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Not sure where to put this and this post is not about the news. It is the effect the news, the images, that are having on us.
I left my fitness class this morning, grateful for the hour of an intense work out, focusing on my breathing and counting, which took my mind off the news. My radio is mostly tuned to NPR and the discussion began when i started driving. More than anything else it is the children crying, screaming, asking for their parents, their family, images of them with bandages for their wounds, war wounds !, the babies, the hostages - 85 years old, but most of all the lost and traumatized and murdered children. It weighs heavily on me, I was moaning and crying and had to stop my car.
My religion tells me the world is unreal, and what is real is within, the only reality, the only truth. The emotions are unreal, they pass, hold on to the real, the centering spirit within. Meditating on this does help.
How are you coping with this?
I'd be asking myself if I really, really must listen to the news every single day. So many headline stories don't change significantly from day to day. Giving myself a break from all the miserable detail helps. Its not denial per se, its filtration.
I also remind myself that my sphere of influence is a lot smaller than I might wish. Grief unaccompanied by action is sort of wasted. It hurts me but helps no one. There's a saying I first heard many years ago regarding environmental activism/recycling. It's stuck with me ever since and the concept can be applied to a lot more than recycling.
"Think globally. Act locally."
Basically, it's the idea that I cannot do much of anything about everything bad happening across the globe but I CAN do something about smaller things. Suffering exists everywhere, not just where bombs are falling. I can choose to ease what exists right in my own community. Taking action is empowering and can ease my larger scale grief.
Don't listen to the news, get it online, then you can click on what articles interest you. I see the headlines and don't click on any of the disturbing ones. That way, I get the gist but not the sights and sounds.
I couldn't handle hearing what you're describing. You can't un-hear and you can't un-see, so just don't go there.
I have a graphic image from high school of a film showing the Nazis firing at a line of people next to a ditch. And them falling into it. It was nothing like you see on TV, but I never forgot it. I can easily forget violence on TV but I never forgot that scene.
There's nothing we can do about all this. Out of our hands....
I stopped watching the news in 2001, in January. I get it online, like Sand&Salt. But I read it once a week or even less often than that. I also watch my YouTube channels that I like on mute now. Stuff about knitting, art, nature, etc. Always on mute.
I take care of my mind, and do my best to keep it clean and at peace. I know what is going on in the world but I don't need all the details.
Since I made these changes, my sleep has improved a lot. I sleep 7-8 hours/night and I wake up refreshed. I moved to the countryside 6 months ago and I spend a lot of time outside, in the garden/nature listening to the insects, the wind, the birds, the silence. I go for walks often outside the town and I watch the cows, horses and vultures. It's very peaceful and calming.
Praying for people in suffering helps too. I do that daily, at the end of my meditations. That's all I can do. This is God's show.
My radio is mostly tuned to NPR and the discussion began when i started driving.
How are you coping with this?
I'm not. This is not a personal attack on the OP, but like the others said, don't engage. Just because NPR caters to a particular demographic or class doesn't mean you have to listen to it. Try thinking about yourself, for yourself, and not what news medias churn out day and night. They all have an agenda, and it's not to make you feel happy and secure or "informed".
Coincidentally I recently traveled and spent several days with an old friend who had NPR playing constantly both in her home and in the car. At first I thought nothing of it, I'm pretty easygoing and can roll with whatever. But after a couple days of the endless Hamas/Gaza coverage I'd had enough and physically distanced myself from listening. It got to the point where I was playing a "Hamas Gaza" drinking game in my head and would have been stumbling drunk if I were actually drinking, it was that repetitive and incessant. A program came on called All Things Considered, and I actually LOL'd because the only thing that was considered was repeating "Hamas Gaza" as many times as possible. They really want to drill it in! Last time I checked it's a big world out there with lots of other things happening.
I finally asked her to turn it off and she said no, that it's only turned off on Sunday mornings until 9am because that's her time for quiet reflection. I think she's mentally gone. If I had to listen to that chit for a week solid I'd lose my mind. That's probably what they're after.
Not sure where to put this and this post is not about the news. It is the effect the news, the images, that are having on us.
I left my fitness class this morning, grateful for the hour of an intense work out, focusing on my breathing and counting, which took my mind off the news. My radio is mostly tuned to NPR and the discussion began when i started driving. More than anything else it is the children crying, screaming, asking for their parents, their family, images of them with bandages for their wounds, war wounds !, the babies, the hostages - 85 years old, but most of all the lost and traumatized and murdered children. It weighs heavily on me, I was moaning and crying and had to stop my car.
My religion tells me the world is unreal, and what is real is within, the only reality, the only truth. The emotions are unreal, they pass, hold on to the real, the centering spirit within. Meditating on this does help.
How are you coping with this?
Don't listen to NPR!!! Duh!!!
NPR is trying to get you stirred up. That's how they and other mass media get ratings.
I haven't watched or listened to the news (except the weather) in many years. I might swipe through some articles but I only read the headlines. I see no point in letting things I have no control over make any difference to my psyche.
I'd be asking myself if I really, really must listen to the news every single day. So many headline stories don't change significantly from day to day. Giving myself a break from all the miserable detail helps. Its not denial per se, its filtration.
I also remind myself that my sphere of influence is a lot smaller than I might wish. Grief unaccompanied by action is sort of wasted. It hurts me but helps no one. There's a saying I first heard many years ago regarding environmental activism/recycling. It's stuck with me ever since and the concept can be applied to a lot more than recycling.
"Think globally. Act locally."
Basically, it's the idea that I cannot do much of anything about everything bad happening across the globe but I CAN do something about smaller things. Suffering exists everywhere, not just where bombs are falling. I can choose to ease what exists right in my own community. Taking action is empowering and can ease my larger scale grief.
Thank you for your response.
The war changed the headlines pretty dramatically. A whole lot of people being killed is significant, the different ways it will affect the rest of the world and all our lives is significant. We could not ignore Covid, it took took two, three years off our lives in different and tragic ways.
I agree with you though that how we respond emotionally to the world and what is happening is a choice. I totally agree with the bolded.
Media, overall, is imperfect but NPR in particular is awful at trying to trigger people.
Imperfect yes, and can trigger people. But to live in freedom and in a democracy which we all prefer, we do need to be informed. The way journalists are silenced, even imprisoned, is a dangerous trend all over the world.
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