Thank you. We need to balance being informed (and actually doing something about what we can do something about) with being in a big-picture and long-view space. Continual churn in the news cycle is just another addiction.
Agreed, Caroline. I find I'm informed enough even with my arms-length stance, but can very easily get unbalanced (going for the binge) where there's a big news story that feels more personally affecting and fear-inducing, so stepping out into big-picture/long-view regularly is important.
I'm so glad to read your thoughts on the news and cutting it away. Barry Glassner's book "The Culture of Fear" gave me the impetuous to turn off the news. I hate it. I can go back to 9/11 and having a panic attack, crying on the kitchen the floor the following day, because I couldn't escape the horrific images of that atrocious attack (and that's before social media and smart phones, of course). I see people getting obsessed with news, with things they can't do anything to stop and at the point where it's damaging you, you have to turn it off. You have to look away.
As for the psychic telephone, if I contact my mum, she usually says, "I knew I was going to hear from you because I was just thinking of you." And a nice coincidence - or a sort of psychic telephone? - we were going to Texas so my partner could meet half of his family for the first time. About a week or two before we set off, he won £1k on a scratch card, which was enough to cover his flights, hotel, etc!
I had a friend who won a giant, 48" TV right before 9/11. He grew more and more anxious hour by hour after the attacks. I went to his apartment to offer support and the TV, which he was watching 12 hours a day, took up his entire living room wall. Such an incredibly difficult time psychologically for so many people.
Thanks for the book rec. I do love this genre of books.
So I do listen to the news as I want to keep abreast of what is generally going on. Elections, pope dying, yes wars although I do tend to switch to radio 3 after a while. Not sure I’m a junkie. I do read the papers (Guardian on my phone sometimes the Saturday one) for something a bit more in-depth.
I’m in the middle of ‘reading’, imbibing’s a better word, Michael Singers The Untethered Soul. A remarkable little book. It’s prompting me to see my consciousness separate from my physical me and boy it’s hard but it’s fun and if nothing else it feels like it is giving me a perspective to ALL the shit that’s going on around me. Not just the wars but bad days at work, friends misunderstanding you and getting shitty or whatever else.
So yes I listen in to the news but mostly now I have radio 3 on.
1. Above
2. Soz no I don’t
3. Nope although once a long time ago in India I had a dream telling me to ‘Go to Miss Stone. She’s ill.’ Never did find her
4. I’d like to say Yes but that scares me a bit as I don’t like the feeling of being connected to Putin and rapists etc
I had an experience walking through Atlanta and I started thinking about a friend from college who I’d lost touch with 10 years prior. I longed to speak with her. 3 days later she called me at work, said I came into her mind a few days prior and felt like she wanted to talk to me. So she tracked me down on Google and said “I saw online that your husband just died. How are you?”
On Easter, my kid asked me what time we were going over to our friends’ house. I don’t know- I will have to ask A. One second later my phone dings. It’s a text from A that says come over around 1.
I thought this was a very good read and I am very similar to you in my approach to news. The less I know the better. I know someone who thinks it's unacceptable to not know what's going on in the world. I don't mind being informed, just not too much. Social media falls into this trap hole too. And as a 30 something woman, most people find it very hard to believe when I tell them I only have 8 followers on it.
I am glad to come across someone else who holds similar views to me on this. Nice job with this piece Ros!
Once I got started reading all of these things that are included in this post, I couldn't stop! You're so direct, and flat-out gifted.
I want to finish a book that I have for the most part written, I believe. There are missing pieces, and some broken parts. I'm not sure I know how to untangle those three or four bits and pieces.
I will want to publish, but next step I believe would be input from an editor who has no connection to me personally, a completely neutral unbiased look at what I've been working on.
The book is memoir with pieces from childhood all the way until rehab in my fifties. The themes center around identity, failure, compulsions, breakdowns and breakthroughs.
Should I admit that I haven't thought about this?
I had my family members that live here locally over for Easter. We had an untraditional chili and a very traditional Easter egg hunt for my 10-year-old grandson.
This really resonated with me. I grew up with the news as dad worked for BBC news and current affairs. He would always put the news on at home to check it went out correctly. He worked shifts so we became familiar with that pattern - and mum would have on the one o’clock news in-between cartoons and pebble mill. I loved going up to television centre with dad - I even worked there for a holiday thing helping with digitising maps when I was at uni. So yes, I grew up surrounded by it. But I don’t think it became a negative influence until more recently for me. The ridiculous nonsense going on in the world is what makes me angry and yes, I’d like to step away from that. I only see news on my phone and through social media feeds - and I think letting go of it and that anger is really important. We are totally being kept in fear and held as a captive audience to the news all around us these days. I am up for trying to read less - limit my time with it - and then let it go.
In terms of universal connection - I’ve had the phone thing. I often knew who was calling as soon as the phone rang - or was thinking about them before it rang. This is less clear now when my phone announces who is calling, but I totally believe all life is interwoven. I will check out your book!
I also think it suits the powers that be to hold us away from our power as individuals - because if we lean into those powers and see what’s really possible they would have no power over us. And if a certain ex of mine (we didn’t date that long but he was a sweet guy) read this he’d run a mile because he only believed in hard science and seemed afraid of this kind of conjecture. He once accused me of being spiritual as if that was a bad thing. Hey ho.
Thank you, Bronwen. My mum was a newshound. We grew up with it. It seemed almost comforting during my childhood. The soothing voices of BBC news and later Channel 4 added in because my Mum would get as much news as the TV could deliver (and radio news too) so 9pm on the BBC and 10pm on C4!
I get your ex's point of view. I was raised in hard science by two physicists! Did a science degree and was a good materialist. The only thing that can shift that mindset (the dominant paradigm) is have powerful experiences you can't explain. It isn't your ex's time perhaps, but maybe one day.
Ah - so we both had the news growing up - but I do feel it’s got more manic and all consuming in recent years. And yes I also did a science degree - Geology and Cartography - so I can see both sides. I think he’d just had a bad experience with someone previous. I wouldn’t even say I’m that spiritual, I’m just open to possibilities we can’t explain with science yet. Though quantum physics is going some way to fitting in with lots of this stuff around connections.
I’ve had several experiences like you described. Off the top is one where I picked up my phone and a sweet image of my daughter as a toddler came up in memories. I murmured aloud, “how sweet!”
Within a few seconds, my brother who is less than a year older than me (we are close emotionally as well) and lives in another state, texted me, “how sweet.”
It turns out, my brother had no idea why he texted that and had no memory of doing it immediately following. We went back and forth and he finally accepted he’d done it when I sent him the screenshot.
That is a gorgeous example, Christine, love it! Yes, these things happen only with those we have some connection with. I take it that it has something to do with quantum entanglement; once our quanta get a bit mixed up, they stay that way! I once had a dream about an old, long lost and much mourned beau who I hadn't dreamed about for years (he wasn't dead, just got married to someone else) and the next morning when I signed onto Twitter, I discovered he had followed me! Thoughts are not confined within our physical skulls.
Thanks Ros. I’m going to try the EFT then let you know. I’m a meditator but always happy to try new things.
I’m a complete news and politics junkie - listen to loads of podcasts and talk to my family and friends about it. Started in earnest when my son did Politics at A level. I’m reducing my consumption of US stuff right now as I’m so bored with all the attempts to make sense of the crazy!
However, I have a trans daughter and I’m an active ally so I want to be well-informed to support her.
When I increase my meditation I can cope - just …..
Psychic telephone/ text moment - all the time - I have dreams about people then they contact me the next day. Happens quite a lot and often with
I understand about the need to stay informed when you're so personally involved in what's going on. This feels absolutely essential in instances like this... but then the fears are so significant and personal too... so the EFT is a good counter-measure. I'm glad you're finding it helpful (from your DM).
These psychic telephone/text moments are just so affirming. Such a good reminder about our interconnectedness and the fact that we are broadcasting all the time, whether we realise it or not!
I LOVED this essay. Very calming and empowering actually.
1. Recovered news junkie. Stopped browsing news websites with some exceptions (Reddit posts) as of late, because we're in the middle of a federal election in Canada and I worry about the psychopath south of the border. You've inspired me to knock it off. Again. I recently read Rolf Dobelli's manifesto "Stop Reading the News" and highly recommend it to anyone who needs more inspiration.
2. I didn't follow along to the video but am familiar with EFT techniques (I might watch later, though).
3. Many! My family are a bunch of witchy Scottish folk and it's considered...normal(ish) for us. The most painful one though was back in 2006. An old building in my city was torn down and I looked at the rubble as I walked by and said to my friend "looks like Beirut" - god knows why - and the next day woke up to news Beirut had been bombed.
Another one - after 2.5 years of silence, I wrote a goodbye letter to my best friend. The next day she rang my doorbell demanding to talk, lol. My partner wisely reminded me that it was clear she needed to a more defined end to our friendship, too.
Wow to both your examples. The friend one is especially good. Thank you for the love about the essay. Thanks also for mentioning another sources of "stop news consumption" inspiration!
Agree - any background noise when it gets too loud is too stimulating. One of the best things I did was to stop looking at my emails first thing when I woke up too. There’s something about the right book which resets the nervous system like nothing else. Sometimes we need to remember the space for that when we’re on SS too.
Best thing I did was to plug it in just outside. The dopamine is powerful though. And we’re all so addicted. Even those who manage to do this are if we’re being honest. Almost impossible to avoid the addiction today.
Yes, looking at emails first thing is another habit worth questioning if it sets you off on the wrong foot. I'm trying to keep my phone out of reach in the bedroom. Not always succeeding.
Thank you. We need to balance being informed (and actually doing something about what we can do something about) with being in a big-picture and long-view space. Continual churn in the news cycle is just another addiction.
Agreed, Caroline. I find I'm informed enough even with my arms-length stance, but can very easily get unbalanced (going for the binge) where there's a big news story that feels more personally affecting and fear-inducing, so stepping out into big-picture/long-view regularly is important.
I'm so glad to read your thoughts on the news and cutting it away. Barry Glassner's book "The Culture of Fear" gave me the impetuous to turn off the news. I hate it. I can go back to 9/11 and having a panic attack, crying on the kitchen the floor the following day, because I couldn't escape the horrific images of that atrocious attack (and that's before social media and smart phones, of course). I see people getting obsessed with news, with things they can't do anything to stop and at the point where it's damaging you, you have to turn it off. You have to look away.
As for the psychic telephone, if I contact my mum, she usually says, "I knew I was going to hear from you because I was just thinking of you." And a nice coincidence - or a sort of psychic telephone? - we were going to Texas so my partner could meet half of his family for the first time. About a week or two before we set off, he won £1k on a scratch card, which was enough to cover his flights, hotel, etc!
I had a friend who won a giant, 48" TV right before 9/11. He grew more and more anxious hour by hour after the attacks. I went to his apartment to offer support and the TV, which he was watching 12 hours a day, took up his entire living room wall. Such an incredibly difficult time psychologically for so many people.
Thanks for the book rec. I do love this genre of books.
Imagine that, filling an entire wall with those distressing images over and over again. That was a very costly “prize”.
So I do listen to the news as I want to keep abreast of what is generally going on. Elections, pope dying, yes wars although I do tend to switch to radio 3 after a while. Not sure I’m a junkie. I do read the papers (Guardian on my phone sometimes the Saturday one) for something a bit more in-depth.
I’m in the middle of ‘reading’, imbibing’s a better word, Michael Singers The Untethered Soul. A remarkable little book. It’s prompting me to see my consciousness separate from my physical me and boy it’s hard but it’s fun and if nothing else it feels like it is giving me a perspective to ALL the shit that’s going on around me. Not just the wars but bad days at work, friends misunderstanding you and getting shitty or whatever else.
So yes I listen in to the news but mostly now I have radio 3 on.
1. Above
2. Soz no I don’t
3. Nope although once a long time ago in India I had a dream telling me to ‘Go to Miss Stone. She’s ill.’ Never did find her
4. I’d like to say Yes but that scares me a bit as I don’t like the feeling of being connected to Putin and rapists etc
I really enjoyed that book.
I had an experience walking through Atlanta and I started thinking about a friend from college who I’d lost touch with 10 years prior. I longed to speak with her. 3 days later she called me at work, said I came into her mind a few days prior and felt like she wanted to talk to me. So she tracked me down on Google and said “I saw online that your husband just died. How are you?”
On Easter, my kid asked me what time we were going over to our friends’ house. I don’t know- I will have to ask A. One second later my phone dings. It’s a text from A that says come over around 1.
Both fantastic examples of our connectness, Jennifer. Thank you for sharing them.
I thought this was a very good read and I am very similar to you in my approach to news. The less I know the better. I know someone who thinks it's unacceptable to not know what's going on in the world. I don't mind being informed, just not too much. Social media falls into this trap hole too. And as a 30 something woman, most people find it very hard to believe when I tell them I only have 8 followers on it.
I am glad to come across someone else who holds similar views to me on this. Nice job with this piece Ros!
Thank you, Kah’s Life. Glad you enjoyed it.
Once I got started reading all of these things that are included in this post, I couldn't stop! You're so direct, and flat-out gifted.
I want to finish a book that I have for the most part written, I believe. There are missing pieces, and some broken parts. I'm not sure I know how to untangle those three or four bits and pieces.
I will want to publish, but next step I believe would be input from an editor who has no connection to me personally, a completely neutral unbiased look at what I've been working on.
The book is memoir with pieces from childhood all the way until rehab in my fifties. The themes center around identity, failure, compulsions, breakdowns and breakthroughs.
Should I admit that I haven't thought about this?
I had my family members that live here locally over for Easter. We had an untraditional chili and a very traditional Easter egg hunt for my 10-year-old grandson.
Thanks, Laury! Yes, directness is something I've never been able to help, so I've decided to turn it into a feature!
Yes, when you're new to putting a book together, it always helps to get a neutral and more experienced eye cast over it.
I do love an Easter egg hunt!
This really resonated with me. I grew up with the news as dad worked for BBC news and current affairs. He would always put the news on at home to check it went out correctly. He worked shifts so we became familiar with that pattern - and mum would have on the one o’clock news in-between cartoons and pebble mill. I loved going up to television centre with dad - I even worked there for a holiday thing helping with digitising maps when I was at uni. So yes, I grew up surrounded by it. But I don’t think it became a negative influence until more recently for me. The ridiculous nonsense going on in the world is what makes me angry and yes, I’d like to step away from that. I only see news on my phone and through social media feeds - and I think letting go of it and that anger is really important. We are totally being kept in fear and held as a captive audience to the news all around us these days. I am up for trying to read less - limit my time with it - and then let it go.
In terms of universal connection - I’ve had the phone thing. I often knew who was calling as soon as the phone rang - or was thinking about them before it rang. This is less clear now when my phone announces who is calling, but I totally believe all life is interwoven. I will check out your book!
I also think it suits the powers that be to hold us away from our power as individuals - because if we lean into those powers and see what’s really possible they would have no power over us. And if a certain ex of mine (we didn’t date that long but he was a sweet guy) read this he’d run a mile because he only believed in hard science and seemed afraid of this kind of conjecture. He once accused me of being spiritual as if that was a bad thing. Hey ho.
Love reading your posts Ros 💚
Thank you, Bronwen. My mum was a newshound. We grew up with it. It seemed almost comforting during my childhood. The soothing voices of BBC news and later Channel 4 added in because my Mum would get as much news as the TV could deliver (and radio news too) so 9pm on the BBC and 10pm on C4!
I get your ex's point of view. I was raised in hard science by two physicists! Did a science degree and was a good materialist. The only thing that can shift that mindset (the dominant paradigm) is have powerful experiences you can't explain. It isn't your ex's time perhaps, but maybe one day.
Ah - so we both had the news growing up - but I do feel it’s got more manic and all consuming in recent years. And yes I also did a science degree - Geology and Cartography - so I can see both sides. I think he’d just had a bad experience with someone previous. I wouldn’t even say I’m that spiritual, I’m just open to possibilities we can’t explain with science yet. Though quantum physics is going some way to fitting in with lots of this stuff around connections.
I’ve had several experiences like you described. Off the top is one where I picked up my phone and a sweet image of my daughter as a toddler came up in memories. I murmured aloud, “how sweet!”
Within a few seconds, my brother who is less than a year older than me (we are close emotionally as well) and lives in another state, texted me, “how sweet.”
It turns out, my brother had no idea why he texted that and had no memory of doing it immediately following. We went back and forth and he finally accepted he’d done it when I sent him the screenshot.
I love this stuff! Beautiful post.
That is a gorgeous example, Christine, love it! Yes, these things happen only with those we have some connection with. I take it that it has something to do with quantum entanglement; once our quanta get a bit mixed up, they stay that way! I once had a dream about an old, long lost and much mourned beau who I hadn't dreamed about for years (he wasn't dead, just got married to someone else) and the next morning when I signed onto Twitter, I discovered he had followed me! Thoughts are not confined within our physical skulls.
Thanks Ros. I’m going to try the EFT then let you know. I’m a meditator but always happy to try new things.
I’m a complete news and politics junkie - listen to loads of podcasts and talk to my family and friends about it. Started in earnest when my son did Politics at A level. I’m reducing my consumption of US stuff right now as I’m so bored with all the attempts to make sense of the crazy!
However, I have a trans daughter and I’m an active ally so I want to be well-informed to support her.
When I increase my meditation I can cope - just …..
Psychic telephone/ text moment - all the time - I have dreams about people then they contact me the next day. Happens quite a lot and often with
people I don’t regularly speak to.
I understand about the need to stay informed when you're so personally involved in what's going on. This feels absolutely essential in instances like this... but then the fears are so significant and personal too... so the EFT is a good counter-measure. I'm glad you're finding it helpful (from your DM).
These psychic telephone/text moments are just so affirming. Such a good reminder about our interconnectedness and the fact that we are broadcasting all the time, whether we realise it or not!
Thank you 🙏🏻
Thanks Ros. I’m going to try the EFT then let you know. I’m a meditator but always happy to try new things.
I LOVED this essay. Very calming and empowering actually.
1. Recovered news junkie. Stopped browsing news websites with some exceptions (Reddit posts) as of late, because we're in the middle of a federal election in Canada and I worry about the psychopath south of the border. You've inspired me to knock it off. Again. I recently read Rolf Dobelli's manifesto "Stop Reading the News" and highly recommend it to anyone who needs more inspiration.
2. I didn't follow along to the video but am familiar with EFT techniques (I might watch later, though).
3. Many! My family are a bunch of witchy Scottish folk and it's considered...normal(ish) for us. The most painful one though was back in 2006. An old building in my city was torn down and I looked at the rubble as I walked by and said to my friend "looks like Beirut" - god knows why - and the next day woke up to news Beirut had been bombed.
Another one - after 2.5 years of silence, I wrote a goodbye letter to my best friend. The next day she rang my doorbell demanding to talk, lol. My partner wisely reminded me that it was clear she needed to a more defined end to our friendship, too.
Wow to both your examples. The friend one is especially good. Thank you for the love about the essay. Thanks also for mentioning another sources of "stop news consumption" inspiration!
Agree - any background noise when it gets too loud is too stimulating. One of the best things I did was to stop looking at my emails first thing when I woke up too. There’s something about the right book which resets the nervous system like nothing else. Sometimes we need to remember the space for that when we’re on SS too.
Best thing I did was to plug it in just outside. The dopamine is powerful though. And we’re all so addicted. Even those who manage to do this are if we’re being honest. Almost impossible to avoid the addiction today.
Yes, looking at emails first thing is another habit worth questioning if it sets you off on the wrong foot. I'm trying to keep my phone out of reach in the bedroom. Not always succeeding.
Americans are suffering extremely from the news right now. This post was definitely targeted in your direction!