Tuning out.

Have you ever watched a dog running away and hear the owner calling wildly while the dog just seems to ignore him or her? The dog just seems to be tuning them out and running free without a care in the world..

Gosh I wish that I could sometimes do the same thing.

So much bad news lately. Over and over we hear about a 2 year old probably murdered by her now freed mom. We hear about a boy snatched and murdered in a cloistered community in New York City.  We hear about how the politicians that are supposed to be helping us are doing anything but. And we hear about bad weather patterns, crop failures, unemployment and a constant stream of sad stories from the seemingly never-ending war on terror.

We know more about Casey Anthony's tattoo than we need to know. Why, we know more about her than most of the people who live nearby in our own neighborhood.  It is maddening and crazy.

TMI.  Too much information. Enough already. I want to be like the dog running free who just doesn't listen anymore. Don't you?

We have always had bad news.  It just wasn't broadcast 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, non-stop on 300 channels.

No wonder we are all stressed out. Hearing things over and over again like this makes it seem personal to us. That it needs to be our personal concern somehow. But it doesn't and it shouldn't.

Boundaries and limits. How many times have we heard that by setting certain boundaries and limits we can lead a less stressful life? But the news media knows no boundary and knows no limit.  They fill us in on every single detail of things that they shouldn't even know and fill our heads with details that are none of our business. They talk about things that should never be spoken about in public. They speculate. They do things to sensationalize their story, even if that means lying, cheating or fabricating.

So, I think it is high time we set our own limits and boundaries and simply tune them out.

It is late July now, the dog days of summer. Time to relax, chill out, take in a sunset on a beach or a walk through the mountains. Time to sit outside after working all day to a calm breeze, some light chit-chat or perhaps some gardening. Walking the dog seems a pleasure now.  A bike ride feels lovely. These are the things that we should be enjoying now. Tuning into ourselves, our family and the absolute wonder of a summer night.

I am not saying that we shouldn't be interested in the nation, the world or our fellow citizens. We should.  But we can know what is going on without stepping into the mud.  Because that just simply weighs us down and makes us feel awful.

So, tune out. Turn off the news. Go outside. Don't be tempted by the tabloids, the internet or magazine headlines that tell you what they say you need to know.  You don't need to know it. You simply don't.

So, be like the dog running free. At least occasionally. By doing so you may find that you can finally tune into yourself.  And that is all the news you need to know anyway.

Television has a real problem.  They have no page two.  Consequently every big story gets the same play and comes across to the viewer as a really big, scary one. 

~Art Buchwald, 1969

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. 
~Ada Louise Huxtable