If you are anything like me, it is easy to get overtaken by bad news, devastating natural disasters, human crises, stories of abuse and heartache when we read the news, scroll through social media or watch news updates. It can also be overwhelming for our children who may be watching with us, or scrolling on their own devices. An important point to remember though, is that information is not thinking. Just because we are accessing this information, does not mean that we are critically thinking about it, assessing its worth, judging, valuing or comparing it with other, reliable information. Oftentimes, we are simply taking it in and this is where the danger lies.
I love this quote by Anne Frank, in her Diary of a Young Girl. A girl in a position to be truly overwhelmed by the bad news around her, choosing instead to focus on the beauty that still remains. We have a lot more choice about our thoughts and what information we choose to invite into our lives than we often think. Even in humanity's worst times throughout history, there have always been those blessed folk who choose to dwell on the joy and the beauty. We can - and should - turn to those eternal optimists for our own inspiration. Bringing some control back into our thoughts and the information that we choose to consume is the first step.
My goal, as you probably know already, is to focus on Joy this year. I am deliberately choosing joyful quotes, books that bring joy and inspire joy, movies that make me happy. I know that I need to keep up to date with what is happening in the world, to a certain extent. But I do not need to let myself to feel overwhelmed by the misery. I am not contributing anything good to myself, to my family or to the world this way. Instead, I'm choosing joy. I hope you will too.
Have a lovely week, and I hope you can see the beauty that still remains.
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