The Socrates "Three Questions" Test For News And Gossip

art by Tom Richmond

I really liked this anecdote attributed to Socrates -- which I came across in the book "The Attractor Factor" by Joe Vitale -- about avoiding the poison of negative news and gossip. Please don't feel like I'm translating this direct from the original Greek -- I'm paraphrasing.

One day a man ran up to Socrates, shouting to him: "I've got some mind-blowing news to tell you!"

Socrates held up his hand calmly and interrupted the man:

"This sounds cool, but I have three questions to ask you before you impart this news to me."

How To Navigate Through Negative Online News

How do we avoid the clutter of negativity?
(photo credit: The Sean & Lauren Spectacular on Flickr)

Currently, I'm reading a book by Joe Vitale called "The Attractor Factor," about how we can bring more abundance into our lives by clarifying our goals and keeping a positive viewpoint. In a chapter called "Step One: The Springboard," he discusses how we "create" our own life situations by our mindset, and how the world outside us is a reflection of that. More specifically, Vitale advises that what we "take in" to our mind will work to create our life situation (positive or negative):

"One way to protect yourself from the negative influences of the world at large is to abstain from them...I don't watch the news or read the papers. After a while you begin to see how you are fed one-sided, negative heavy news. None of it is designed to help my well-being."

Learn When To Sway: Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy

World turned upside-down, roots coming to light

I haven't updated this blog in a good long while...so long, in fact, that I was actually embarrassed to go back to it. Like a cat who trips or accidentally walks into a wall, then acts like it meant to do it. "Oh, I had started this thing, but then it dropped off the map like so many things do..."

Zombie Fatigue: Should We Avoid Reading The News When It's Too Dark?

Must...read...more...newssssssss.... (image by Digital Sextant on Flickr)

"Zombie Fatigue"
The last week or so has been a ratings bonanza for various news outlets, what with news of "cannibals," "zombies," "Canadian zombie cannibals," and so on. It seems like each day brings stories on some new over-the-top horrible affront to humanity; many of the readers of these gory tales comment that it seems as if the world is ending, that we are in the grip of some terrible fire-and-brimstone Apocalypse. It makes people feel incredibly fearful and without any control in their lives.

Rationally, I know that we are not in the midst of the End Times, or some sort of zombie outbreak. I think these sorts of horrible things have been happening -- even in "civilized" modern society -- just about forever. Rather, the News -- and by extension, us -- have been focusing on these types of stories more often, picking them out of the wilderness of police reports and local coverage. If the "Miami Cannibal" story did gangbusters hits on various websites, they are going to do their best to extend the news cycle with follow-ups and similar stories. I'm in the media myself, and I totally get this.