Journalists and the media give tremendous publicity to pollution and the need to clean up our environment. But ironically, they are among the worst offenders in the pollution business.

Within the past six months I’ve seen two or three reports on desperately poor, homeless people in third world countries who have settled on trash dumps. They live amid the garbage full time and spend their days breathing toxic fumes as they earn their living by culling out recyclable materials for sale to materials reprocessors. The reports usually focus on the hoards of children growing up in that squalor.

And yet, much of the material the media present to us is just as harmful, just as stinking and choking and poisonous. Thanks to the entertainment and news industries, we are privileged to spend our days mentally influenced by smoking, reeking mountains of toxic garbage.

You know the primary news maxim, right? “If it bleeds, it leads.”

Shock and horror are the primary “virtues” needed for a news story to get air time or front page coverage. Meanwhile, the happy stories – the feel-good, inspirational stories – are used to close. They get the last 30 seconds; just enough to “leave us with a smile.”

And the non-news features are similar. When’s the last time you saw a situation comedy about normal people? Inspiring people?

Of course I realize there ARE inspirational shows and publications that lift our sights and our aspirations. And I commend them, but honestly now, what’s the percentage?

So what am I doing here – playing “ain’t it awful?” Not exactly. My real point is to focus on the need for each one of us to take personal responsibility. It’s up to you and me individually to stop breathing so much crap and clean out his or her own mental space.And yes, it is possible. But how?

The same way you’d avoid a neighborhood with toxic fumes. You simply stop going there. You spend your time someplace else instead.

And that’s exactly what today’s guest author, Thea Westra, suggests. In fact, Thea presents us with ten useful, easily implemented tips for a healthier mind and spirit.

10 TIPS FOR MIND HEALTH IN A MEDIA STORM
By Thea Westra

I guess you have noticed that mainstream media is doing its best to whip up “storms in teacups” and impact us with drama, using charged language. I decided to list a few ideas, for those of us who are not interested in being taken on the ride that they have on offer.

Here are ten starters for things to do, while we wait for the mainstream media to change its behavior and catch up (I am always the optimist). More ideas could easily be added to this short-list, I am sure you have plenty more creative ones than these.

The first one is the obvious.

1. Turn off your televisions and radios. Enjoy some inspiring audios or videos, to replace listening to the news. Trust that, if there was something in the news about which you really needed to know, you would be exposed at just the right time for you, when you will need the information.

2. Call several friends who are like-minded. The friends who always leave you feeling great after you have met with them. Set up times to meet up for a morning coffee or walk. Talk about your next projects and plans, the ones that excite you and the ones that inspire you to new heights. Agree to engage only in conversations that will energize.

3. Spend an afternoon browsing in a motivational book store, go to the local markets, or visit a beautiful environment that has often opened up your heart, and your channels for creativity. Water falls, mountains and seashores best renew my spirit.

4. Pull your most inspiring book from the bookshelf, the one that is your all time favorite. Set up a lounge in the back garden or local park, and read for a full afternoon. Remind yourself that you actually do have the time, and give yourself full permission to enjoy the freedom of an afternoon away from the “have to’s”.

5. Enroll in a course or program. The one that you have been wanting to do, for quite some time. Train yourself in something brand new, add a new skill set to your résumé, or simply begin that fitness or yoga class, maybe even learn a new language. Expand the power of your mind and its capacity to serve you.

6. Learn more about finance and economy. Get to know more about how money markets really work. Read The Science Of Getting Rich and The Richest Man In Babylon. Become educated around money. Put in place new financial habits and structures, that are supportive of the way you want to contribute to the world, and that will empower your projects.

7. Get yourself super organized and get all that clutter from your life. Engage in a huge clean up and clean-sweep. Keep only things in your home that make you feel positive energy, whenever you see them. Set up great ways to manage incoming information and mail. Record all your regular & important dates into one reliable calendar.

8. Review and renew your commitment to your personal goals and your overall purpose. Complete several self-reflection exercises that help you get clear about where you are going, and why you are doing anything that you do. Spend time to check in with yourself, and assess that you are on the right track for where you want to be heading.

9. Create a personal project and put it on “super-duper, bright red, high priority” status! Give the project a deadline and attend to those daily, critical actions that must happen for this project to be completed by that date. Share the goal with supportive friends and even get them involved. Make it a project that will excite those around you and will shift the focus toward a brighter future, and for contribution to a better world.

10. Join a group or community, or create your own. They can be physical events that you attend, or virtual online communities in which you participate. Find new friends in these groups, who are of a similar and positive mindset as yourself.

As mentioned, this is a very basic and short list of possible things to take on board. I am certain that you can come up with many more for yourself. Let’s quit buying into what the media is telling us and create our own reality. Help to spark a future of optimism, high energy, possibility and fun.

© Thea Westra is founder and author at www.forwardsteps.com.au, based in Perth, Australia. Enjoy her other publications with these Forward Steps subscriptions and download a few free personal development gifts from Thea.

Back to Charles:
These are good suggestions, but they won’t just happen. We’ll need to make them happen, putting effort, time and awareness into them.

The easiest way to do that? Form a like-minded group to mutually help each other raise your collective consciousness. If you can find such people within your existing circle – such as at a church, synagog or mosque – that’s ideal.

Or, you may find it’s easier to start by gathering a whole new circle of friends, one that has no prior “toxic history” together. In any case, when a group of people with common interests, goals and ideals comes together, a gestalt or higher, “master” mind forms around them. That’s why many people call them “master mind groups.” This is a well-proven way to lift yourself and your life into a newer, more desirable level.

If you’d like to form a master mind group but you’re not sure where to start, Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler wrote an excellent book on the subject. It’s available on Amazon.com and it’s titled Meet and Grow Rich: How to Easily Create and Operate Your Own “Mastermind” Group for Health, Wealth, and More (not an affiliate link).

The old saying that nothing changes until somebody changes something is true here. So… among all the information flowing into your mind and influencing it daily, what are you going to change first, and how are you going to keep that change?

Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles

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