Would you be willing
to invest two weeks if at the end of that time you could be happier, more content and find a level of peace you may have thought unobtainable? What if I told you that you could actually do this for free and it would take up none of your time? What if I told you that you wouldn’t have to do anything to achieve a happier life?
You may be thinking that this is too good to be true. You might be wondering when this guy is going to ask me for my credit card number? You can relax. Many others have tried it including myself and it works. And you can keep your credit card in your wallet or purse. You won’t need it.
What I’m going to share with you is so simple you may be tempted to think that it couldn’t work. But, you can’t argue with the people who have tried it and found that it does work. It may be simple, but it may not be easy. Are you ready? Turn off the radio and television for two weeks.
You are probably asking what the heck am I going to do for two weeks with nothing to do? Nature abhors a vacuum. If you think for just a minute you could probably come up with a long list of things you tell yourself you would like to do if only you had the time. Maybe take that walk around the neighborhood or go to the gym. There might be a book you have wanted to read or some subject you always wanted to know more about. Have you thought about writing down your goals? You might be one of those people who complain about never getting enough sleep. Here is your chance to get that extra hour you crave. If you went for the walk or to the gym, you might be tired enough to hit the sack an hour early. Do you long for more “quality time” with someone special? You now have time to invest in nourishing that relationship you have been ignoring. Making them feel loved and appreciated might also get you in bed an hour early. The possibilities are endless.
There is an old adage that says if you don’t like what you are getting, change what you are doing. The news and many shows feed the mind negative messages. Negatives like lack and limitation or there are many dangerous things to be feared and avoided. Then there are commercial messages that tell you that you can’t be happy unless you use or consume their product. Your conscious mind can judge and discard the messages you don’t want to pay attention to. But, the subconscious is child-like and doesn’t evaluate input. It simply observes, records and eagerly waits for you to ask a question.
Much of the anger, fear and stress we feel is not based on fact. It is a reflection of the data we expose our minds to on a regular basis. Repetition is proven way to learn something. Repetition is also an excellent way to teach. Newscasters unwillingly teach us that the world is a dangerous place and bad things are constantly happening. Advertisers knowingly use repetition to plant subconscious messages that influence your behavior.
Can you remember seeing the same ad over and over again. Like fourteen times during a half hour show! Sometimes the same ad plays twice during a single commercial break! You might get frustrated and think you wouldn’t use the product if they were giving it away. Your emotional reaction just strengthened the connection your brain made to the product. That is exactly what the advertiser intended. Whenever you have an emotional reaction, your brain creates strong links to other things that are happening at the same time.
The news works the same way. You hear the economy is bad. You feel fear for your job or business. The same message is repeated over and over again. After a few days or weeks, you are convinced we are headed for rough times.
The news is a constant series of stories about bad things happening to people. Underlying that message is that this could happen to you or someone you love. That creates fear, anxiety and to strengthen your belief that the world is a dangerous place and sooner or later it’s going to be your turn.
The truth is the news is about extraordinary things that happen very rarely to very few people. Unless you hang out with drug dealers or criminals, the odds are pretty good you don’t know anyone whose story was on the six o’clock news. If you could analyze a bit more, most of the “victims” in some way participated by making bad choices and decisions that put them in position to be hurt.
So we end up feeling afraid, angry, frustrated and sometimes resentful because we allowed a stranger tell us a story about someone they don’t know engaged in an activity they didn’t see happen and who doesn’t know if the story as told is true. Add the fact that the stranger telling the story has a vested interest in making the story appear as sensational as possible. Finally, the stranger is unlikely to suffer any consequences if the story is later found to be untrue.
News programing exists for one reason. The network or station gets money from advertisers and make a profit. The network or station who attracts the largest audience of viewers gets to charge the most for the ads shown during the show.
Here is the challenge. Turn off the radio and television for two weeks. If you “slip” the two weeks starts over. On the first day take an emotional inventory. Rate your feelings on a one to ten scale in areas like anger, fear, frustration, optimism, confidence, feeling loved and serenity. You can add any other emotions you like or are concerned about to the list. Create sentences such as, “I feel serene,” and “I feel anger.” After each sentence, rate your feelings where one is you feel no anger and ten is you are mad as hell. You get the drift. After your emotional inventory, put the list away in a safe place.
At the end of two weeks, take out your inventory and rate each feeling again based on how you currently feel. I am confident that you will find out that the feelings you don’t want will drop down at least a notch or two and the feelings that you want to experience will have jumped upward as much or more. Ultimately, the quality of your life is the quality of the feelings you experience.
If you find you don’t like feeling confident, optimistic or peaceful or can’t deal with the extra hour of sleep or maybe don’t like the sex, your angers, fears and frustration will be cheerfully refunded.
You may be thinking that this is too good to be true. You might be wondering when this guy is going to ask me for my credit card number? You can relax. Many others have tried it including myself and it works. And you can keep your credit card in your wallet or purse. You won’t need it.
What I’m going to share with you is so simple you may be tempted to think that it couldn’t work. But, you can’t argue with the people who have tried it and found that it does work. It may be simple, but it may not be easy. Are you ready? Turn off the radio and television for two weeks.
You are probably asking what the heck am I going to do for two weeks with nothing to do? Nature abhors a vacuum. If you think for just a minute you could probably come up with a long list of things you tell yourself you would like to do if only you had the time. Maybe take that walk around the neighborhood or go to the gym. There might be a book you have wanted to read or some subject you always wanted to know more about. Have you thought about writing down your goals? You might be one of those people who complain about never getting enough sleep. Here is your chance to get that extra hour you crave. If you went for the walk or to the gym, you might be tired enough to hit the sack an hour early. Do you long for more “quality time” with someone special? You now have time to invest in nourishing that relationship you have been ignoring. Making them feel loved and appreciated might also get you in bed an hour early. The possibilities are endless.
There is an old adage that says if you don’t like what you are getting, change what you are doing. The news and many shows feed the mind negative messages. Negatives like lack and limitation or there are many dangerous things to be feared and avoided. Then there are commercial messages that tell you that you can’t be happy unless you use or consume their product. Your conscious mind can judge and discard the messages you don’t want to pay attention to. But, the subconscious is child-like and doesn’t evaluate input. It simply observes, records and eagerly waits for you to ask a question.
Much of the anger, fear and stress we feel is not based on fact. It is a reflection of the data we expose our minds to on a regular basis. Repetition is proven way to learn something. Repetition is also an excellent way to teach. Newscasters unwillingly teach us that the world is a dangerous place and bad things are constantly happening. Advertisers knowingly use repetition to plant subconscious messages that influence your behavior.
Can you remember seeing the same ad over and over again. Like fourteen times during a half hour show! Sometimes the same ad plays twice during a single commercial break! You might get frustrated and think you wouldn’t use the product if they were giving it away. Your emotional reaction just strengthened the connection your brain made to the product. That is exactly what the advertiser intended. Whenever you have an emotional reaction, your brain creates strong links to other things that are happening at the same time.
The news works the same way. You hear the economy is bad. You feel fear for your job or business. The same message is repeated over and over again. After a few days or weeks, you are convinced we are headed for rough times.
The news is a constant series of stories about bad things happening to people. Underlying that message is that this could happen to you or someone you love. That creates fear, anxiety and to strengthen your belief that the world is a dangerous place and sooner or later it’s going to be your turn.
The truth is the news is about extraordinary things that happen very rarely to very few people. Unless you hang out with drug dealers or criminals, the odds are pretty good you don’t know anyone whose story was on the six o’clock news. If you could analyze a bit more, most of the “victims” in some way participated by making bad choices and decisions that put them in position to be hurt.
So we end up feeling afraid, angry, frustrated and sometimes resentful because we allowed a stranger tell us a story about someone they don’t know engaged in an activity they didn’t see happen and who doesn’t know if the story as told is true. Add the fact that the stranger telling the story has a vested interest in making the story appear as sensational as possible. Finally, the stranger is unlikely to suffer any consequences if the story is later found to be untrue.
News programing exists for one reason. The network or station gets money from advertisers and make a profit. The network or station who attracts the largest audience of viewers gets to charge the most for the ads shown during the show.
Here is the challenge. Turn off the radio and television for two weeks. If you “slip” the two weeks starts over. On the first day take an emotional inventory. Rate your feelings on a one to ten scale in areas like anger, fear, frustration, optimism, confidence, feeling loved and serenity. You can add any other emotions you like or are concerned about to the list. Create sentences such as, “I feel serene,” and “I feel anger.” After each sentence, rate your feelings where one is you feel no anger and ten is you are mad as hell. You get the drift. After your emotional inventory, put the list away in a safe place.
At the end of two weeks, take out your inventory and rate each feeling again based on how you currently feel. I am confident that you will find out that the feelings you don’t want will drop down at least a notch or two and the feelings that you want to experience will have jumped upward as much or more. Ultimately, the quality of your life is the quality of the feelings you experience.
If you find you don’t like feeling confident, optimistic or peaceful or can’t deal with the extra hour of sleep or maybe don’t like the sex, your angers, fears and frustration will be cheerfully refunded.
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