Is The News Bringing You Down?
We all know how frustrating bad news in the media can make us feel. There seems to be an even bigger divide between Americans over the political actions taking place in this country in the past few years. These events have triggered many to feel frustration, anger and sadness and leave most people at a loss at what to do to fix these feelings.
Here is some helpful advice on how to stop feeling frustrated, and start feeling okay.
In Tara Brach’s article, “When the News Makes Us Miserable: Remembering a Fuller Presence and Larger Truth”, she explains a helpful way of thinking to combat this.
When you start to feel frustrated:
Step 1 – Accept the emotion you are feeling (do not ignore it or believe it should not be there).
Step 2 – Listen to the message of this emotion. Whatever is making you feel frustrated is also something that you care about, so be aware of what this is.
Step 3 – Just because you accept something happening in the news does not mean you support it happening. It means that you are courageous enough to greet something you disagree with in a compassionate way.
Step 4 – Stay in touch with anyone who cares about the same things as you. Caring together keeps hope for change growing.
And remember –
“Suffering is necessary to fuel transformation.”
