Free at Last!

"I wish there was someplace to get good news. All I see is bad news everywhere."

• Carol Butterfield
  

Free at Last!

I try to speak with my mother at least once each day. She's aged now and lives alone. I know how I'd feel if I spent my life caring for my children and then they all disappeared into their own worlds, leaving me feeling trapped in a world that looked the same but contained only memories. As a result, we've had some real good conversations. And, there was one this week that really had an impact on me.

We were talking along when she said, "I wish there was someplace to get good news. All I see is bad news everywhere." I can certainly see why she feels that way and it would have been easy to simply agree with her and let that part of our conversation end. But, another idea came rushing into my head and I wanted to explore it so I asked, "Where do you get your news?"

She replied, "I watch it every evening."

As she spoke another memory filled my mind. I remembered having a conversation with my friend Brad years ago when he told me of how the old telephone monopoly spent millions of dollars running ads so they could teach people to answer the telephone when it rang. Think about it! If you didn't know that a ringing telephone was a signal that someone was hoping to speak with you it would do nothing but annoy you every time it rang. Happily, times have changed. There is no telephone monopoly! And, a mono- ringing phone is a nostalgic memory for lots of older people. We now live in a time where each person can choose the sound notification on their phone.

The news monopoly is also dead! We can choose to get our news from thousands of other sources. I asked my mother why she watched the evening news when it only caused her pain. She replied, "I want to see the weather and know what's going on in the world."

I replied, "I can get the weather instantly on my phone whenever I want. You can too."

I could see now that she has spent years answering the "ring" of the evening news at six o'clock! She's answering the call of people making the decision of what "stories" she'll see and when, even though there are thousands of other options that will allow her to choose what news she sees and when she'll see it.

Think of all the options that are available to each one of us in today's world of information. Remember the old saying about computers? It goes, "Garbage in, garbage out." So, I'm exploring all the programming I've spent years running within my own head and I know it's the first step to freeing myself from all of it.

Join me in freeing yourself. It's as simple as changing the sound notification on your phone. Make the decision to create the world you live in. See the news you want to see. Surround yourself with people and things that will encourage and uplift you. Embrace your personal freedom and spread the word; we are individuals of choice! There is no monopoly over our minds anymore! We're free at last!