For When We Don't Know What to Pay Attention To
When the mail comes, it's easily clear what's junk and what's to be read. The window washing flyers and hearing aid discounts (a mailing list I somehow got added to when I turned 21) go into recycling. The handwritten notes, the health insurance notifications get my attention.
It's not so readily clear what news is worthy of our attention and what isn't. And that lack of clarity is no reflection of our intelligence. Overwhelm is a healthy human response to an unhealthy volume of information coming our way at an inhuman pace.
The question I get more than most any other is how can I stay on top of the news? That feeling of being on top of something – being in control, a sense of being able to handle what's happening – is such an understandable desire, isn't it?
But I wonder if we might recalibrate a bit from aiming to be on top of the news to skillful intake of the news, by which I mean intentionally choosing what we do and don't consume.
While we can't control the news, we can control how we take it in. And that can be a useful ballast in this unsteadying season. Here are a few tools I find helpful.
Get Clear On Why We're Consuming News
Knowledge is power, but not all news is knowledge. It's too easy to gobble up endless headlines because they're readily available. But that's putting the power in the hands of the newsmakers and not our own.
One way to invert that is by figuring out why we're taking news in. And that why can help to draw a boundary line between what we do consume and what we don't consume. The more specific we can be here, the better.
"I want to be informed" is perhaps too broad to be useful. "I want to be informed about what's happening to public school funding in my community" or "I want to be informed about what's happening to Social Security" is much more actionable.
That may mean unsubscribing from general breaking news alerts, putting parameters on when we check the headlines (not in bed, say) or when we have our phone with us – I've become a big fan of leaving my phone in another room while I'm cooking dinner, folding laundry.
Our why might change, too. That's fine. That means we're being intentional, and the secret sauce here is mindful - as opposed to mindless - news intake. Mindful means we're in the driver's seat, mindless can make us more susceptible to drifting from on newsy headline to the next.
Go Local
"Everything that matters happens in D.C." is a common misconception. American federalism splits power between the federal and state/local governments.
Our daily lives are heavily shaped by state and local policy - the quality of the water we drink, how long it takes firefighters to get to our house, whether the public library is open on Sundays or polls are open late, if that empty land down the road becomes housing or a park or a parking lot. And local news tends to come at more of a drip, drip, drip, than a fire hose blast.
I get a few local news roundups that come a little before dinnertime. Maybe you find a local journalist or two you trust and follow them on social media. Friends down the street listen to the local news while making dinner.
This doesn't mean we're ignoring what happens in our nation's capital. Local policy and funding is heavily influenced by federal policy, which means local news can funnel national news to us, but in a way that may be more immediately relevant to our daily lives.
Consume Non-Newsy Things
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet [people] die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
I love this line from William Carlos Williams. So often, when I go to the news, I'm looking for answers or comfort that it can't supply.
But I can find wisdom in good writing (this book was a joy of a read), comfort in good music (been listening to this fun album on repeat), solace in good company.
None of these grab for our attention like doomsday headlines do. But if we only focus on what grabs our attention, we'll miss so many terrific sunsets, cornflowers poking through the fence, fiction books on the library shelf. All those things that quietly, without need for acclaim, refill our spirit.
The last thing I'll say here is don't forget to share good news. Years ago, my Mum and I tweaked that adage "If you something, say something" to "If you see something GOOD, say something, too."
When we see good news, go ahead and share it. Folks are parched for material that ignites our heart, ups our spirits, gives new life to a depleting day. We could help provide that.