Kristin Are you a news watcher?
If so, you might be damaging your health!
When bad things are happening in the world –such as the invasion of Ukraine- it’s so tempting to want to closely watch the news. But numerous studies have shown that watching news is bad for your mental and emotional health. [Here’s a synopsis of one.]
Now I am not suggesting that you completely tune everything out and go obliviously through your day –like an ostrich with her head in the sand. (Although as I’ve stated previously, this DOES work well as a temporary measure.)
Here’s what you can do instead.
You can make different choices that allow you to stay informed while not decreasing your well-being as much:
Here are a few suggestions:
*Skim news headlines in newspapers once per day (or a few times / week, or no more than twice daily if you’re a news junkie.)
*Choose one story that tugs at your heart strings and spend a few moments researching simple ways you can make a difference. Here are some concrete things you can do about Ukraine for example.
*Practice the Inner Sanctuary Tool before and after watching the news. When you reach a state of coherence, ask your soul’s wisdom to help you find one thing you can do to feel like you’ve made a difference –even if only a small one!
*Make a play list of songs that make you feel better. [If you enjoy bittersweet songs that turn sorrow into beauty, be sure to add some of these to your list as well.]
Kristin halberg – practical-magick
Think of Your Emotions as Your “Emotional Diet”
Furthermore, I invite you to start thinking of your emotions as your “Emotional Diet.”
“Kristin, what the heck is an emotional diet?” you might be thinking. [You didn’t know I was a mind reader, did you?]
So here’s the thing … we hear about food diets all the time, but we don’t think about what we’re “feeding” ourselves emotionally, or pay attention to how that “food” also affects our overall health … and the health of our families and friends and all the other people we come into contact with.
What you “feed” yourself emotionally impacts your health as much or even more than what you feed yourself food-wise. Here’s just one study.
What you “feed” yourself emotionally impacts your health as much or even more than what you feed yourself food-wise.
–Kristin halberg, Practical-Magick
Although admittedly, the phrase “emotional diet” isn’t in pop culture yet.
Nevertheless, Simone Biles being chosen as the Times Athlete of the Year in 2021 is a step in that direction. And of course, Brene’ Brown’s popularity shows that at least emotions themselves have made the popular vernacular. And most recently, President Biden’s commitment to strengthening the mental health and substance use infrastructure and promising a huge budget for mental and emotional well being is another step in that direction.
Between the pandemic & the last five years or so of politics, the importance of choosing a healthy emotional diet has become even more obvious.
With the pandemic, not only have we added the “quarantine fifteen” to our waistlines, but we’ve also been a lot more isolated than most of us are used to. And the political disagreements AND the availability & constant bombardment of it all in the news and social media have made us all so much more angry and sad and depressed and lonely and overwhelmed and burned out!!
And when we are angry, sad, depressed, overwhelmed, lonely and burned out we are in an incoherent state!! What does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things, but mostly it means that we’re in a perpetual state of fight / flight / freeze/ faint. And THAT means that our bodies are not working in the way they should.
Some symptoms of incoherence are things like: difficulty concentrating, falling or staying asleep, heart palpitations, pacing, talking super rapidly, finger or toe tapping, racing thoughts, fidgeting, rearranging objects. [Know anyone who fits that description?]
But the GOOD news is that you CAN choose and change your emotional response.
Here’s one tool that will help you change your emotional response.
When you start to think of your “emotional diet” as the choices you make about what you “consume” or put yourself through, in the case of watching the news, for example, you can simply choose NOT to watch!
Got a spouse or significant other that’s a news junkie? Simply leave the room!
[I have one of these at home, so I’ve become very adept at walking away when I come across him listening to a story that messes with my nervous system.]
Want to learn more about how to change your “emotional diet”?
Choose to coach with me! I help women close the gap between the life they HAVE and the one they WANT.
Step one of my science-backed three-step “Magick” Formula is Nurture Your Nervous System. Learn more, or …
