What you feed your mind will affect your output. The news cycle can be scary. Cable news has only made it worse.
It’s true we need to be informed to some degree. But a little goes a long way. If you feel the news is making you anxious or sad. Consider giving yourself a break. Continuous coverage of the latest tragedy can overwhelm anyone.
This sketch note page is from yesterday’s sermon at my church. Pastor Steve Southards from Salem Church of God continued his sermon series based on the song, “Because He Lives” by Bill and Gloria Gaither.
I loved the tin pan illustration Pastor Southards shared at the end. His grandfather loved to garden. When Steve visited, he would see aluminum foil pie pans hung over the garden. His grandfather put them there to scare away the birds, deer and other animals that wanted the tasty fruits and vegetables. Steve observed if a bird was smart, he might look for the foil pans because that would signify something good was nearby.
Too often, what scares us could actually hide the blessing we desire the most. Great sermon, as always from Pastor Southards.
If you listen to the news media for very long, you get the feeling everything is falling apart and everyone is ready to strangle each other. It can leave you with a feeling of fear and despair. You get the impression apocalypse has already come and the only thing left to do is write off the world and call it a day.
But if you unplug, take a drive across the country, and get out into nature, you get an entirely different feeling. The forests are unaffected by news hype. Mountains and valleys care little about the elections and the latest violence to hit the streets. True, what mankind does to nature affects it. But the story mankind tells itself is much scarier than the reality of a quiet trail, or a babbling brook. Just don’t take in some media before you leave. You’ll probably see a story about a man-eating cougar, a rabid bear or a bigfoot sighting.
The news media itself is suffering from downsizing and cutthroat competition. Perhaps the media loves to scare us because the typical news reporter is scared he or she will lose their job next week. Perhaps when you focus on the worse of humanity, you begin to believe your own hype.
It is so much easier to focus on the worst of humanity. It is so much more difficult, but rewarding to balance it with the good of nature as well as the best of humanity. It is out there. You just have to be intentional and escape the 24 hour news cycle once in a while.
I’m wondering if kids who are hearing US election news may start to build up a little anxiety. People on both sides are shrill. the rhetoric has never been more emotionally charged. Manners have been trashed. It’s just a mess.
I thought of this cartoon when I thought of the reassuring words I have heard from pulpits. This month, my pastor is doing a sermon series based on the subject, “Brave.” I am just glad there are still places where you can find words of hope and encouragement.
I drew this cartoon for the October 2016, Church of God Newsletter.
Over at Michael Hyatt’s blog, he gave a quote from a book entitled Do the Work. Within the quote, this statement stuck out to me:
Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.
I have to admit, I’m not ignorant, or arrogant enough. And I’m willing to bet you aren’t either. If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time gathering information, reading blogs, and pondering what is the best way to tackle a challenge. If you’re like me, you can get bogged down in the minutia of information.
That’s one reason I love working with children. They can help me find my giddy, stupid self. When you’re around kids, do these things to get your daring, stupid self back:
Working with kids is a great way to keep your innocent, creative self from thinking small. Encourage their dreams and you may find you can get “stupid” and work on your own.