No News Is Good News

Did you watch the news on television today? Did you hear it on the radio? Did you happen to listen to your favorite talk radio show today? Watch a movie? A television show? Do you feel good because of it?

What effect do these things have on us in our daily lives? Do they invoke a positive mental attitude? Probably not. The problem with the media in most formats today is that it is comprised of every negative image and idea that exists and is yet to exist.

Even a lot of the comedy shows have a negative message. Why is this?

How do we balance these negative messages in our lives? How do we counter the crap that is being fed to us? Do we immerse ourselves in motivational books and tapes? If not , maybe we should.

The healthy function of our minds is dependent upon input. If the only input that we have is negative, our output can tend to be negative as well. Garbage in, garbage out. My father used to warn me that the type of people that I surrounded my self with is the type of person I would become. He was right to a great degree. It is also true that the type of materials to which we expose our minds is the type of thinking that we will practice in our daily lives. Perhaps you question that logic, but let me go on.

When the mainstream media has been confronted in the past about the content of their shows, they claim that just because you watch a violent film, you won't become violent. This may be true, but as you continuously immerse yourself in violent content, you begin to become numb to the violence itself.

Such as that is, the more negative the constant input in your life, the harder it becomes to be positive or think positive thoughts. As an artist and a creative individual, I often need a bit of inspiration in my daily life. To get this inspiration, I look at other artists work. After a while I am influenced by what I have seen to create my own work.
The same can be said for a positive attitude. If we reach a point in our day when we feel like we can't go on with our work, sometimes all we need is a bit of inspiration to get back on track. Often this inspiration gives us that "a-ha" moment that we need to get back on the rails.

Now I am not saying that you should have a constant diet of positive attitude books and CD's. There are other things that can reinforce us in our daily tasks. Aside from personal development materials, there is also the development of our business or our skills. This type of information can be found in
books, magazines, on cd, dvd, cassette tapes or the internet.

Often when we learn more about our work and how to do it better, we are more successful at performing necessary tasks. This success in itself is empowering and can lead to a more positive attitude.

As we go through our day we should try to be aware of the influence that our surroundings are having on us. We should be careful to monitor the types of input that we are getting and balance it with as much positive material as possible. In doing this not only can we feel better about ourselves and our world, but we will also be more productive and feel happier at the same time.