Nattering nabobs of negativity getting you down?

The local news is filled with murder and mayhem, robberies, kidnappings and other reports of negative events and personal disasters.

by Irene Conlan — 

I generally do not watch the news — maybe one or two newscasts a week, but no more. The local news is filled with murder and mayhem, robberies, kidnappings and other reports of negative events and personal disasters. The national news is filled with the same, only on a global scale.

But I made an exception during the presidential campaign — I listened to talk radio and watched both local and national TV news for a couple of months. I even began to turn on the news in the morning and keep it on all day so I could hear the latest polls, attacks, statements, misstatements and “interesting” reporting. That was a mistake.

A couple of days after the election was over, it all hit me. I am generally a very upbeat and positive person but I was feeling angry, depressed and helpless to do anything to help anybody. Whoa! What was going on? It didn’t take much examination to realize I had been receiving an overdose of negativity all day long, every day, and it had taken its toll.

During that time I could not write. It was as if any creativity in me had been sucked out or had dried up, leaving me without any words that could be cohesively organized for an article. My productivity was down and I had no motivation to get things done. I felt like I’d been flattened by a steamroller that turned around and hit me again.

There was only one thing to do. I turned off the TV. Instead, I chose classical music on the radio and an Andrea Bocelli CD to listen to when I drove my car. It took about three days for me to recover from the avalanche of “the nattering nabobs of negativity,” as former V.P. Spiro Agnew called them. (How I love that phrase.)

I don’t have to be uninformed just because I don’t watch TV news or listen to talk radio. I can scan the headlines on the Internet, and decide what I want to read and what I want to leave alone. I have a son who keeps up with everything and mentions the things I need to know about. But I don’t have to allow that constant negative intrusion into my mind and on my spirit that sends me into a downward spiral, rendering me useless.

The results of turning off the TV? I feel peaceful again. I’m sleeping at night. My meditation is no longer a rehashing of all the negative things I’ve heard and seen throughout the day. My mind is clear once more and I am back to a positive mental attitude. I’m even back in writing mode, and my productivity is on the rise.

Whew — that was a close call!

How about you? If it is true that we become what we think about all day long, as the motivational speakers iterate and reiterate, what are you becoming? Motivated, inspired, joyful and peaceful, or sad, depressed, afraid and overwhelmed?

You might want to turn a few dials or flip some switches in order to program your own mental computer with those things that are uplifting, motivating, enlightening and joyful.

Hmmm. What a concept!

Irene Conlan has a master’s degree in nursing, is a certified hypnotherapist and a certified past-life regression therapist at The PowerZone in Scottsdale, Ariz. www.theselfimprovementblog.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 6, December 2008/January 2009.