Where is the love?
I try really hard not to watch too much TV, but whether it’s a sleepless night or time I need to clock in on a spin bike I can’t help but get sucked in. After checking emails I will make a feeble attempt to see what’s going on in the world of news. I can’t help but start surfing all the news (including train wreck sensationalism and latest gossip).
I am a simpleton, but have you noticed how MEAN we are becoming? I get the Internet contains a lot people who are bored, protected by anonymity, sitting at home frustrated. The TV news makes sense because they are obliging the need for ratings, and let’s face it the idea of bad news traveling eight times that of good well, you do the math. I just wonder when we (the collective human race) got so tough and intolerant of one another?
Times are hard, and the stressful environment creates a frantic tone, but we have been pretty harsh with one another long before the recession hit.
What can we do to make a shift? How can we all start to reconnect? In this day and age of ALWAYS being connected via text, email, cell phone etc. we have now found ourselves never more DISCONNECTED. Our kids talk to one another electronically more so than eye ball to eye ball. What about the adults? I have to kick myself when I notice my eyes wandering over my blackberry as one of my kids is discussing some really important art project. All of this makes me a little sad, and wondering what I can do right here and now to improve this situation.
*Leave the phone off after 6pm (given your kids are with you)
*Don’t bring the phone to the dinner table
*Set an allotted amount of time you can spend on the computer per day or in front of the TV
*Only watch shows that you would watch in front of your high school principal (so many shows are a guilty pleasure now instead of fun entertainment or informational)
*For every minute you spend exercising that is the equal amount of time you can spend on the computer recreationally (I realize a lot of you use it for work)
*Turn off the reality TV already. Do we really need to see that to make us feel better about our own lives and relationships?
*Go outside
I need to work on being present, and not always on to the next meeting or moment.
I get that the computer and Internet are here to stay, but we need to find a way to manage it better so it’s not such a real life time sucker. I don’t care how much you get out of your “virtual life” that’s all it will ever be. Life is now everyone, and I am constantly reminded to not miss it. What are we going to do be a bunch of criticizing voyeurs who rag on people because our own lives suck?
How about the idea of building a life that is so busy and full you don’t have time to have an opinion about what everyone else is doing? I’ll be honest, I have even gone on-line when I’m grumpy and read really mean things people who don’t even know me have taken the time to write. I look like a horse face, a man, fake bleach blonde when I use to be so pretty, I’m giant, etc. Years ago it may have bothered me, but now I realize that it’s just an example for me to be better. That every time I want to say something snarky about someone better I hold off. The other question I started asking myself is “how is what I am about to say going to change or improve anything?” I find when I’m really productive and feeling good I’m a lot nicer of a human. The more bored I am the more crap I fill my life with. So it’s really important to have back up things to put in place when you are bored or have down time.
With all that is going on in this world (war, unemployment, political chaos) this would be a good time for us the collective to put out some love for one another. Doesn’t mean we all have to believe the same things or live by the same rules, or even like one another, but that we just stop putting so much energy into tearing one another apart.
Best, Gabby