Watching Your Media Intake

Hi folks,

Well, this post was oddly inspired by watching M. Night Shymalan's movie "The Happening" - which was a good scary movie and freaked my wife and I out a bit. I don't think I'm giving away anything by saying the protagonist happens upon someone who doesn't have TV, radio or internet. The woman has cut herself off from the news of the world, and in doing so, there are pluses and minuses. One of the pluses is the peaceful state she can be in.

I was speaking with my wife's uncle on Thanksgiving. He's from Spokane, and I asked him how the economy was there. His answer: it would be OK if people would stop watching the news. Apparently the local economy is fine, but people are freaking out when they see the national news about the bailout, etc etc.

These lead me to re-consider something I did at the start of the Iraq war - a media diet. For a week, I stopped watching news, surfing news sites on the web, and reading newspapers. Instead, I read books, I gardened, I exercised, I meditated and prayed. And it was really great. My anxiety level went down and my experience of Peace increased greatly.

In these times, where we can't control the national economy ourselves, it might be a good idea to reconsider your media diet. Instead of taking in bad news, keep your head down, keep moving forward in your practice, keep feeding your own soul and doing good in the world. Focus on what you can control and what you can do, and do it.

I sincerely wish you the best!
Your Grateful Guy

For Thanksgiving - Gratitude

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." - Meister Eckhart

So early on this Thanksgiving Day, I turn to Gratitude. It's both a wonderful experience and a powerful spiritual tool. I'll keep it short and pithy, as I am sure you want to turn to family, football, and food. :-)

There's never a bad time to turn to gratitude - to list and focus on what is in your life that you are grateful for, and to give thanks for it - to Source, to Spirit, to God (whatever word works for you). On the basis of the idea that we draw to us what is inside us, we should and do draw to us more to be grateful for.

My wife is teaching a class right now, and one of the homework assignments was to track unexpected income, and give thanks for it. I had a strange, wonderful result of that. Two different "lost" clients - people who had no-showed their last appointment, then didn't answer emails, and then ignore multiple mailed bills for the cancellation fee (one 3 months ago, one 6 MONTHS AGO) - both of them sent in checks to me!!! I was quite flabbergasted, but gave thanks. It was unexpected. It can happen, folks!

I've got lots more to be grateful for right now, including:
* two healthy businesses
* many of my year's intentions coming to fruition (this blog being part)
* a continually deepening marriage
* a return to the gym and working out

I welcome comments of your gratitudes too! Happy Thanksgiving! Go Lions! Go Seahawks!

Best, Your Grateful Guy