Starving Your Mind

Remember when the news was broadcast 2 hrs a night? One hour was for national news. The next was the local news and weather.

Now the “news” runs 24 hours a day on dozens of channels.

Even in Evansville, IN, where I live, news runs 4 hours in the morning and another 4 hours in the evening.

I wonder why they are called “programs??”

When I was young, I resented when older people would call the TV the one-eyed brain sucker. Now that I’m older I understand.

Ever since MTV (remember when they used to play music videos??) started “The Real World” we have had a non-stop parade of new “reality TV shows” that aren’t anything even remotely (pun intended) related to reality. These programs are scripted from start to finish. And do we really care anything about what the Kardashians are doing? Or the real plumbers’ housewives or whatever is going on these days?

Geez I sound like a bitter old man.

But the truth is, we fill our minds with lots of absolute junk. Garbage. Sewage.

The vapid, wasteful, time eating, brain sucking, mind numbing, life draining, drivel on the boob tube lately is beyond compare. We haven’t moved forward or upward.

I wonder why so many people suffer anxiety and depression.

The sole purpose for all this nonsense is to expose you to advertisers. That’s it. Nothing else.

Get you to tune in each week so you can be told where to spend your hard-earned money. Same Bat time, same Bat channel. You aren’t smart enough, good looking enough, dressed sharply enough or fashionably enough. Your eyebrows are so last year. Your shoes make you look out of touch. Are you really still driving a car that won’t parallel park for you? Lincoln has been running an ad that tells you their $70k SUV is “the luxury you deserve.”

If the TV isn’t programming you to buy more stuff, it’s telling you what to think about how they’ve crafted their news stories. Only six families own every news outlet available. That’s print, magazines, all news programs. They determine what you see, how you see it, and then spend days talking to pundit after pundit about how this affects you in your living room.

We are bombarded with information every moment of every day, yet we are no smarter or wiser or more connected.

Do we really need to know everything about everything that everyone is doing about whatever wherever around the world?

If you’ve seen my Facebook page, you know that I drone on about diet. I talk about cooking and eating and nutrients and feeding the system. Whole food plant based and all of that. I believe it and I live it.

But our diet is more than what we put in our mouths.

I’ve got a sign printed that I plan to put on my office wall. It says …

We must be cautious of the environment in which we immerse ourselves. If I told you to go into a room filled with mustard gas, you would refuse. You know it would kill you. (Oddly enough, mustard gas, while being used in WWI as an anti-personnel agent for its tendency to cause an agonizing and slow death, has been used to treat cancer for decades, hmm..)

Yet if I told you to go into a room filled with Tiger King, The Kardashians, Honey Boo Boo, and the wide assortment of CNN, MSNBC, FOXNEWS, etc., you would rush right in and breathe deeply.

This is poison to the mind just as mustard gas is poison to the body (unless it’s used for cancer, then it’s suddenly heathy).

I’m going to suggest something radical. Revolutionary. Shocking.

UNPLUG

That’s right. Just walk away. Turn it all off.

Go outside. Walk in the grass. Read a book. Call a friend to go to lunch. And then don’t shove the food down your hatch. Slowly take the time to enjoy each bite. Providing that it’s actually good food made by hand and not some fast food burger or whatever.

Read a book. Take the time to sit down outside, pour a drink, and read a book. Just unplug from it all. Stop letting advertisers tell you what is best for you and what product will make you a better person. Stop letting them tell you how much you suck because you aren’t paying for their products. Stop letting someone tell you what to think or how to think it.

Feed your mind. That’s right. Nourish your mind. It requires sustenance. Provide it something to chew on. Not the reality show trope. Put on some music. Dance around the house. Sing along, badly.

The truth is that the news isn’t news. They call it a program for a reason. Stop being programmed. Pull away, disengage, detach. Be with yourself. Enjoy your company. Be with your thoughts.

What’s in your diet? What do you put in your mouth and your mind?

Nourish yourself every day.

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This week in Tai Chi class, we will practice the Eight Pieces of the Silk Brocade. The Qigong set is nearly one thousand years old in its current form. Some say it originates up to four thousand years ago. You will certainly feel its effects in nearly every muscle.

Let’s get together and have some fun.

Classes are as follows.

All classes are pay as you go. No contracts or commitments.

Jasper

Tuesday 6:30pm

Dubois County Museum

2704 Newton

Classes are $12.

Evansville

Wednesday 6:30pm

Tri State Holistic Wellness

500 Saint Phillips Rd 47712

Classes are $10 cash

Saturday 11:00 am

Unity of Evansville

4118 Pollack Ave 47714

Classes are $10 cash

I'm available by appointment throughout the week in Evansville for

Reiki / Acupressure

Herbalism / Nutrition

sessions. $60 cash

Message me by text, email, or Facebook Messenger to schedule an appointment.

In the Tao,

Sifu Weeg