Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Think Positive: Mantra for 2005

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
Martha Washington
US wife of George Washington 1759 (1732 - 1802)
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James
US Pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 - 1910)
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale
US clergyman (1898 - 1993)
Things do not change; we change.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1970)
 
 
Feeling melancholic for the past couple of days. I have to seek inspiration in the words of sages to lift my spirits. Ergo, the quotes above.
I do not watch a lot of television but I read our local newspaper daily. Why does it seems like the headlines are always depressing? Suffering people in Southeast Asia, someone getting murdered, another casualty in the Middle East... It is very seldom that I encounter a human interest article without violence and with substance. I began thinking that it is probably an outcome of my present disposition. Or is it because stories that are touchy-feely do not sell newspapers or boost TV ratings anymore? Are we becoming a sensationalist nation? 
Pardon my musings. I realize that the last two sentences might not settle well with some people in J Land. I am just thinking out loud, trying to make sense of the senseless parody called "groundbreaking news" now-a-days.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes I know I try to get as little tv and news stuff as possible. Its just too over whelming. I cant take it. Yeah I need a spirit lifter too. But so busy lately dont have time to find one. Maybe exercise and fresh air if it quit raining. UGH rained since Christmas and for the next ten days we got it in the forcast. UGH> what good is sixty degrees. Lori

Anonymous said...

All very good questions.
     *** Coy ***

Anonymous said...

i get so i dont read the paper like i should..or watch the news either...i think u hit the nail right on the head...i think they are just trying to sell more by putting the gorey stories on the first few pages...if u notice the ones that are as u say...touch feely......such as "joe and betty smith are first time parents...after trying for years and going through much testing just gave birth to twins"   i know that was an exageration but i would much rather read nice stories than about murders, bank robberies, violence...etc all of the time...great post...

linda
http://journals.aol.com/lindainspokane/LifewithLinny
http://journals.aol.com/lindainspokane/LinnysLuciousLickings

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Linda's comment. I too have been less inclined to read the newspaper and I don't watch much TV.  But, it seems the blood and guts is what sells or what people seem to want.  Thing is, I've yet to find those people!  Most want some of the good in the world stories to headline.  I wonder if we started headlining more of the good stuff if we as the general population would start doing more good deeds?  Interesting thought.

Monica

Anonymous said...

I made a pretty radical move in my home last April, I had cable shut off. My children thought they would die without a world of Lizzy Mcguire, and Disney channel, I even have to admit there were a few favorite shows I missed, but after the storm, came a calmness. We all found life without TV was refreshing. I found I wasn't in the dark about world news, I still read the newspaper, but even that is as disparing as you describe it. I used to work for a Newspaper. I was a fish out of water there. It was one sided or nothing. If your general opinion didn't match that of the reporters and editors you learned to keep your mouth shut. Things such as emotional good feeling pieces were discarded for the local section, mid pages. The powers that be never felt these would be "good selling" headlines. So just skip to the middle and hopefully someone with a voice at the newspaper was able to convince someone it was worth at least mid pages.............
Thank you for your comment in my journal. I appreciate it very much!!
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

I been without tv since no time to watch it and I do find once in awhile its good to watch a movie but yea i know what you mean about depressing some things strike people each day diffrentky, My man reads the paper everyday the whole thing I could not do that for nothing

Anonymous said...

there's times I have to shut the TV off, it just gets too overwhelming....and I become numb....::sigh::
~JerseyGirl
http://journals.aol.com/cneinhorn/WonderGirl

Anonymous said...

<sigh> The state of American TV is scarey... Not just the news, but all of those reality shows... Someone is watching them or they would stop showing them... I find myself more and more avoiding watching the news, and I usually skip the front of the newspaper and turn to the inner pages for a little 'happier' news.
http://journals.aol.com/astaryth/AdventuresofanEclecticMind

Anonymous said...

Your journal girl say what you want!
I agree, why can't we ever hear good news? It all comes down to money as my stepdad likes to say about just about everything...
Nice quotes too!
I have a new rule that I'm not allowed to watch tv Mon.-Thurs. so that my grades keep up and I do better in school. But I got permission to watch while I'm walking on the treadmill. (Otherwise I'd have 5 days of TiVo-ed Gilmore Girls clogging up my weekends!) Sure I could choose not to watch it, but I've become attached...
-Haley-