Gift of Protectors

I was reading an article yesterday and it served as a stark reminder to me of how careful we need to be about things we read and watch. We all know this, but if you’re like me, it’s easy to forget as we go about our everyday lives.

The article itself focused on the financial markets and recent media reports. I’ll admit, I seldom read these types of things because I often find them dry and a tad bit boring. But in this particular case, the author made some great points. His overall message was that, despite the many positive results within the business sector in the US during the first part of 2018, most of what we saw in the media was gloom and doom. He went on to explain the potential impact to someone’s financial health if they acted upon the twisted, doomsday reporting (not good!).

Wow. Listening to media reports and acting on what they tell us could mean the difference between financial abundance and scarcity in our future. Fear based investing looks completely different from investing for growth. This really resonated with me because my mind quickly jumped to how prevalent this whole negativity vibe is in our society and how detrimental it can be to so many parts of our lives.

How can we combat this? By surrounding ourselves with protectors. While sometimes it might feel like those type of people that help lift you up and not tear you down are hard to find, seek them out and make them a part of your life. We are all blessed with the freedom of choice. Use that freedom to choose what you watch, what you read, and who you spend your time with every day.

We see this negativity in the entertainment world, too. Earlier this week, I was watching a little TV with my 17-year-old. She made a comment that struck me. She’d discovered a series on Netflix and enjoyed the first season. Now, as she started watching the second season, she didn’t like how the story line had gotten so much more twisted. Suddenly everything was focused on murders, violence and demented minds.

Shock and violence sells. It seems each show gets more vicious, more bizarre, more “dark”. Watch too much of it and you can start to get numb to it all. When people get numb to it in their world of entertainment, they start to get numb to it in real life. It’s a downward spiral.

Personally, I say “enough already”. Do I think we can do anything about this? Well, I’m not sure whether or not we can stem the tide but, what I am sure about, is we each have the power to control more of what we allow into our own homes and minds.

How can we do this?

• Turn off the junk on the television. 
• Spend your free time reading books or watching shows that inspire and offer positive solutions to life’s inevitable struggles.
• If you are lucky enough to have inspiring people in your life, spend more time with them. If you need more positive people in your life, go out and find them. Limit your time with the energy vampires (yes, you know who I mean!). And don’t let yourself be that vampire!

I know we all intuitively know all of this, but if you’re like me, sometimes we need a reminder because it’s way too easy to get sucked into the vacuum of negativity.

I stumbled across the following words on Pinterest and I think it describes the journey I’m on perfectly. Join me in this space if you like!
    
You can find me somewhere in between inspiring others, working on myself, dodging negativity, and slaying my goals.
 
And if you happened to miss last week’s blog post, please check it out. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on a free book and a trip down memory lane!

Choose to make it a great week!  I'm cheering you on - Kim