The state of the modern world can become quite overwhelming and this overwhelm is Reinforced or emphasized or supported by our current infatuation with technology Should you choose you could choose to listen to a podcast watch videos?
Read newspapers basically consume media all day every day you wake up and Instantly can be on a social media platform Instantly can be having someone telling you what to think and how to think you can be distracted Continuously and forever for the rest of your lives This is a thing that can happen now.
Don't get me wrong.
I am a massive fan of Technology,
But I feel like it's a double-edged sword.
I mean this technology enables you to listen to this talk right now But it also enables you to fall into a trap and Given the state of the world as it is as it always seems to be at the moment there's this risk of becoming a slave to the continual consumption of information How much is?
Too much.
When can you say?
Okay.
I know enough about the situation How many news updates do you need do you need an hourly update or would you suffice with a daily update or perhaps a weekly update What I'm trying to drive out here is that after a certain point the information is no longer actionable and yet We have this craving or this desire or this want to just consume more.
I suggest that you employ some of the skills of mindfulness meditation and Observe that craving Observe your desire to just have more information in more coming in more coming in more coming in you want more information coming in Observe it.
What does that feel like?
How does it look?
What does it make you want to do?
What do you do,
Right?
And also take a step back and a moment to consider What that information gives you how you can act upon it.
I Mentioned it briefly before but the idea of actionable information is something that I'm looking more and more and more to only consume Actionable information is information that allows me to take action upon it So if I was to tell you about something happening in a country that you're not a part of that won't impact you But nonetheless will emotionally move you that might make a great news article or a great clickbait Blog or something like that.
It might get your attention But I wonder if it would do any good for you to consume it you might desire it It might be appealing it might capture your attention,
But will it help you?
Maybe maybe not that depends obviously with each bit of information But what I would like you to suggest is just to step back and think is does this information help me?
Now I'm not saying to switch off completely,
But what I am saying is to consider if this next update is helping you Because once you know the general facts does knowing the next little fact help you any more than what you already knew I would suggest not and I would actually suggest that it may be Counter to your mental state it might bring you down But the only way you can know for certain how it is impacting you is to observe it mindfully So as you're sitting down for your meditation practice as you're sitting down for your session Or just throughout your day just notice your desires to consume another piece of information Another bit of news about the latest current events and see what it does to you.
See how you're feeling before and after How's your mental state?
How's your moods?
How's your emotions?
How are you interacting with your family and your friends?
Has it helped?
I think that our desire to consume more information is somewhat evolutionary Think about it back in the day when we were,
You know proto-humans it would have been Unavoidable you must know where the dangers were,
You know,
What's the dangerous situation?
Where are the dangerous people is that tribe over there friendly or not friendly in that forest?
Is there food or is there something to fear right?
Oh that animal over there That's poisonous any of these information bits could be pivotal to our survival and we would want to know it and we would want to share it But that drive has been hyper exploited by modern news media We feel we still have this intuitive.
We still have this internal desire this evolutionary desire to know absolutely everything that's arising all the time because we think we're trained we evolved to feel like it will help us and perhaps some of it may But perhaps it won't What it certainly is helping is those companies to sell to you They get your eyes and attention and thus they can put advertisements on and thus they make money it's not in The social media platforms or the news media platforms or the podcast or anyone's in best interest for you to be in a good mental state It's in their best interest to get you to pay attention to them and they'll do that by any means the hope that I have for this talk is to just highlight that approach to highlight what's happening and to suggest to you that it's okay to Not always be plugged in in fact It might be more beneficial and it might seem a little bit selfish to want to turn off and switch off and focus on yourself But let me sort of reframe it the only way you can make a positive difference in the world the only way that you can impact the world the only way that You can act on all the things that you're getting exposed to in those news medias in a way that will be Beneficial to you to them to the world in line with your values is if you're in a good mental state If you're in a good mental state you will take appropriate actions and you'll be able to make improvements on the world so look after yourself take a step back and Then you'll be able to focus where you want to focus then you'll be able to Put your resources where they matter most because I tell you what after another another update and another update in another update Another update on top of that won't give you any more actionable information.
It will probably detrimentally impact your mental state So my advice to you is this Observe your desires to consume more information Observe how that information makes you feel during and after observe if it is actionable if you can take action upon it Observe if you do take action upon it and observe the impact that consuming it has on yourself and on your relationships with others And from there,
You'll be able to make better long-term choices and to work at if in fact,
You do want to consume more information I'm not saying to switch off I'm just saying to take a step back to make more mindful decisions as to what you put into your mind Because in the same way if you are what you eat your mind is what you put into it After this talk you have changed somewhat slightly you read a book it changes you somewhat slightly You read a tweet it changes you slightly you listen to a podcast news Everything impacts you someone that's why we consume it consume it to be moved to be changed to learn to grow to develop Let's just make sure we're developing in the right way.
Yeah Stay safe and have a great day
