries and publishing, have increased our awareness and exposed cruel traditions. Small groups who gathered together clothing and essential items for Haiti.

We’d never want to become inured to the suffering of our fellow beings, human or otherwise. What we do want is to be compassionate and contributing partners in an effort to make this world a better place. We want to be touched by the inequities and suffering on our planet, not to be overwhelmed and immobilized by them.

When we ourselves live our moment-to-moment experience in a state of gratitude and well-being we can create a more peaceful environment in our families, in our workplace, in our communities. Imagine the exponential effect of such a growing awareness—the perfect antidote for news fatigue.