I Stopped Watching The News In 2016. Here’re 5 Things That Happened In My Life Since Then…

It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Our minds are constantly being conditioned by the different things we watch, read, listen to and hear within our environment.

Your mind is a very powerful impressionable organ, that acts like a sponge, soaking up everything it comes into contact with, intentionally and unintentionally.

It’s always happening whether you’re aware of it.

Think about it —

You hear a song playing on the radio a couple of times, and before you know it, you start singing along to it whether you like the song or not.

Or, like how you randomly start singing along to a jingle from a commercial you’ve heard a dozen times.

Your mind is constantly soaking up information, whether you like it or not, or whether you know it or not.

This is why it’s so important to be intentional and careful about what you feed and expose your mind to.

Many people are plagued by a plethora of mental health issues because of the continuous streams of negativity their minds are subjected to.

This was my story until I decided to turn off my TV for good!

Don’t get me wrong — I still watch a few shows here and there from my streaming platforms on my laptop. But it’s nothing like before, when I spent my days glued to my TV screens, addicted to watching, listening, and monitoring the news.

Somewhere along my spiritual journey, something in me began to change, I started paying attention to what I was feeding my mind, body, and spirit.

I started to eat better and began to practice mindfulness and meditation. These spiritual practices raised my self-awareness and drew my attention to the fact that I was struggling with continuous negative thought patterns.

I’m not afraid to admit —

I always thought of the worst thing that could happen to me, before I thought of the best thing happening to me.

For years, I thought it was normal to walk around the world, thinking negatively, fearing the worst, and in a perpetually anxious and fearful state.

Why was I so anxious, afraid, negative, and fearful, as a person?

As I began to reflect on this personal dilemma, I realized I needed to let go of of Television, especially the News!

I used to think constantly watching Tv and the news was how I stayed on top of current domestic and global affairs.

I used to believe that the the news was giving me the truth about the current state of our world.

But after close examination and contemplation, I realized I was just being programmed. My entire worldview was being conditioned and programmed. I was being taught how to think about specific issues.

I discovered how all the news channels were owned by a few media giants and conglomerates.

The newscasters on almost every channel mouthed off the same scripts.

This video below captures various newscasters from different networks reading the same script verbatim.

It became obvious to me that news anchors were essentially like actors and actresses reading scripts, and acting based on their given script.

Real journalism is dead! And the TV Networks and News stations have just extensions of Holywood!

They’re so good, you can’t tell whats real and what’s not real!

I decided to turn off my TV. And never looked back since!

5 Things That Happened In My Life When I Turned The TV/ News Off….

I focused more on getting in touch and developing my internal world, and less on my external world.

With my TV turned off, I had more time to tune in to myself.

I became focused on developing myself. I read more books on self-help, self-improvement, and spirituality.

I realized constantly watching the news and worrying about the state of the external world was sometimes a cop-out from focusing on my personal problems and internal life.

I realized it was a big distraction!

I began to focus more on dealing with my personal problems, rather than helplessly worrying about what the news was telling me was the state of the world.

For example — why spend all your energy and time freaking out about how climate change is going to kill us all on the planet, when what you should be focusing on how to heal yourself and be in better health?

Your personal problems which you could be neglecting could possibly kill you faster than climate change.

Why not focus on the things you have the power to control and impact, instead of, the things you can’t control, which often leave you feeling helpless and powerless?

Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t care about the world outside you, by all means, do what you can to live in harmony with the earth and your environment, but help yourself first because you too are a part of the earth.

Helping yourself first is the only way you can truly help the world around you.

Broken people can’t fix the world! It’s how the world ended up broken in the first place.

It’s ok to turn off your TV and focus on healing your mind, body, and spirit!

I consumed more mind and soul enrichening content.

I became mindful and intentional about what I was consuming.

I replaced the news with educative podcasts, videos, and materials that were in alignment with the growth and healing I wanted to experience in my life.

I think it’s important for each of us to be selective and intentional about what we’re feeding our minds, and also be intentional about what we’re programming our minds with.

Dr. Joe Dispenza is one of my favorite doctors/scientists /teachers who discusses the importance of healing our minds and tapping into its power to create our realities.

I watched this very powerful video yesterday, check it out:

I’ve become less anxious, paranoid, and on edge.

The news should be called “Bad News” because that’s really 99% percent of the kind of content they put out there into the world.

This is one of the major reasons I’ve stopped watching it religiously.

I used to walk around in the world always anxious, afraid, and scared something might go wrong.

I’ve noticed a significant shift within myself since I stopped watching the news

I’m much calmer and more positive in real life.

I’ve become less prejudiced and less afraid of people unlike me.

The news is one of the biggest proponents of division within our society.

They stoke the flames of division and turn people against each other.

I recall some years back, getting on a train in NYC and becoming anxious because a Muslim man with a big beard entered my train cart. Once I got off the train, I became ashamed at even entertaining the thought and fear, but it wasn’t entirely my fault. It was a direct result of my programming.

I understand this too well because depending on where I find myself, some people are afraid of me because of my skin color. I’ve seen people clutch onto their purses a little harder, double-check to make sure their car doors are locked, and been routinely followed around a store because they believe people with my skin color steal more!

Today, many of us live in our societies distrustful, paranoid, and afraid of one another. Simply because we’ve been programmed to be this way by the information we consume.

I started to think for myself.

Since I stopped watching the news, I’m not afraid to think for myself.

I don’t feel pressured to ascribe myself to mainstream narratives, especially when they don’t make sense or sit right with me.

I’m ok with having an independent thought on a subject that doesn’t need to be accepted by others or in alignment with the dominant narrative.

Do you trust the news you receive?

Have you ever taken a break from religiously consuming the news?

Do you think you can take a break from “The News”? Or do you need to have your fix of “The News” each day?

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