Well I'm up to Life Lab 9 and this will be a challenge, as I work in the media and so does my husband. He works in TV in general news and I work in radio in a specialised area.

I made a decision three years ago that I would not listen to, watch or read any type of news apart from that directly relating to my work, because the negativity was really affecting me.

To a very large extent, I have kept that commitment till today, and only very very rarely do I read/watch/listen to any general news or current affairs.

I keep media consumption to work hours, and have been successful with keeping it in the building and not bringing it home with me.

However, I AM immersed in it for 8 hours a day at work. I run a current affairs program and small team, and in my niche area, the "news" is often negative. I'm tired of that too, but that's another story.

And my husband comes home and tells me about all the disastrous things that happened during the day, the raw footage from war zones he had to go through to decide what was broadcastable etc.

I've also noticed lately that the more negative, the more he relishes telling the story! I have started asking him "So did anything great happen today?" etc. And thankfully, he can often tell me something.

So - although I don't want to skip Life Lab 9 - I don't think I can pare my media consumption down any further, short of taking time off work.

I CAN ask my husband to not tell me of negativities across the day.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can make this effective now, or should I delay it till I'm on holidays?

Thank you!

Wow! Interesting! When I first read your post, I thought "oh dear! get out of there!" But the more I thought about it the more I realized we are all bombarded with so-called "bad news" all day every day.

All businesses are actually based on "there is something wrong here and we are here to help". It is hard to get to work, you must have a car. You are getting old and wrinkly, you must have moisturizer. And so on.

It is the same for charitable organizations. There are diseases, and we must find the cure. Children are being abused, we must stop that.

It is even the same for our CMI. We want to change something in our lives from what it is to something else...

So maybe working for a media business isn't all that different?

Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to see the truth versus getting caught up in appearances. Our job is to not study disease, but to focus on health, not to study poverty, but to focus on riches, not to study war, but to focus on peace.

Sounds like you are doing some good things to keep some of it out of your awareness, and some things to purposely focus on the stuff that makes you feel good.

What I noticed from your post is that when I am confronted with bad news, gossip, etc., up til now, I got upset. I got angry and resistant. I just now realized that my anger and resistance will keep it in place even more. What if, instead of noticing appearances (i.e. illness, poverty, war) and judging and feeling badly, instead I see the truth. All is well, people are evolving, getting richer, healthier, more peaceful all the time...

And once I have done that, what if I can release it from my consciousness and get back to contemplating what I want, my CMI.

Michela, I honestly do not have any answers for you, these are just my thoughts for now.

PS. Rebecca pointed out in another thread how fortunate we are for some so-called "bad" news. Her example was about a hurricane - and how that bad news helped her prepare and be safe. That got me thinking about all the good that comes from our media and many sources of information that are available to us.

Wattles talks about using our will to stay focused on our CMI and what we want - and how it is the "hardest" work there is. What if - because you have to work harder still because of your line of work, you will get even more practice than the rest of us and so your success will come faster?

Hi Leslie, thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. You have given me a lot to contemplate, just great!

You are absolutely right - we are bombarded with "bad/coercive news" every day from many different people and places - and maybe I can use this as a way of committing to Life Lab 9?

I don't watch commercial or cable TV at all, or listen to the radio. We only watch DVD's we want to watch, mainly comedy (my preference) or documentaries (my husband's.)

Perhaps I can affirm that for the next seven days I will not watch any television at all even my comedies (that'll be a challenge), and will not read any shopping catalogues (I read them!), as they're media too. I won't look at any billboards while I'm driving the car. Still thinking of what other media I am exposed to, outside of the "news" realm. Music? Not taking part in any gossip, negative conversations?

I have already committed to seeing beyond the obvious at work, and am grateful that I have a high degree of editorial control over what we cover, within the bounds of the organisation I work for. I already instigated some time ago, "issues over time" rather than stories as such. Proactive rather than reactive approach. We cover stories of success, culture, community each show. The brief for all: to inspire, educate and entertain. I have pared reactive/negative right down to a certain portion of the show only. And I encourage my team to always look for the "real" story, the inspiring gems, underneath a seemingly negative report/issue/press release from a marketing company. They are always there, we just have to dig deeper. The changes have been well accepted, and I'm happy with that

Sooo ... maybe I need to look at this very much as - truth beyond appearances, as you say Leslie - rather than focusing mainly on the media? That is the point, I figure?

And you're right about getting angry and resistant to what we read and hear. Unfortunately I can't escape the initial stuff I have to wade through - but I CAN choose my reactions to it.

Truth Beyond Appearances.

I like the sound of success coming faster!!

quote:

I CAN ask my husband to not tell me of negativities across the day.

Yes, Michela, you can do that. And here's something else I suggest.

During this next week as you "do" LifeLab 9, just watch YOUR OWN THOUGHTS. It doesn't matter if someone else wants to tell you the "bad" stuff or if it's part of your job. Just watch YOUR reactions to all of it. Take a mental step back and watch those thoughts arise, stay as long as you give them energy, and then pass on by.

One of my teachers puts it this way: You can watch your thoughts the way a dog trainer watches dogs -- with an eye to changing their behavior. Or you can watch them the way a small child watches ants scurrying around their anthill -- with fascination, curiosity, and wonder but NO thought of changing them in any way.

I suggest you observe your own thinking without that bias of, "Oh, I need to change this." Just watch. No judgement of others, of the thoughts, of yourself. Merely observe.

I have a feeling you will find this as fascinating as I do. Be the kid watching the ants. Just for a week. If anything I suggest in this forum or in the course is not useful to you, you have nothing to lose because you can always go back to how you did things before!

(By the way, my education and experience since I was about 14 -- including college degrees and professional experience -- were in journalism. Ha!)

Rebecca, thank you so much. You've brought me back to the point. So simple. Watch your thoughts. That's what it's about isn't it?

I am absolutely open always to suggestions and any advice you give, and you just gave me a wonderful Aha! Thank you

I see now I'm focusing on change and on thoughts being affected by media and then changing my thoughts. I need to watch my thoughts!

I'll be the kid watching the ants!

quote:

Originally posted by Michela:
I have already committed to seeing beyond the obvious at work, and am grateful that I have a high degree of editorial control over what we cover, within the bounds of the organisation I work for. I already instigated some time ago, "issues over time" rather than stories as such. Proactive rather than reactive approach. We cover stories of success, culture, community each show. The brief for all: to inspire, educate and entertain. I have pared reactive/negative right down to a certain portion of the show only. And I encourage my team to always look for the "real" story, the inspiring gems, underneath a seemingly negative report/issue/press release from a marketing company. They are always there, we just have to dig deeper. The changes have been well accepted, and I'm happy with that

Michela, this is FANTASTIC! I would love to watch a news program with this goal. You are doing a wonderful thing for your audience -- and for your team, too.

Love and blessings,
Rachel

Wow this week has certainly been a challenging one, with some major announcements and events that we needed to cover.

One in particular showed me all too clearly what my thoughts were (thanks Rebecca!) and absolutely why abstaining from media is so important in this course. Choosing to think in a certain way - and not merely responding to an event with reactive thoughts.

To cut a very long story somewhat shorter - I hooked in to the pain, anger and sorrow of a large group of people over certain things that are being done to them by a large mining company. (I had covered this story before). I became angry and emotional and really struggled with disconnecting from that and doing my job.

I doubted my ability to present the story fairly. I put off editing it until I could put it off no longer. I felt I couldn't do my job. I felt like hell.

So - as Rebecca suggested - I followed my thoughts and emotions through the process (a couple of days), and observed them. Tried not to judge them. Then asked myself what anyone, including myself, stood to benefit from me being so angry. Thanked the anger for letting me know I was not thinking in a certain way. Asked myself what I was here to do. The story. And my job was not to be angry or emotional, but to prepare and present the story, without added emotion from me.

I did it, but it took a good big cry alone to let it go. Not sure if that was a certain way? but I cleared very fast after that, and completed it.

What did I learn? Spiralling of thoughts in response to an event. Very rough time moving through them. Still pondering this. No aha yet.

quote:

I hooked in to the pain, anger and sorrow of a large group of people over certain things that are being done to them by a large mining company.

This whole post is intriguing, Michela. Packed with good "noticing."

That one statement up there jumped out at me, so I'll ask you: Do you think the people in that large group had anything to do with creating their current circumstances or is someone else doing this (whatever it is) to them?

Hi Rebecca, thanks for your reply and great question! Whew.

Your question is spot on and the simple answer would have to be "yes".

I actually said to one of the main community protagonists last week - that they wouldn't be in this situation if the community stood united (almost like a group CMI) against the company's proposals. He agreed.

This is basically an impoverished clan of Aboriginal people living in a remote area of Western Australia, who just happen to be sitting on top of multi billions of dollars worth of iron ore. A particular company is in the process of trying to get as much as it can for as low a deal as possible, to mine most of the land away over the next 40 years. (I need to clarify also - in this part of Australia it is still indeed "the wild west". The land concerned is important culturally - sacred sites, songlines, corroboree sites etc).

The community, as I'm slowly starting to see it - does not have a strong CMI together. The company has played on "divide and conquer" and indeed it has. Half the group are now terrified they'll get no money (what the company's telling them) if they don't agree to a very long list of terms one might say are not exactly reasonable. The other half of the community are saying they want adequate compensation for the destruction of the land and the state it'll be in, in four decades.

It is a community seriously divided, with both sides in turmoil.

Now, the company has a focused CMI of what it wants and how it has determined it will get it. I don't mean to misuse Clear Mental Image here - but this has really made me realise that CMI is not only personal, and not only for health, wealth and happiness on an individual level! And not for only "good". In the sense - could then someone with a very strong CMI with evil intent achieve their aim/s?

I've never thought about these types of issues in this light before.

quote:

Originally posted by Michela:
Now, the company has a focused CMI of what it wants and how it has determined it will get it. I don't mean to misuse Clear Mental Image here - but this has really made me realise that CMI is not only personal, and not only for health, wealth and happiness on an individual level! And not for only "good". In the sense - could then someone with a very strong CMI with evil intent achieve their aim/s?

I've never thought about these types of issues in this light before.

Interesting! All we have to do to get examples of CMI's is to look around us, see what is happening, what is being created/manifested.

The other thing this points out to me, is that every one of our CMI's - every ONE of them - will effect others around us in some way.

Whether those effects are "good" or "evil" depends completely on our perspective. (good, evil, right, wrong - all are comparative terms - "appearances" - based on an individual's assessments - and none are "true").

From what you've written here, it sounds like all sides are basing their actions on a belief of "not enough" - and we are learning here that the truth is, there is an unlimited supply...

And some businesses are based on people believing there is a limited supply. (Therefore you must buy - from me! - now!) Even an employee for a company is making that proposal to their boss. Hire me! Pay me! Or lose me... huh... I hadn't really seen it this way before...

I also think we get confused and caught up in the "shortage", "limited resources", etc. conversations all the time. If we look at the iron ore situation of Western Australia for instance, I'm sure there are very capable scientific types who have figured out how much ore is available and if they take it out of the ground at a certain rate, when it will be gone (i.e., 40 years). It is the same method we use to look at that apple pie in front of us. There are 8 pieces and 9 of us...

But - if we can stand back for a minute and see that there are more pies just down the street at the 24-hour grocery store, and there is wheat and apples growing in the fields and orchards and more and more seeds being created - as we speak... Also - in our pantries, at those same grocery stores, etc. there our many other sources of food as well. The same can be said about something like iron ore.

When I remember that, I have complete faith that there are ways for all of us to achieve our CMI's - including big businesses - without hurting others (in fact by Advancing others) - and even without hurting our Earth.

At first glance, the profit motive businesses have SEEMS to contradict "more life to all". But I am learning from TSOGR, that it is not true.

quote:

Originally posted by Leslie B:
The other thing this points out to me, is that every one of our CMI's - every ONE of them - will effect others around us in some way.
Whether those effects are "good" or "evil" depends completely on our perspective. (good, evil, right, wrong - all are comparative terms - appearances - based on an individual's assessments - and none are "true").

Leslie absolutely yes,it is all about perspective and evil is not evil, it's just energy. There is no good or bad, it's how we perceive them.

In this case, the company has publicly admitted it knows it's offering a terrible deal to the people. It knows it's proposing to destroy ancient sacred areas - which cannot be replaced. No, there are no more sacred areas for these people. Not on their land. A 60-thousand year old culture. Move on, people. Get real. get with the times. The company doesn't care. I have spoken with them. It's about bottom line and massive expansion.

quote:

From what you've written here, it sounds like all sides are basing their actions on a belief of "not enough" - and we are learning here that the truth is, there is an unlimited supply...

I am still very conflicted about this. Especially regarding massive environmental destruction, which is what this particular project will be.

quote:

But - if we can stand back for a minute and see that there are more pies just down the street at the 24-hour grocery store, and as we speak, there is wheat and apples growing in the fields and orchards and more and more seeds being created - as we speak... Also - in our pantries, at those same grocery stores, etc. there our many other sources of food as well. The same can be done with something like iron ore.

Absolutely true. But in this case, the iron ore is the "money vehicle" The issue is destruction of thousands of kilometres of ancient sacred sites still being used in traditional ways. (37 mining tenements, and one huge hub). It's difficult to explain outside of a "building" analogy. For anyone religious - how would they feel if a company came in and bulldozed up most or all of the churches/mosques/synagogues/temples in a particular city to get the iron ore underneath them? Wouldn't people expect adequate (whatever that means) financial compensation at least for your places of worship/connection being destroyed?

That is exactly what's going on here, these are places of worship. I know we can say that the important things are within us not without us - but that's not the "reality" for billions of this planets peoples!

quote:

I have complete faith that there are ways for all of us to achieve our CMI's - including big businesses - without hurting others (in fact by Advancing others) - and even without hurting our Earth.

Leslie, I so hope I can be in a place where I have faith that such divergent CMI's can co-exist, with more life to all.

quote:

At first glance, the profit motive most business have SEEMS to contradict "more life to all". But I am learning from TSOGR, that it is not necessarily true.

I'm digging.

Thank you for discussing this with me.

I was thinking today - if the media approached all stories/issues like this - there'd never be any news! No-one would have their "daily dose" of radio, TV, newspapers.

We have a saying about news approached like this. All about quantity and getting it out first, and fast. It's called "once over lightly".

I HAVE refrained from all other news etc for more than a week now, and hubby hasn't brought it home either

Just to be clear, I am saying I have complete confidence that it is possible.

I am not saying the mining company is right (OR wrong, actually) in what they are doing. I understand that it looks - to THEM - that they MUST have this iron ore to accomplish what they want to accomplish. What I am learning here is that this is NOT necessarily true...

I am also saying that all of us at times operate under false assumptions (not just big business). I am so sure, for example, that if I don't get a certain client - well, my life is over...

I just so love and appreciate being able to stop and question what I think. Also for the distinction of "appearances" versus "truth". And I am especially grateful when I remember this.

Thanks Leslie and you are so right!

I realise I have been focusing on the negatives of this and not the positives. I intellectually knew that, but got a big whoosh body understanding while driving to work the other day.

A lot has happened with this issue this week, really big stuff involving a "whistleblower archaeologist" on falsified reports by the mining company.

But for me - I got to meet a delegation of the Yindjibarndi people on their way home from meeting the Environment Minister in Canberra. I spent 4 hours with them at Sydney Airport while waiting for their plane.

I sat and had brekky and long chats with three senior Law Men, wonderful anthropologists and archaeologists and a barrister.

One of the old Law Men said, when I asked him how he felt about the splits in the community over the issue, "I'm happy with what I'm doing. It feels right, it feels good. Now if xxxx company takes more of our land and blasts it, it will. I'm not fighting them, I just know what I need to do. Spirit is in us whether we have our land or not"

I am so grateful.

quote:

Originally posted by Michela:
Spirit is in us whether we have our land or not"

I am so grateful.

Wow. That really says it all, doesn't it?