There is no doubt that these are the times of anxiety.
Everywhere you look, is one or the other appalling news waiting to grab your attention. Be it – the recommendations on the side of the webpage, long advertisements of all sort of medicines in middle of your favorite TV shows or conversation among some of your colleagues at work – everywhere we are talking “what’s wrong!!”.
We are living in an age of 24-hour news channels, where every news is a ‘Breaking news’ and almost all the ‘breaking news’ are negative or sad news. I have never seen a happy news as breaking news.
Unfortunately, a huge chunk of the media industry is making money on selling negativity and anxiety. The web pages are making money with the click-baits of ‘all-things-worrisome’ and the sponsors of these advertisements know how to earn more money by selling fear and nervousness.
They are catching the buyers in their unaware state of mind (or as I say auto-pilot minds) and these anxious thoughts are submitted to their unconscious minds.
What leads after years of unaware living with our minds filled with negative thoughts is – Anxiety.
Our subconscious mind gets filled with – ‘what-if’ questions. “What-if I get the disease like the one I read in the news website? What-if something bad happens to my children or family?” and so on..
The good news, is that we can change this pattern.
We can have an aware mind which decides what news/ advertisements/ webpages/ colleagues, I will see, read and converse with.
Even if you happen to see a negative news article, which provide no meaning to your life, you can use your discretion to not analyze it.
I am not trying to say that do not stay in touch with the current affairs around the world. By all means, be informed. But, do not get addicted to its negative side with your unaware mind.
Personally, I follow BBC news for all national and international news. If any news article excites me, I read it once. This way, I am informed with what stimulates me without knowing how celebrities are dressed when they go to the beach.
In my car, I listen to National Public Radio NPR, which gives me a detailed unbiased version of the news.
For all of us, it is very important to filter the negativity around us, which we can easily do.
To start with, you may follow these steps-
- Affirm yourself that “I will feed my mind, only with good, happy, positive thoughts.“
- If you have news apps on your phone, then minimize the notifications you get from them. These notifications will always make you want to read the whole news item. These applications use the headline in a way, that you are bound to open the app and read it.
- Decide on which sites you’ll follow for an unbiased version of the news.
- Have an aware mind. Be aware of all the blessings you have. That’s how you will bring more blessings into your life. Awareness of negativity can never bring calm and peace.
- Every morning, set an intention on how you want your day to progress. Your mindful mind, will always find a better alternative of that negative activity you just stopped.
- Listen to inspirational audios or videos. It will give you a perspective on what’s important in life and how we tend to take all the good things in life, for granted.
- If you still haven’t tried, try any meditation technique. It is scientifically proven that meditating will always calm your mind. I have explained – Mindfulness and Body Scan meditation in my blog. You can try them or look for any other technique, which works best for you.
Be aware of all the positivity around you.
Have a peaceful day.
Moving from doing......to being. 
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