News Fast

News Fast

One easy way to reduce stress is to get serious about a news fast. Am I talking here about getting a little taste of what is up in the world every day? No! The idea here is to go cold turkey on watching, listening or even reading the news.

I have Rita’s permission to post her email to me today. Rita reflects on her own experience with getting serious about her own news fast. Most news does not reduce anxiety. It fuels anxiety. If you are serious about finding ways to reduce whatever symptoms of Parkinson’s disease you might currently be experiencing, I recommend you consider giving a news fast a trial run.

Robert Rodgers PhD
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

Regarding last week’s mindfulness challenge to take a news fast, I decided to do that. Our ministers in Self-Realization Fellowship, our church, have reminded us from time to time to read and listen to much less news. So after reading your challenge, I realized that I was actually ready to do this.

I don’t listen to the radio except for classical music 20 minutes per day while I ride the stationary bike and we don’t even have our TV connected to watch it. My news addiction is to the newspapers which I have been reading for over 60 years. Â We subscribe to the San Diego Tribune and LA Times. My routine is to sit down to breakfast every morning with the sudoku and then to read the newspapers at each meal. Russ and I both did this every meal. What a deep ingrained habit!

I cancelled both papers yesterday. I realized that there is no way I can escape knowing what is happening in the world so I don’t have to worry. Sudokus I can print or work online for free.

It already feels great – a lightness and sense of escape from a daily subconscious burden of getting the papers read before the end of the day. Hardly anything in the papers is anything that is important for me to know. It’s a relief not to have them coming anymore, even to picking them up in the driveway and recycling them all.

So I am grateful for your challenge; I was ready and it was the final prod I needed to give up the daily barrage of news. Plus we will save $70 per month. Thank you for all the mindfulness e-mails; they are all beneficial whether I can actually implement them or not at the moment.

Sincerely,

Rita