Emotional Pollutants

Within this post I’d like to refer to two sources...

1, An article in the Independent Newspaper called
“Anger – Why we’re all losing our cool”

2. A journal entry from my friend Pod on her return to England...

They are both connected in that they highlight the power of words and media on the nation’s psyche... when you are constantly bombarded with negativity, fear, terror, drama, anger etc etc.... you can’t but help to digest it some way... sometimes it seems the only way to escape it is it indeed to flea the country...

...in a world where we are struggling to deal with the negative impact of toxins upon the environment, it is also important to be aware of the “emotional pollutants” we all face....


Pod's Journal

"Well I am back in England after about 33 hours travelling. Not a bad journey at all.

I want to tell you what hit me! Why I find it hard to be here....

I read everything! I can't help it. My mind just reads anything that it can see, and I am sure everyone else is like that too, it is just that we do it so subconsciously we do not real*eyes it.

Mainly it is the adverts that get to me. The train stopped at Manchester Picadilly for five minutes. Bleary eyes, I looked out of the window to be confronted by two billboards directly outside the train window. I could not see anything else in my line of vision until I had read their contents.

The first one read " TERROR VIOLENCE KILLING"
and then below in smaller letters "Underneath the bleeding"

It is an advert for a book and the same billboard is at Sheffield station on the walkway. Can you imagine how many people subconsciously read it as they go to and from their destinations?

Next to it was another billboard which read "In a country where crime does not exist, a serial killer has a perfect alibi" and then more blurb about violence which I cannot recall (thank God)

In Thailand, I cannot read the billboards, even if there are any in Koh Lanta. Now I’m back in England, I have no defence against this and it has struck me hard, the violent energy of the words went deep into me. It was very uncomfortable. I have let my mind travel free and unfettered by the subconscious advertising of the Western World. Maybe in England we have mental shutters up and this stops us from exploring other thoughts of a purer and more peaceful nature.

Of course after so long an abstinence from English, my mafia mind is hungry and greedy for anything it can read and understand, and therein lies the trap. I do not want to have this stuff in my consciousness, but unless I go round blindfolded, I do not know what to do about it......"

End of Pod's Journal

Thank you Pod for sharing your thoughts and feelings upon returning to England. I can relate to your account very well. I remember returning to England a few years ago after a year in South East Asia... After a tearful and warm embrace with my family at the airport, and a cup of tea to catch up with each other, we set off in the car to make our way back home.

The radio was on in the car, and within minutes I heard news of a horrific murder which had taken place in some location miles and miles and miles away from my home... When I heard the news my emotions were immediately dampened and a sinking feeling came over me... and I promptly wanted to get out of there.... it felt toxic!

The question is - did I really need to know about it anyway???
Was it really news that I needed to hear in order to carry out my life?
Was there anything I could do about it?
Would me knowing help anyone in anyway whatsoever?

Yes - it may be reality, and that kind of thing certainly goes on... but the news is always so unbalanced that eventually you feel as though only bad things happen... and you end up feeling despair and apathy... you can't do anything to change things..

And on a deeper level.. how does this kind of emotion work? Where does it lead? The impact of unbalance negative news can only lead to anger, depression, fear and apathy leading to a tendency to escape the so called reality by burying yourself in alcohol, work, drugs or whatever else helps to numb the brain of the horrific acts we are led to believe form the MAJORITY of our reality....

For years I have believed there is a call for a newspaper or something which contains more balanced news... Media which places a greater emphasis on the positive things that are happening around the world... Media which inspires and injects hope and optimism into the psyche of its readers...

Well as yet - I haven't started such a newspaper... but I have started researching what media exists already.. here are some links to some sites which focus on positive news...

http://www.positivenews.org.uk
http://www.goodnewsbroadcast.com/
http://www.yesmagazine.org/default.asp
http://www.gnmagazine.org/