Last night I watched Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Then I turned the channel and listened to Tucker Carlson on FOX. Then I turned the channel and listened to Anderson Cooper on CNN, then to Hannity, back to Lawrence O’Donnell and then to Laura Ingraham and back and forth until I had as much as my curious soul could take.
If I allowed myself to be victimized by the process, I suppose I would call this an exercise in emotional and psychological whiplash. But I did it intentionally, crazy right?
Why would I do such a thing? I’ll be honest, it is not because I am particularly interested in politics per se, but I am totally intrigued by human nature and my own internal responses to different styles of communicating. I wanted to challenge myself and take the time to discover who I really am and what I really think.
While observing my own thoughts and conducting a sort of “blood pressure spot check” some interesting things invaded my head space. A laundry list of observations began to take shape and crowd all other thoughts out of my brain.
1. OBJECTIVITY is on the “endangered thinking” list and is as rare as finding a journalist who doesn’t interrupt and continually talk over someone who doesn’t agree with him or her.
2. FACTS stand no chance against our deeply entrenched filters which are based on emotional responses and run as deep as our flight or fight reflexes.
3. LISTENING with the intent to truly understand rather than to formulate our reply is a virtue all of us need to aspire to and improve upon.
4. TRIBALISM or group think/blind allegiance to one’s team can become a cancer on our society which feeds off of our individual egos and creates a safe haven for an “us vs. them” mentality, feelings of superiority, disdain for differing opinions and hypocrisy at its most disgusting, distasteful display.
5. HATE is not owned by any particular group, party, religion or race and the justification for vileness can be skewed to fit anyone’s particular ideology and rebranded as “justified retaliation” or “righteous indignation”.
6. POSITIVITY and hope are still available to us all no matter how dire a picture is being presented to us or is actual – as always, we as individuals have to choose how we see the world, how we choose to interact with others and how we choose to LIVE our own lives.
So what about me and my own revelations for myself? I know one thing, I want to aspire to inspire. I want to be a person who uplifts those around me and makes the world a better place and it is going to take a lot of practice.
While the partisan divide grows wider by the day and we continue to have a huge vacuum of positive inspiration from our national leaders – I am going to be working on these things in my own life each and every day from this day forward and HOPING that my actions will serve to inspire others to learn, grow, expand, evolve, and ultimately LOVE!
The Zen Den
Hello and welcome to The Zen Den. My name is Alison and while I am passionate about many things, my most inspiring driving force is human connection. Blogger, content writer, orthopedic exercise specialist, motivational speaker, international yoga pro, published songwriter, avid poker player, mom and wife are just a few of my titles. But when I do my job at NASA, I am known simply as “The Fairy Zenmother” a role I deeply love because people invite me into their space to help them find their center, relax and stretch their muscles and destress their mind. Here in the blogosphere version of The Zen Den, I invite you into my world where I will explore ideas for creating a better tomorrow and a kinder today. And hopefully, with insight, authenticity and humor; my words, observations and experiences will help you feel calm, centered, intellectually challenged and spiritually enlightened. Alternatively, if you have something you would like to see covered in The Zen Den, just let me know. Your feedback is welcome and valuable to the success of this blog. Finally, my heart is filled with gratitude to have this opportunity to share with all of you.
