Category: Deeper Meaning

What is the deeper meaning behind cutting yourself off from all mass media?  Let me first speak to that question by talking briefly about my own personal experience.

When in my twenties I served as a navy officer in the Roosevelt Roads Navy Station in Puerto Rico. There was no television to be seen in Puerto Rico at that time. I really had no choice but to experience a news fast of all types for three years while serving there in the navy.

When returning to the United States, I naturally turned on the TV to see what I had missed while I was away. After watching a few days my reaction was that I had not missed anything of any great importance.  I continued nonetheless to watch the news over the next 20 or so years at which point I decided to conduct a media fast for myself.  I have not now actually watched TV for several decades other than when I happen to be staying in a hotel room and want to chill out.

The level of my anxiety and stress has been profoundly reduced as a result of not being exposed to the mass media in the form of television, in the form of newspapers and in the form of radio.  Because my stress level has been significantly reduced moment to moment, my health has been excellent over the last several decades.

Why has my own news fast had such a positive impact on my health and my well-being?  I think it is because the mass media conveys information that instantly creates anxiety and stress.  Both are directly connected to the symptoms of Parkinson’s. It makes good sense to me to do anything possible to reduce any and all stimuli that enhance and provoke stress and anxiety.  When watching the news media everyday or listening to the radio everyday or reading the newspaper, we are exposing ourselves to horrendous information and images. Stories of gloom and doom dominate the mass media.

What do we see on the TV when we watch?  We see information about crimes, about assaults, about terrorism, about death, about court proceedings, about animal cruelty, about negative political advertising, about sheer propaganda, lies, suffering, pain, lawsuits, gangs, scare tactics, the world is coming to an end; the list really is endless.  Think back on any TV that you might have recently watched.  What positive and uplifting story did you watch?

When I cruise around television stations when I am at a hotel staying overnight I quite frankly become depressed.  I ask myself why am I wasting my time spinning across these TV channels when there are no uplifting programs to watch?

As I suggested at the offset, change must be taken if you expect to see the reversal of symptoms.  What change is required?  Consider a news fast to be one possibility for you.

The end goal is to reduce stress and anxiety in your life.  One simple way in believe to do that is to go on a mass media news fast, not just this week, but how about for the rest of your life?

If you pursue this particular mindfulness challenge, I suggest that you monitor your symptoms along with your levels of stress and anxiety.  If your experience is like mine you will indeed discover that you are significantly less stressed. You are less anxious, affording an opportunity for whatever imbalances that may be present in your body to resolve naturally, with no side-effects, comfortably, effortlessly.

Making this change in your life style requires no prescription medications, no visits to doctors, no listening to Parkinsons Recovery radio shows.  It simply means that you change your behavior.  Instead of exposing yourself to the horrors of the world, you take alternative action that is in your best and highest good through such as more exercise and better eating. You pursue passions that are deeply fulfilling.

Many people are resistant to undertake and accept this challenge because they feel as though they will miss something important.  I am here to tell you that there is no way this can happen if you go on a news fast (having been on one now for over a decade).  When something significant happens, you will hear about it very, very quickly.  It is really quite amazing.  People will be talking about it; it’s very evident from any encounter with anyone anywhere, whether they be strangers or friends. The news will be in your face. People will say:

“Have you heard?” 

And the simple answer is:

“Tell me about it, no.” 

You will get the full report – usually in great detail – of the event which just occurred.

Rest assured, you are not going to miss anything because you will hear about it anyway.  Better yet, if there is a horrendous event in the world, you will not expose yourself to the horrors of the images.  After all, if there is a horrendous event in the world, what can you personally do about it?

If this is part of your job, of course you must see and know and do and go to the place the horrendous event occurred.  For most of us, we can do nothing to help out those who are suffering from the earthquakes or the tsunamis or the hurricanes or the tornadoes.  We are too far distant and unable to provide any assistance.

What do we get if we actually expose ourselves to the information and the images and the sounds that are connected to those particular events?  What we get is an assault into the tissues of our body of trauma, which creates stress and anxiety.  What do you get in return?  Symptoms become much, much worse.

So, what do you really get out of spending time watching TV? You spend time watching the horrors of the world and in return, do you get better? Do you feel better?  The answer is no; just the reverse. You will feel worse, less able to help out others when they are in need when you happen to be in a position to help.

In summary, I say to you the following: I have personally found that a news fast has provided extreme benefits to me over the last 20 years.  Try it out and see what happens with you.  It is amazing to me to watch how much negativity is conveyed in the mass media.  It is also exciting to discover how much time is freed up when you stop spending your time allowing the mass media to gobble up your energy.

Have fun with your news fast as I hope you continue to accept the challenge–no TV, no reading newspapers, no listening to the radio. Consider alternative actions.  Make a change in your life. Notice what happens with your symptoms.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

What is, you are now wondering, the deeper meaning behind a challenge which suggests that you always say “Yes” no matter what is suggested or what opportunity might become available to you.  It is the case that persons in some occupations tend to be oppositional.  Certainly that is the job of lawyers. Certainly that is the job of academics who are always looking to see the flaws in what study is being suggested to be published.

Why did I personally decide to become qualified to be become an academic and receive appointments at the large state universities?  The real reason I think, in retrospect, was job security.  I did not want to be poor; I did not want to be dependent on others.  I wanted to be able to take care of myself.  How about a different reason for pursuing the life of an academic?

I could have pursued that particular profession because I loved teaching, or I loved writing.  In retrospect, however, those weren’t the reasons.  May I remind you I resigned my position as a full tenured professor at the University of Kentucky just ten years ago.  The reasons that motivated me to become a professor were not good enough reasons to hold me in for a lifetime doing the work of an academic.

Being oppositional clearly takes us up into our heads as we rattle about one possibility after another before we either say yes or no.  We are always pondering. We are always evaluating. We are always looking for flaws.  That approach, that set of skills has a very different feel to it, a very different energy than the energy associated with just saying yes.

What has happened when you have said yes to situations these past few days that you normally would have paused and said no to?  Is it possible that saying yes has alerted you to when you realize that your real answer is an immediate “No.”  In other words, by saying yes you can immediately realize,

“Oh, heavens, that is not something I would ever really want to do.”

Alternatively, you might have spent hour after hour pontificating whether it would be a good decision or not.  By simply saying yes your body told you no way should you pursue that possibility.  Perhaps just saying yes alerted you to as to  how you actually make decisions.  Perhaps the reason why you can’t decide to do something that you really do want to do is because you already have made so many prior commitments. You immediately say no because of those commitments. The idea is you must honor those prior commitments always takes priority over a new opportunity that arises in the moment. Do you dismiss opportunities out of hand because of prior commitments?

“No. Sorry. I can’t go on that 3 day trip tomorrow to Hawaii with you all expenses paid because I promised to make a chocolate cake for my Uncle.”

Really?

Perhaps saying always yes alerts you to the endless hours that you actually spend in your head just as like hamster who spins around and around and around its wheel pondering, figuring, assessing, creating cost benefit analysis, weighing a decision, when the obvious answer for you is an immediate yes.

“Of course that is something I would love to do.”

Just saying yes then allows us to begin to examine the energy behind resistance as contrasted to the energy behind moving forward in life.  What does this all have to do with experiencing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?  Many people are focused on the symptoms and saying “No” to the symptoms, ”

• No to the fact that this left arm happens to be tremoring day after day. 
• No to the fact that I can’t swallow as I used to just one year ago. 
• No to the fact that I can’t talk loudly and clearly. 
• No to the fact that I have pain in my right thigh. 
• No, no, no, no.

The focus is on the negative rather than saying “Yes” to life and all that it affords.

The amazing discovery that I have made over the last six years of my research on Parkinson’s is when individuals pursue an activity that they truly love, symptoms totally and completely dissolve.  It doesn’t matter what the activity is.

• I’ve seen people in wheelchairs who, when afforded the opportunity to line dance, slowly got out of their wheel chair, held on to another person and by George, line danced up and down the dance floor. 

• I’ve seen people who had serious symptoms associated with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease who were able to play championship ping pong games without showing any evidence of symptoms whatsoever. 

• I’ve seen painters with  serious symptoms who-  once they launch a painting project – do not experience any tremoring or any other symptoms whatsoever.

In activity after activity I hear report after report of people who report back, “I don’t seem to have any symptoms whatsoever when I am with my granddaughter or grandson or son or daughter.

I invite you to seriously ponder what you genuinely love to do.  What haven’t you been doing recently that you always loved to do years and years ago?  Start focusing on the ‘yes’ of your life. Start doing what it is that you truly love to do.

When you begin to spend and allocate your thinking energy on the “Yes to life,” I suggest you will see the problematic symptoms be less and less worrisome and bothersome to you personally.  Saying yes has a far more energetic charge than saying no.

Saying no creates a diffusion of energy. It creates equivocality. It creates hesitation.

It paralyzes. We are not moving forward when we are stopping to evaluate.  We are not moving forward when we say no.  We do move forward in our life and we do have a surge of delicious energy when we say yes.

Clearly you don’t want to say yes to everything. That is not the point of this mindfulness challenge. The point of this particular mindfulness challenge is to tease out the difference between when you do say “Yes” and when you do say “No,” and to shift your responses moment to moment so that you are riding on the waves of a joyous life that refuses to go to sleep at night because you’re having so much fun.

Of course symptoms may still be present here and there, but the focus is not on the symptoms.  The focus is on the life that you choose to lead.

May you have a magnificent time this week as you continue to say

“Yes to Life.” 

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery