News-fasting

I’ve been reading way too much news recently. It gets a bit obsessive. So I’m having a news fast. I’m not reading the news online, except to glance at the news headlines.

Reading the news can be addictive. It takes up valuable time that I could spend on meditation, studying the Dharma, or in pursuing my livelihood. I can easily spend an hour or more each day reading news articles.

At the same time I’ve been finding that reading the news generates anxiety. It’s as if my mind never knows when it’s well enough informed, and so it keeps searching for more and more information. In reading the news obsessively I can become an information junkie, moving from fix to fix with ever-diminishing satisfaction. And that restless attitude has been staying with me all day.

So for this week anyway I’m just taking in the headlines and occasionally picking up the news on the car radio. I’m feeling happier already!

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