One conspiracy I do believe in….

Hi Perry, sometimes it’s just seems like the world is filled with doom and gloom and that’s all that interests people.

I no longer watch the news or read newspapers because I found them too depressing, and quite scary at times.

Like you said, if it is something really important, someone will let me know.

To share a bit of my own good news, I got an a-ha moment last night regarding my online business, maybe won’t excite anyone else, but it was life changing for me, so I am celebrating it all the same.

Sally

Awesome Perry. We put our TV in the barn 3 years ago. Haven’t missed a single thing.

Boy do I agree. We don’t even have a television which helps considerably. (and guess what? on 9-11 someone called us to tell us about it. worked for us)

Here are two things we do to celebrate the positive – as a couple we tell each other what’s going well AND we randomly play the “thank me” game – you say “I want to be thanked for______ (some simple thing you did like took out the trash) and your partner says, “Thank you for ____________.” You get to ask for 5-10 thank yous. Works great!

Agreed! what else can I say .. you are so right .. We see people walking into our business on certain days with shoulders slumped and we know the evening or morning news must have caused the bad vibe .. the oil spill has certainly added to this bad feeling so many walk around with .. thanks for the great article here Perry, it gave me clarity and hope to combat this with even more good news here at our place business and our online presence … js

Right on, brother! This is my favorite rant. When I was 35 years old and thought I knew everything…ha…news was a downer even then. Deciding there was more out there for me, I purchased a tape series called “The Seeds of Greatness” by Denis Waitley. It changed my life, and spurred me on to become an entrepreneur. One of the things he said that I have put into practice is…don’t listen to the news…it’s almost all negative. And I haven’t ever since, even though friends and family think that because of my decision, I’m not socially responsible. The other thing he taught was “as long as you’re green you’re growing…as soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot. This has helped me in life to listen to others like you, Perry, who have proven success and emulate you, listen to you, and pat you on the back once in a while. Good rant!

Hi Perry,

A brave argument that’s sure to get a range of reactions – but I have to agree 100%!

How great would it be to tune into a news programme that said “nothing wrong today… go out and achieve something”.

Never gonna happen!

Nicely said!

I couldn’t agree more, there is intent behind the news, and it’s not to inform. Treat it like you would toxic waste.

Excellent post Perry! You hit the nail on the head…

That is very much inline with our manifesto that can be read here:

http://www.shopcity.com/blog/?postid=10000199

Particularly after the second heading ‘Why support local business?’

We plan on doing something about all of this negativity and will try to help people focus on the good they can be doing in their community…

Of course, everything is economically driven at the core, so that’s why we’re doing it through local shopping…

We’ve had some big wins here in the past couple of months that we’re getting ready to share with the world… If everything goes according to plan, it’ll help people cut through the doom and gloom and make a positive, productive impact with their time and energy…

Thanks Perry, for all of the insights and encouragements you’ve shared through your writing over the years… It has helped us to just stay positive(.com)…

Wishing you all the best and many more years of success!

Colin

LUV YA, Perry. You are my kind of guy. This one about TV spreading doom and gloom was right on. I grew up on the California beaches. We contended with tar balls all our life. Never thought anything about it. It was pretty common to see birds, etc drenched in oil. Never gave it a thought. Its the world we live in. There is sun, hurricanes, oil, rain, snow, fires, landslides, whatever. Who was it that promised us a life time rose garden? So what’s the big deal? Just deal with it and get on with your life.

I think it’s a conspiracy to make people STUPID!
I’m the same, i now leave the TV off when i get up in the morning to go to work. The negative stories and the shady people involved etc really wind me up emotionally and get me stressed out. Now it is just so easy to get negative and discouraged with this kind of perspective on things. It is hard sometimes to keep positive and keep pushing towards your dreams. It’s a fantastic world and there are great people like your good self Perry but we really do need to be very aware of what is going on around us and in the media and be the one in control of our own lives, calling the shots…

Thanks for the positive “pick-me-UP!” BTW – I happen to work for a Sewage Utility so where people there are the kindliest and friendliest I’ve ever had the privilege to be around in a work environment. However, once you focus on the news, whether on the Internet, TV, or radio, it is difficult not to be ‘drowned’ by it all. Keep up the good work/fight. Thanks again for making my day.

William

I don’t have tv at home for last 3 years. After we moved to our new place me and my wife decided that we would better spend time together going watch movie somewhere then watch those “zombie box”

Good point Perry. However the wretched misery of rolling news media is not exclusive to CNN. The culturally biased BBC TV News is as bad or even worse – by the time they’ve put you through the news-mill with their hand-wringing news reports, I feel like shooting myself. They’re notorious for their left-wing anti- American anti-war anti-Israeli pro-women pro-children pro-gay skewed TV news coverage. Little pieces of theater, one after the other, not news.

So I never watch breakfast-time TV news, ever.

PS I have indeed bought a little moleskine book in which I write a small note every day (most days anyway) when something nice happens, no matter how small.

Keep smiling

Alan W

Perry,

Thank you for this.

Ever heard a headline that tells us “Airliner Lands Safely: Family and Friends United For 50th Birthday Party”? No, course not. Or ever heard “Puppies and Kittens Make People Smile on YouTube”. Nope. It’s all doom, doom, doom.

The thing about news is this: garbage in, garbage out. Negativity goes in, negativity comes out, and in EVERY facet of business, life, and relationships
the same holds true.

The human brain cannot hold two opposing thoughts in focus at the same
time. Nor can two objects occupy the same space.

To combat this, replace every negative news story or opinion with two positive stories or opinions.

Try it. It works like magic.

I read something once – maybe even here – that made a profound difference in my attitude. That as a salesman I was not “selling” I was SHARING the good news with my potential customer about a solution to their problem.

It really worked! That attitude comes through and people respond to it favorably. Not surprising in the world of mass fear mongering.

One question: if we do not keep ourselves informed about the things that are going on, how are we supposed to be able to participate in our own governance? If you don’t know that Massey Energy, for example, was entirely responsible (criminal negligence) for the recent WV mining disaster (29 men died there), how can you apply pressure to your congressional representatives to make them enact new laws to prevent future disasters?

I understand not wanting to bathe in negativity all day, but if we allow the miscreants to do their worst without any consequences whatsoever, the world will soon arrive at a place where our businesses do not matter and are not needed. Nobody will want a website when they have to spend all day searching for food.

Just seems far too “head in the sand” for me.

Wow Perry ..you are inside my head again man.
I had this type of discussion last night with an acquaintance in my neighbourhood.
I know this guy from when I moved here 10 years ago.
I asked him when I met him 10 years ago…Hey how you doin?
In a friendly energetic way cause that’s how I am.
He started vomiting his verbal diarrhea on me until I simply backed off and started leaving.
That was just before the Y2K world ending deal.

So since then I’ve never said to him or his family… “Hey ,how you doin?”

He got me though since he blindsided me with “How are you today Nicholas?”
I didn’t see him coming.
So I did not reciprocate with “Hey,how you doin?’
He did corner me but I remembered I need to escape here before I start feeling like I’m sucked in to the vortex of negativity.
But guess what station he quoted from ….yes CNN.
The complete sedation station.
So in my group or team we lead with self help before all else.
It’s our corner stone to building your business out.
What I’ve noticed on and offline in working on my business over the years is a direct correlation that those who study self help or bettering themselves first don’t quit their dreams and second they are much easier to deal with in all situations.
They have much more depth and don’t get defensive when told the truth.
And most of all they implement much more than folks who don’t attempt to better themselves by changing their thinking.
So another great post by Perry!
Stop watching the main stream news crap!!!

I love your writing style. Its original and unique and so fun to read. I like to rant a lot myself. And of course,you are right, the news is quite depressing and disgusting. If I do watch it, I try make a point not to take it seriously. It does give you clues to what the evil empire is spreading to their motives and next moves. Oh and yeh, I’m a conspiracy theorist.

Hello Perry

This is a great post…very true.

Thanks

Byron Skjerdal

Hi Perry!

Amazing. I can’t agree more. I NEVER watch the news and when I tell this to people they give me all kinds of grief.

“You have to know what’s going on!” etc, etc, etc.

I am with you, the news does not spread a positive situation at all.

My feeling is that I get “no” value from the news so I don’t watch it.

I don’t blame TV in general, because we all can control what we watch and “don’t” watch. It’s our choice.

I like your point about focusing on what you can control and be positive.

Thanks again,

Jeremiah

Confession:

I needed to get this email from you…but I wasn’t always addicted to the news. 911 changed that. I probably should have gotten therapy after 911…but I didn’t. My husband, Andy (Dallas firefighter), was on duty that day. I was 70 miles away in Glen Rose. My kids were in school. When the building collapsed, I literally walked outside and collapsed sobbing in the yard because I saw all the firemen in that building…I knew they were in there and my heart was ripped apart for them, their families, co-workers and friends.

From 911 forward, CNN would stay on 24/7. I only turned it off to sleep. Then I finally turned off the TV but kept CNN up in a window on my computer as long as I was online.

You started talking about this topic a while back and I started backing off. I didn’t keep it up all day…but I still checked it multiple times a day. Slowly, I’m starting to fight my addiction…and yes I know its an addiction…a fear that I’m going to miss something important.

But the breakfast quote really hit home. I really needed some tough love and consider that email a kick in the butt.

Thanks.

Shelley Ellis shared this link.

How refreshing to read your thoughts Perry! I completely agree. I enjoy the debate of politics, but the depressing awareness of negativity is constant! If I so desperately needed news that should impact my attitude, I am sure I will find it from others on Facebook…

Just like how I found your post!

Cheers,
Mike Stewart

I was reading your little rant this morning nodding my head at each and every point! I loved it! And I shared with a few TV viewing friends of mine.
I don’t watch the news and I for sure won’t watch CNN! I have gone somewhere for lunch and they had CNN on. I sat with my back to the tv set cause it was ruining my lunch with all that negative energy that was focusing everything on everything wrong with the world.
Who was it that calls the media “drive-by media”? they give you their opinions and forget the news.
I remember when the president was going to give his state of the union address, and everyone was telling you what he was going to say, their opinions about it, wow why bother listening to the speech!!
Just once I would love a day of only good news, they would choke trying to do the reporting.
Bad news sells I guess.. Not for me I got better things to do..

Perry,

LOL, conspiracy.

I went to a “required” meeting with my son’s teacher yesterday, and saw first hand the effects of what you describe above.

You could see the “emptiness” in the teacher’s eyes.

I asked her if she was having a great day, and it’s almost as though the message “didn’t even reach the intended recipient.”

She started talking about all the “bad news” on TV,the economy, the paperwork, the…the…the…

It’s a sad thing for me to see so many people who live in an empty shell they call their lives.

Great post Perry.

Dead right Perry, here in Ireland the news isn’t as negative as the US, but it is more or less the same everywhere.

I try not to listen, used to have the news on in the background of the office, but usually have Abraham Hicks on YouTube now.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

This may sound flippant, and maybe it is, but I just love playing the sound track to Conan the Barbarian when all this bad news comes around.

“Doom doom doom doom doom doom” pound the kettle drums.

For some reason, it makes me feel better.

Well said Perry!!!!

Sometimes I think you can read my mind mate!

I watch about 30 mins of news a month and even that is forced on me when I am at someone else’s home.

Its just nasty stuff!

Cheers

Ed Keay-Smith
AdWordsMarketing.com

Your’re preaching to the choir Perry when you write on sujects such as this. That’s why I love your content, my man! We’re brother’s from a different mother.I don’t even have a TV any longer. (**My favourite movie is ‘Into the Wild’. The kid that burnt his money, told his ostentatious parents to take a flying F#$&K and moved to Alaska.)

People that don’t know me well, think I’m nuts, a contrarian. I admit it proudly! (But I know I would fit right in at one of your seminars or Ken McCarthy’s.) By the way, John Carlton’s latest post on the BS educational system and values is bang on as well. You guys get me through the day! It is comforting to know, I’m not alone.

Listen I live alone, work, read biz books and want to get very good at this ‘internet marketing’ thing. That’s about it for me, my son is 26 and doing fine. Materialistic women turn me off, so a good woman is hard to find. But I stay hopeful.

What you are talking about in this post is the: SINGLE, GREATEST THING A PERSON CAN TO TO KEEP THEIR SANITY RIGHT NOW. Stay positive but to do that effectively, you need to ‘tune out’ all the BS. Which means avoiding the ‘media whores’ as I call them.

Unfortuneately, most people cannot because of the choices they’ve made. I was lucky, I got a second chance and didn’t make the same mistakes.

My response to your BP post was vindictive, I realize that. All you said was correct. But the Corporate mentality has to stop, it’s so selfish and arrogant. People should get a list of every company that BP owns and NEVER buy a single thing from them again! (** I’ll never be able to fully explain how much I hate Corp’s. and that ‘suck up’ mentality)

I know that ‘we’ (entrepreneurs) counteract that ‘Dilbert Cube’ mentality, so let’a all rock on, spreading the word!

Keep it coming, Bro

SteveO

Hi Perry,

As a scientist and a European, I can tell you whole-heartedly: you are so right. This whole society is set up to keep everybody “under control” so to speak (and the papers, mags and TV play a big role in it) and if you try to be independent, there is a lot of rules you run into that are put there with the sole purpose to discourage you. I recently read On Wings of Eagles from Ken Follett again about your fellow American Ross Perot. Now, as a human being you might agree or disagree with the guy, but he is a perfect example of someone who totally disagreed with all the rules and took responsibiliby for his people that were imprisoned in Iran at the time. If everyone would have that attitude towards life and the government, the governing powers would think twice to pull stunts on us. People tend to think they are “small” but this is just one story about how 1 guy made a difference in the lives of others (and there are a lot of examples out there). Anyway, I liked your message and had to think about this Ken Follett book all of a sudden, because I think we can all learn something from it. Do well Perry!

Cheers

Co de Naam
voetbalnl.com

Great post as ever Perry.

I started my professional working life as a TV engineer (electronics and audio was my passion) so I used to *have* to watch TV 8 hours a day, even though in those days we only had 3 (!) channels to choose from, and they didn’t transmit programming all day either!

So the last thing I wanted to see on my return from work was – more TV. It used to drive me mad that my friends would just turn on the TV, and then – watch it.

Fast forward 35 years and although I enjoy TV (in small doses, I watch maybe 3 hours a week, usually late at night when everyone else has gone to bed) I’m very selective of it.

I was married once to somebody who had the habit of switching on the TV as soon as she got up in the morning. I’m not married to them anymore

Across the street from my study I can see the flicker of the TV screen in my neighbour’s house from the corner of my eye – whenever they are in the house, the TV is on. Company perhaps? Yuck!

And when I visit an office where they have several TV screens showing the “breaking news” all day every day it just drives me nuts.

I used to read the BBC news web site every day, several times a day. Like one of your readers said, I’ve weaned myself off this now, and I’m trying to avoid constant news exposure except for a quick glance on my iphone browser when I get up.

Great call, Perry.

It is so much easier to curse the darkness than to light a candle, that the media get caught up in outdoing one another.

Why curse than create, when we are born as creative beings? I believe our socioeconomic/educational structure punishes kids who “color outside the lines” because they make less reliable workers in the factories.

So I’m excited about the next few decades and how the planet’s new nervous system (the Internet) will enable not only political but psychological change

The metaphor about the refugee camp is the best I have heard in months. I have not had a TV for over 12 years and although I miss some quality programming – most of it is pure mental junk food and I love a mellow home. Thanks Perry

Hi Perry,
I haven’t watched the news since awhile before the first gulf was. It was obvious then that it can’t be trusted as each national news broadcast left out info that might reflect negatively on themselves or affect national support(read:CNN).
Others in my family watch it all the time and I watch it befuddle them.
I’m not overly smart but I believe wholeheartedly in the conspiracy for many years now. Make peeps feel helpless to change anything sends a powerful subliminal message that screams “TRUST US!-AFTER ALL WE’RE YOUR APPOINTED LEADERS AND WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING”…..OR “TRUST US COZ WE IN TV-LAND REALLY KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN THE WORLD, SO WATCH THIS NEXT COMMERCIAL (read:visual re-programming assault) AND GO BY SOMETHING TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER”.

It makes me sick to watch others parrotting the “news”, shaking their heads, shrugging and saying “what are we to do?”.
Turn it off. Thats what you need to do buddy!!!!!

Sorry for ranting – 20 years pent up frustration on the subject I guess.
Really love your stuff Perry. Keep it comin’, pls, we need it.
Thanks.
Greg

Perry,

You are so right. The purpose of the news is to depress you and then show you commercials of anti-depressants.

It is easy enough to get depressed when things are not going your way. But add in the news and it can cause you stay in bed all weekend.

Jason

Perry -
How true, and how refreshing to hear your courageous voice saying “ENOUGH!!!” I haven’t owned a TV for seven years and it has been a great blessing. If enough people chose to boycott the insipid drivel that passes for entertainment the advertisers would pull out and maybe something good would happen, such as reading books and talking to each other again, such as noticing what’s going on in our homes and in our bodies instead of mindlessly staring at fiction and skewed “news”. Thanks for waving your banner today!

This was a very timely post, thanks Perry. Soemthing each of us should keep in mind. On another note, I have spent more than I really wanted with Google PPC with lukewarm results. I enjoy learning from your material. Thanks, as always.

Amen, brother! After almost two years of NOT watching the news, I now see it for what it is. It’s like not eating sugar for two years and then suddenly having a thick slice of triple-chocolate cheesecake. You used to think cheesecake was good. Now you want to puke it’s so damn sweet!

When I was at the CNN center in Atlanta I succeeded at distracting one of the newscasters to where they lost their spot on the teleprompter.

You’re Welcome

The latest quote that i’ve stumbled upon and it’s pritty damn relevant, don’t you think?

“Everything you are against weakens you.
Everything you are for empowers you”
– Wayne Dyer

If we can make an economy out of stuff that really makes a difference, then we will be heading for more prosperous times all around.

Amen Brother! I don’t even own a TV; wouldn’t want one if you gave it to me. I check Drudge, and two other sites a few times per week just to see that it’s the same old stuff; takes about 2 minutes. If I want to watch a sports event, I go to a friend’s house and watch the big screen. Life is too short and too good to waste it watching other people tell you how crappy it is! Keep up your good work! Guys like you are what made this country the best in world history!
Travis Monroe

Amen Brother! I don’t even own a TV; wouldn’t want one if you gave it to me. I check Drudge, and two other sites a few times per week just to see that it’s the same old stuff; takes about 2 minutes. If I want to watch a sports event, I go to a friend’s house and watch the big screen. Life is too short and too good to waste it watching other people tell you how crappy it is! Keep up your good work! Guys like you are what made this country the best in world history! Travis Monroe

Hi Perry,
what you say is very important when dealing with others – it is an element of what the German poet Goethe dreamt up: “the seven virtues of conversation”. Positivity is an important element, especially in a world where analytical (right-brain) thinking can lead to immediate criticisms of small and sometimes irrelevant details – but carries the unnecessary negativity.

Think positive, share positive and live positive. Then deal with the niggles of your life!!

Goethe’s seven virtues are:
1) Open Mindedness and impartiality when listening to others
2) Consciously deciding whether or not to entier into the discussion
3) Saying only what is somehow meaningful or significant
4) Speaking clearly and consciously
5) Equanimity in conversation
6) Being constructive and positive
7) Patience

Practise is needed when attempting this, as with attempting to be positive all the time – and that is tough You can practise one element each day of the week …

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it is nice to know one is not alone!

Gemma

PS what is a “TV”?

Perry, you are more up on what this time is about (and the whole 2012 thing) than many of the 2012 gurus out there because you are doing it. (It’s about entrepreneurship, integrity, being one’s own person, not following the herds, getting clarity on your higher purpose and following that inner compass regardless of the collective conditioning.)

Furthermore, this whole 2012 thing is actually good news when you look at the details of what is happening (including the solar alignments) and understand that it’s all about getting huamnity off its behinds and growing personally and spiritually (spiritually to me means inner growth). But it takes disasters to get most people off their couches.

Hey, I’d like to share an article I just wrote, titled: “2012 Predictions and Prophecies – A Critical Look at Mayan Predictions and 2012 Skeptics” (Just copy the title into google if you’d like to take a look…)

Thanks!

Most of the time I recognise the news for what it is – media mind control. And act accordingly.

Occasionally (the oil mess as you know), the British Airways strikes, the fraud that cost 600 Scottish airline employes their jobs, really hits. I’m finding the way to get on top of this is through highly directed comments in the broadsheet news comments sections to get action and outcomes.

And this is the interesting thing. There is a social responsibility thing here. Well directed comments definitely change the media power balance into poweful reporting and comments forcing action, rather than one way misery – as Michael hints at in his extract, everything you are for empowers you.

However, go to bed always thinking – yeah what did I do today that was good. Oh so important! I do it every single night.

A timely post Perry.

Amen!!! – Especially when combined with your “Positive Focus” suggestion for first thing in the morning. Thanks.

I couldn’t agree more. This is an excellent post, I wish more people would read it. I’m sending it out to all of my networks.

Thanks for the refreshing view.

Excellent words and agree with it all. Read “Choices and Illusions” by Eldon Taylor. Thanks Perry, this is going to be tweeted.

“Watching CNN while you eat breakfast is like visiting a cholera epidemic at a refugee camp and letting sick people drool on you. Then changing their bedpans and rubbing your eyes and licking your hands.”

…and folks line up for this unbelievably devastating brain eco-disaster willingly & daily because the over-tenderized and vulnerable brain cells heat up,salivate, the bell rings, millions of Pavlov’s text messages rip through and the internal
firestorm of the Dark Alley explosions of “As Seen On TV” begin to inflict the blinding bull charge
of truly Global Nighmarish Proportions – which just might be another exhausting illusion in the nerve-shattering concoction – while your void-of-this day might simply be perfect .

I read once regarding the Law of Attraction that the reason we have our current incompetent / corrupt leadership is because even people who were opposed were thinking about it all the time.

We need to turn off the news, not think about the negatives, and keep our minds focused on a better outcome.

We have a TV, but I rarely look at it. And now that I’ve given it thought, I’m trying to keep my thoughts focused on better leaders coming forth and being elected this year, and in 2012.

As for all the other bad news – I agree, if there’s not a thing I can do about it, I don’t choose to think about it.

There is a quote I love. I never knew where it originated. Goes like this.

“There are two kind of rich people in the world. Optimists and Pessimists. . . . The Pessimists inherited their money.”

Speaks volumes to me. Thanks for the great post. I get damn tired of all the gloom and doom. Yes we need to be awake and aware, but the future lies with those who will build it, not those who fear it.

We stopped our paper a couple years ago. After one week missing the Sunday comics, we’re all SO enjoying the break from bad news we can’t do anything about. The ‘nightly news’ is never on.

I send a lot of your stuff to son #1, who’s in the top journalism program in the country at Univ Missouri. These students are facing a very changing world in how ‘news’ is chosen, reported, and syndicated.

Here’s some good news. He was on a team of 5 (journalism & comp sci) majors who just won a major international competition sponsored by Hearst & Adobe to come up with real-world solutions for online advertisers. Their idea won them a trip to the World Expo in Shanghai this month & attention from the VP of Innovation at Hearst.

I’ve always wondered why someone can’t make a go of publishing a Good News publication. Everyone submits their good news to spread hope & inspiration to the readers. Positive-minded advertisers pay the bills and attract good customers. I’d subscribe.

Becki

You tell ‘em Perry : )

I intuitively stopped watching once I realized how damaging it was to my spirit.

Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Perry, Perry, Perry….there is a difference between keeping yourself a well informed citizen and drowning in bad news. The MORE you pay attention, the more you understand how the events effect your life…As far as the Gulf Spill; it will effect our lives for decades. Don’t we have an obligation, living in one of the few countries that affords us the opportunity to become entrepreneurs on a shoe string budget, to be well informed citizens? What you are suggesting is that when your employee tells you bad news, you should ignore it and close the door to your office. As a business owner, how do you come up with a ‘Plan B’?
We all make our livings in sales/marketing. This can not be done in a vacuum. How can do this successfully unless you understand the buying decisions your customers/prospects make in relation to their dreams, biases and concerns?

In 1986 we had a annual contract with JCP for ‘little white gloves’, the kind your mom wore on Easter. I was faxing the Philippines for weeks to get an update on manufacturing and delivery dates with no response………weeks later, I received a fax saying they would respond in a week. I couldn’t figure out what the delay was………There was a commerce/communication blackout but within the last week Ferdinand Marcos was exiled from the country, under the clock of darkness, to Hawaii…You never know what you hear on the news will be important in your life..

There is an ancient Turkish saying: You can torture me as much as you want or even kill me if you will, just do not put fear in my heart. The doom merchants and fearmongers are worse than murderers.

Hey Perry

What a breath of fresh air. As you know, in the media, Good News is NO News. It won’t sell newspapers or magazines. And it also gives birth to dream killers and people who can’t accept the fact that something good is happening. Well done on this one. Cheers from Perth, Western Australia

Great post Perry! I like how you pulled no punches in laying out what the media industry really is. It’s refreshing to see your bold defiance of this relentless fear monger.

Thanks Perry – it is great to see someone in leadership presenting these values in their business. I feel (as do the 30+ that commented before me)more connected and aligned with you and your service.

One hiccup – when you ask people to “Fight this. Your attention to fighting someonthing in a ‘push away from motivation’ only attracts more of the same by your attention to it. Instead I just use the clarity of what I don’t want (negative news) let all that pass me by (release it) and choose to focus on the positive things as you suggest later on.

Thanks again for sharing, you have inspired and reminded me to do the same in my business.

The best part of the news is if you ever need a reminder to be grateful. That there are worse problems to have no matter how bad yours may seem at any given moment.

This post seems to have gone viral… Saw it re-posted on the other side of the net!

(Shelly, your post comment moved me. If anything good came out of that horrendous act, those that serve to educate and protect like policemen, firemen and teachers(at lousy pay)do get a little more respect than once upon a time.)

Thanks for the positive post (as usual),
Mark

Look at the corporations that own the news media and it is easy to understand why we are inundated with mind numbing, soulless communications 24/7.

They need us numb,dumb, and easily manipulated. Problem – Reaction – Solution (theirs of course)

We need to raise our awareness of this willful manipulation and mis-direction of attention going on and form a movement to live fearlessly, consciously, and with porpose.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The cynics scoff and dismiss people who will not buy into the CNNs of bad news as either having their heads in the sand or being self deluded and not facing the “facts” or “reality”.

I am glad you have taken the time to “rant” and say the opposite.

On a microcosmic scale I tend not to spend too much time around people who complain and moan about how bad things are in their lives. These people can literally suck the oxygen out of a room.

I’d rather spend the 5 minutes reading something uplifting that sets the tome for the rest of my day.

In this present time, we need more positive and practical posts! Thanks again.

Perry
This is a refreshing post, one that will hopefully help us to maintain a positive outlook and serve others with love and hope.
Thank you, thank you

Perry,

I’m a history teacher by day and that’s exactly what I tell my students. Don’t watch the news. There is a difference between being informed and allowing negativity, garbage and some editor in a newsroom doing my thinking for me. I reckon if the world was going to end I’d know it.

There are other ways and means to help us form an educated opinion. We do need more positivity and not only for business but other aspects to life as well.

Here in Australia, the ads for the news anchors reading seriously and then pans to all of them smiling and I thought up a caption for them…”bringing bad news with a smile”. Anyway rant on…

Great comments, Perry. If you would like to read GOOD news from around the world each day, visit http://www.globalgoodnews.com.

Hi Perry, Great post! I totally agree – I very rarely have the TV on now, especially in a morning before work – I can’t think of a worse way to start the day. Just wish they didn’t have the TV screens at the gym – I go there to unwind after work, not get stressed about every disaster, serial killer and the next pandemic that’s going to wipe out the world’s population!

this is one of the most amazing articles i have ever read. thank you for this eye opening insights!

admiration,
danny

p.s. there is some stuff of mr. ron hubbard about these things which he calla “the “merchants of chaos” – are you familiar with this?

Perry,

When I practiced psychotherapy my
guess is that I ‘cured’ 60% of those
who consulted me for depression with
the simple prescription of not
listening to the news before 11.00 a.m.

The remaining 40%, I suspect, were
addicted to gloom and use a world
news channel as their wake-up call
on a bedside radio.

Lots have people have criticised
‘The Law of Attraction’ principles
as pure hype, or mumbo-jumbo.

To my mind though it makes sense
to recognise that what you focus
on will come to you.

Today far too many are concentrated
on either self-idealisation, a
cult created by a hungry fashion
industry, or doom-and-gloom a
cult created by the media to
engender a sense of helplessness.

Both keep people from awakening
to the beauty and miraculous nature
of their lives.

Stephen

Dear PerrY Marshall!
Today I had happiness reading was your the last message
and quite concordant to your that TV,Internet,newspapers
was bring a negative information and that better reading lie on bed a novel “Robinson Crusoe”. Still You have been general megaphone Google and course of the World events whole were depend from Your is a command. I had a long time sent for Your and Google itself better are the ariticles – as resistance to negative of events. And now I ready to show my fresh an article. I wanted notice that Your Bosses from Google a special desire to suport my an existence sone fees didn’t burned. Althoug very nice sell/buy my the goods.

And that is why I started the website, spiritnewsdaily.com that only aggregates positive and spiritually uplifting news.

More than just focusing on the “positive” I hear you saying to focus only on the problems you can solve. Or more importantly the problems you are SUPPOSED to solve.

Too many of us let the problems that we can’t or aren’t supposed to have anything to do with cloud our vision and focus and keep us from the issues we should be facing.

Hi Perry

How realistic is it to ignore ‘news’? It depends I surmise, on the news and how you react to it. It would be unrealistic to only believe ‘good news’if it is untrue and a distortion of reality – that would only lead to disillusionment and pain. On the other hand listening to ‘bad news’ can be a negative thing but only if it demoralises and weakens you, it can be a positive thing if it sets/resets you to appreciate your situation or react in a positive way. The best news of all is where people experience or can experience hope, love, purpose and a sustaining quality of life, individually and together. The issue for us is, can humans determine their future or news or are there other factors that bear on this? I believe based on evidence that both apply but God has the final say not us and that basing your beliefs and actions on what He says will determine the best news or worst news – that would be reality and not wishful thinking and acting and not being deceived.

It has been proven by actual trial that a person who is troubled or depressed merely stops watching TV and stops reading the newspaper for 2 weeks will get better.

We like to refer to these “News reporters” as “Merchants of Chaos”

My father-in-law had eye surgery which rendered him a couch prisoner for 6 weeks and he got infected with CNN, it actually took him 2 years to partially recover, he developed back problems from sitting on the couch and after 3 surgeries for that malady and 6 weeks of intravenous antibiotic treatment for MRSA he can now take short reprieves from the tube. He lives on the 16th floor overlooking the most beautiful harbor and city on the west coast of Florida, with big picture windows all around, but chooses to view his world through the 50 inch screen that CNN oozes from and constantly rants about how the oil slick is going to destroy the value of his condo… I tell him he is looking out the wrong window, if he just turned his head and observed the real world he would notice that there is no oil in the bay and that the world is beautiful and really not that dangerous after all.
I think CNN should change their byline to “CNN makes the news”
Obviously one of my favorite rants as well!
Jan

Hi Perry. Way back in 1989 I sold my TV and have been happier ever since. Snippets from the internet keep me informed about things that matter to me, but avoiding the fear and relentless negative garbage that spews forth on an hourly basis has become my decree. My head is definitely not “buried in the sand”, but I sure am not a slave to the negitive media machine!

Thanks for all the great articles. Keep up the good work!

Great article. I don’t watch TV at all. I check the news once a week which is more than enough for me.

Perry,
You are what you think.

Like your stuff..

Thank you

Perry
I always get jitters when intelligent people talk about turning off the news. Absolutely, there is a balance to be struck, but BALANCE is the point. I fear that those folk switching off are not able to counter-balance the steady onslaught of negative news.

My main concern is that ignoring events in the world is a denial of our collective responsibility and capacity for action which CAN CHANGE policy and practice – we are ABSOLUTELY in a position to leverage our power more often than passive passers-by are prepared to acknowledge.

That being said, I acknowledge that we MUST ALWAYS maintain a positive attitude in order to make a success of our own lives.

Personally, I get a kick knowing that every time I send a letter of protest and subsequently hear of a change of direction by that recipient, I may have contributed.

Switching off the TV is fine – but switch the radio on whilst having your lunch, to keep yourself connected and keep a perspective on why what you are doing is even more important.

ME, I want to make huge profits to share with those activists out there who are risking their lives for social change…Power to them for making it to the news!

Well Perry, I find myself in agreement with you here.

The pill flogging and scary bulldust spreading press is a waste of time and resources.
I like to keep it real, and real is fantastic! Life is good, because that is how I choose to live it.

When I can help I do. What I can’t change I ignore.

I bookmarked this post and refer to it whenever I need a solid reminder of what matters and what doesn’t.

Thank you for this.

Awesome stuff! One of my personal favorite posts Perry.

-Sam